They say the technology that sent a man to the moon could now fit inside your cell phone. It really is quite amazing when you stop and think about it: that behemoth in the image above couldn't do what your iPod can do.... not even come close. They were massive, often taking up entire rooms, loud, and incredibly expensive. You could buy a truckload of smartphones for the price of even one of these prehistoric leviathans that, by today's standards, could do very little. But before you get all cocky about it, just remember that people will be mocking your iPads and X Boxes thirty years from now as well.
It's also interesting to note that science fiction missed the mark in predicting this would happen. They certainly put a lot of stock in what computers could do (prepare your lunch, predict the future, take over the world, etc.), but never predicted that they would get really, really, really, tiny.
So, I hope you'll enjoy this gallery of colossal computers and massive mainframes. Click images to enlarge.
