Tech that gets larger rather than smaller

[Dos_Box]

A few eeeks back I'd finished making a PC from bits I had lying around and annoying me. This was a Ryzen 2600 on a B450 motherboard and all I needed was some RAM, PCIe SSD and a cooler and now I have a machine that I can work on slowly upgrading to replace my aging old i7 4770K.

I primarily did this as the i7 was just stupidly power hungry and I'd had it 10 years (it alos started to have random issues powering up). I'd delayed getting a new PC over covid due to the silly prices PC parts were going for and by the time they'd come back to normal I had a motly collection of bits left over from upgrading my kids PC's.

What struck me though was that the cooler, a Snowman (look them up if you are after a decent budget cooler) was far bigger than the one I had on my i7, and compared to my first self-built PC, a socket 7 AMD K62 450, it's HUGE!

This really made me think that whilst some areas of tech have shrunk and got much lighter, so others have increased in size since they first emerged. Printers in the form of MFD's come to mind for some reason.

 

A Socket 7 cooler

 

 

My new AM4 cooler

 

Is there any other tech that has got larger over the years (licensing costs notwithstanding) that you can think of?

Oh, and PSU's! Not exatcly larger by much, but certainly heavier!

[Bompalompalomp]

Graphics cards are getting stupid-huge for my mid-tower...

 

Though, thankfully tablets seem to be getting bigger again after the phablet phase! Love my iPad Air's size.

[Brax]

Planning to upgrade my personal PC and just going to go for a large tower, I tried to cram everything using micro ATX parts and it was just a nightmare. Especially if you want decent cooling because as you say the newer coolers are huge ( but they're needed for graphical games and some software nowadays).

[Dos_Box]

Sound cards have certainly shrunk. My first was a SoundBlaster AWE32!

 

[Dos_Box]

Planning to upgrade my personal PC and just going to go for a large tower, I tried to cram everything using micro ATX parts and it was just a nightmare. Especially if you want decent cooling because as you say the newer coolers are huge ( but they're needed for graphical games and some software nowadays).

 

I'm on a micro ATX board and case. It's the smallest/lightest PC case I've had in a very long time. My previous case was a full tower and made me make a noise when I picked it up. @Zoom7000 had the same case IIRC and he can vouch for what a monster it was!

[Michael]

The latest GPUs are or can be stupidly big too!

 

 

In a matter of years, they'll integrate it in a games console

[Michael]

It's no wonder the street lights flicker in some areas!

[jthompson]

Cameras on phones. Maybe not getting bigger as such, but multiplying.

Cars. Not really tech, but my Fiesta is the same size or more as the original Focus was. Still smaller than a new Mini.

[3s-gtech]

There's obvious ones, like TVs and phones, where the tech has shrunk but the UI has grown. No bad thing really.

 

CPUs and graphics coolers have always been interesting; balancing heat, performance and noise levels. The old slotted and early socketed CPUs didn't suck a lot of juice - 20-25W was typical. GPUs at that time were limited by port power and bus capabilities, so didn't need to be as power hungry (especially when displaying at 800x600)!

 

Still, Nvidia did create the FX5800 Ultra and who can forget the GeForce 480 (Fermi). Those suckers were hot!

 

My contribution to the gist of the thread would be: laptops! Netbooks etc have really died off (perhaps thankfully so), but Ultrabooks etc don't seem to be around now. Kind of miss the innovative mini convertible/tablet/laptops of the 2000s like the HP TC1100.

[bald_pig]

I'd make an argument for PDAs. While for most, the role of PDA was absorbed into smartphones, for others it shifted to iPads and other tablets.

[DrCheese]

Monitors - We went from massive CRTs to small 15/17/ inch LCD's and now back up to 27inch or even massive ultrawides.

[Rob_D]

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A Socket 7 cooler

 

 

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My new AM4 cooler

Oh, and PSU's! Not exatcly larger by much, but certainly heavier!

 

Please, that's not a CPU cooler. THIS is a CPU cooler!

 

I've noticed a trend toward PSUs getting smaller (or at least SFF power supplies becoming more widespread).

[Brax]

I'd make an argument for PDAs. While for most, the role of PDA was absorbed into smartphones, for others it shifted to iPads and other tablets.

In a similar vein wearable computer's which were huge fallout 4 pip boy style things have now become small smartwatches.

 

EDIT: Added a photo reference. The Motorola WT4000 wearable computer!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Brax

[msi_school]

In a similar vein wearable computer's which were huge fallout 4 pip boy style things have now become small smartwatches.

 

EDIT: Added a photo reference. The Motorola WT4000 wearable computer!

 

Oh I so want one of those, oh less so now I know what they are for

[3s-gtech]

That is absolutely fantastic. To update the innards with a Raspberry Pi would be perfection.

[Norphy]

An iPhone 14 Pro Max screen is as wide as the original iPhone screen is tall, near enough. Within a tenth of an inch, anyway.

[Brax]

Oh I so want one of those, oh less so now I know what they are for

Yeah warehouse jobs mostly, shame there were not any PDA style wearable terminals that were made.

[Dos_Box]

Monitors - We went from massive CRTs to small 15/17/ inch LCD's and now back up to 27inch or even massive ultrawides.

 

True, but far easier to move around. I had a second hand Silicon Graphics CRT before I got my first LCD and it almost took two people to lift it!

[Andrew_C]

Did anyone say "Ordinary" smart phones? I want one that fits in my shirt pocket. Nothing fancy needed, but all the ones the shop showed me are too big.

[dhicks]

Kind of miss the innovative mini convertible/tablet/laptops of the 2000s like the HP TC1100.

 

Actually, the average Chromebook (or Windows equivilant) is very similar - the Asus C214 is about the same size as that HP TC1100, with a screen that flips over to become a tablet, plus has a stylus.

 

Those wearable-on-your-wrist computers look very similar to the tablets used by some wait staff in cafes / resturants these days - tablets have gotten lightweight enough that you can have one strapped to your arm for handy access if you have that kind of job.

[Dos_Box]

Did anyone say "Ordinary" smart phones? I want one that fits in my shirt pocket. Nothing fancy needed, but all the ones the shop showed me are too big.

 

It does seem a trend with smartphones that the designs have an accordian-like way of increasing and decreasing in size. It's almost as if after a couple of years the industry goes 'Hmm, that may be too small for some users needs' before swinging back to 'Our users are complaining that it won't fit in their pockets anymore'.

I await the day they lean on the fashion industry to make pockets larger.

[Dos_Box]

Oooh, I've just thought of something(s) that have got larger over the years.

PC speakers and gaming headphones!

[FN-GM]

I have noticed switches are getting deeper. We had to replace a number of racks in a rollout 18 months ago. My current employer is having the same issues.

[Dos_Box]

I have noticed switches are getting deeper. We had to replace a number of racks in a rollout 18 months ago. My current employer is having the same issues.

 

That's interesting, any ideas why? Extra cooling, power demands perhaps?

[FN-GM]

That's interesting, any ideas why? Extra cooling, power demands perhaps?

 

I’m not 100% sure why. One reason could be the software is becoming more advanced. For example the Cisco Catalyst 9200L can run an instance of Wireshark on the switch itself. So I think more compute power is needed.

 

They are begging more power hungry so that could also be if.