The Hobo Camp Fire Is going well #VII.. Stop In!!!

[Running Bear]

Yeah, I find that with a lot of older electronics. I had a camera that would take about 10 or 15 pictures before the batteries needed to be changed. The one I have now, that's probably six years old, will take maybe a hundred or more shots before needing recharge. Things are getting more efficient, remember the old 7400 IC logic chips? The 4000 series used a fraction of the power than the older ones use, now we have most everything in one chip and again, at the fraction of power the old circuits used. Meanwhile, batteries are getting better as well...

Yep, today's electronics are much more efficient than those in the past. A friend of mine (now deceased) had an ancient Honeywell computer in his basement. With all it's component pieces (cpu, tape drive, printer, sorter, etc) it weighed nearly five tons. I had a lot of fun playing with that thing. It loved electricity. The more the better. He had to call the power company and let them know it was going to be operation so they would be expecting the load. His electric bill could be as much as $700 a month and that was in 1984 dollars. By comparison I can have my //e (1980's technology) running all day every day and I see very little difference between my electric bill now and what it was before I started using the //e again. One thing is I'm not using the old power hog green screen monitor but a modern flat screen LCD TV.