It was recently reported in the home hackers journal, Personal Computer World (June 1981, hereafter PCW), that the pioneer American computer ENIAC had been pitted against a TRS80 microprocessor, the chosen task being to square all the integers from 1 to 10,000. ENIAC (short for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was completed in 1945, weighed over 30 tons, occupied some 3,000 cubic feet of space, consumed 140 kilowatts of power and cost (at 1945 prices) $500,000. The TRS80 (short for Tandy Radio Shack, the number 80 is a code for the processor type) appeared about 1978, weighs about 15 lbs., sits on your desk and costs about £400 (at 1981 prices). Of course, the TRS80 beat the ENIAC hands down, performing the task some eighteen times faster!
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