If presented with the two above component cards and asked which you would rather have in your laptop as a high speed graphics card for game play you would quickly select the card on the right. This card is clearly outfitted with some advanced technology and would make a much better choice of graphics card.

What if presented with the two same component cards again and asked to select which card you would rather have connected to your kitchen light switch?  When you flip your wall switch for your kitchen lights this component card will turn the lights on or off. In this scenario you instinctively would choose the card on the left. The card on the left has many fewer components and for a simple task and it would be more reliable because there are fewer parts to fail. Both component cards perform the exact same task so the one that does it with fewer parts is more efficient and statistically more reliable. Continue reading →