For those that don’t remember, Moore’s law states that the number of  transistors that can be placed into an integrated circuit doubles every 2 years. While the original definition ended there, the law has shown to apply to a wide variety of electronic devices, such as processors, memory, pixels in digital cameras, etc.

During the summer of 2007, I finally made the transition from only using a laptop to building a desktop. At the time, it had relatively new components, a Gigabyte P35 motherboard, an Intel e6550, a NVIDIA 8800GTS 320MB graphics card, and 2GB of DDR2 memory at 800mhz. The total system (including hard drive, power supply, monitor) came to roughly $1200.

In the current market, a substantially faster machine could be procured for roughly the same dollar. However, as an IT professional, am I required to “keep up with the Jones’s” as it were? Can someone be technologically “with it” without having it? Does the mantra of an IT guy require the latest and greatest in order to be considered an IT guy?

I think this depends on your attitude. I have witnessed many technologists that didn’t want to evolve because of fear of the unknown. They were complacent with the current system and adhered to the adage “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” A professor of mine in an Operating Systems class once indicated that in 5 years, everything we learned would be obsolete. To stay an IT professional, it would require the lifelong pursuit of knowledge – and couldn’t thrive on anything less.

However – I’m sure there are many who are just like me – too broke to advance. As you can imagine – I’m pretty ok with this group. At least until I can convince my wife we need the newest flavor.

Until then – its vanilla for me.