jamesdeakin.com

I’m often amazed at the way that microprocessors have changed our lives. Moore’s law has continued to be relevant far longer than even he though. But it’s not your computer that interests me particularly or even your smart phone. Microprocessors are everywhere.  So That makes me wonder how much processing power does contemporary life require? I thought I would figure it out using myself as an example. I’m going to measure it in terms of MHz (processor power). Here is what a quick look around the house showed up:

Computer Core i5: 2.5 GHz x 4 cores
2 old computers   2.1 GHz each
Smartphone: 1 GHz (underclocked to 800 MHz)
Tablet: 1GHz dual-core
Spare mobile 15 MHz  (long battery life for emergencies)
Camera 300 MHz

Here’s where things get interesting:
Fridge 10 MHz
Cooker 10 MHz
Dishwasher 10 MHz
Washing machine 10 MHz
kettle (ours has a microprocessor) 5 MHz
Microwave 10 MHz
burglar alarm 5 MHz
Printer 10 MHz
Scanner 15 MHz
Stereo 10 MHz
Guitar tuner <5MHz (at a guess)
Clocks
Calculator

Stuff I don’t have but people often have
Sky+ box   166MHz (if its an old one)
TV 10MHz (this one is a guess)

There is probably lots missing from this list and its already a huge amount of processing power.

Thats 17683 MHz or 17.6 gigahertz
3.58300 if you exclude the computers
583 MHz if you exclude the smart phone and tablet