An example of the Intel 4004 chipset, world's first integrated microprocessor.

So I know I am a week late, but I thought we would be remiss here at TechRemedy if we didn’t make a post recognizing the 40th birthday of the Intel 4004, the world’s first integrated microprocessor. Without the 4004, life as we know it would be much, much different, and technology might still be living in vacuum tubes.

Those first generation 4004 processors ran at a clock speed of 108 KHz, which was then increased to 740 KHz in the production models. It used 2300 processors, and was capable of handling about 92,600 instructions per second. Intel’s newest consumer product line, the i7, has 43,000,000% more transistors than that 4004 chipset, and the i7 can handle 92 billion instructions per second.

To make this example of Moore’s Law in action a little more apparent, Intel kindly prepared an infographic (found here) which states that if today’s i7 was built using the 1971 tech, it would be the size of a conference room, and that if today’s chipsets used as much energy as there 1971 counterparts, running a laptop today would cost over $25,000 a month.

I, for one, welcome our new microprocessor overlords. Well, our 40 year microprocessor overlords. Same difference.

Check out more on the evolution of the microprocessor here and some more fun facts here.