GreyScaleGorilla has a great short-post on “The Myth of Faster Computers”, specifically regarding their use in Motion Graphics work. Here’s his comment:
A faster machine isn’t just about speeding up your renders. It also allows you to make more beautiful work. How? Well, it’s not what you think. Being able to turn on more effects or turn up your anti aliasing isn’t what matters. Instead, it’s all about iteration. A faster render time allows you to see your changes in closer to real time. This allows for more experimentation and leads to more creative and beautiful solutions to problems.
That’s a great response, and applies to much more than just Motion Graphics. This is impacting computer simulation and visualization as well, with scientists able to get results back faster. When you operate on a deadline, the ability to do more ‘test runs’ is crucial and that’s primarily what faster computers offer. Being able to render in 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes is nice, but being able to run 12 jobs in an hour instead of 6 is the more important issue.
Yeah, reminds me of MPG vs L/100km. When you look at it as being able to do more iterations in an set period of time, the value become more obvious than just being able to leave work an hour early.