I was participating in a discussion on one of the Linux Mint forum threads today and one particular individual and I managed to progress (regress?) into a discussion about what the “minimum specifications” of today’s modern computer should be. Of course, I’m of the opinion that you can’t actually state a minimum spec anymore where any particular OS is concerned and often times the manufacturer’s ideas of “minimum specs” defines as: “Well, the OS will run on this type of machine but you won’t like it”. And in that, the idea of minimum specs for any type of OS has very little to do with real life.

That being said, this is not what this post is about. Why? Because I believe that today’s “minimum specs” as in regards to a PC (PC defines as Personal Computer in this case; desktop, laptop, notebook, netbook) these days varies in direct proportion to the individual using said PC, even more than it ever did before.

Look, this ain’t the old days where the “average user” was defined as the unwashed heathen who had problems turning on and shutting down their machine let alone using it in a proper manner.The type of computer user that had never heard of defragging their hard drive nor could care less, got a blank eyed look when the terms Firewall and anti-virus were thrown at them, ad nauseum, that made techs like me shudder in wee hours of a sleepless night brought on by working on PC that was owned by one of the aforementioned users.

No indeed, this may be wishful thinking on my part but those days are gone, thank heavens, for the “average user” has been replaced with a more tech aware version that makes my heart sing with joy. But can you define exactly what that is? I think not. But let’s take a look at what might be called, the average user of the early 21st century.

Has a nice ring to it, does it not? “The Average User of the Early 21st Century!”

Yes, the average user has grown up thanks in to the arrival of the WWW and more importantly,  the advent of the (wait for it)…

SOCIAL NETWORK !!

Yes, my friends, it was the online social scene, sites like My Space and later Facebook that brought the welcome end of the witless average user of the past. Now these average type of computer users, if you can indeed call them that, are a happily snapping pictures with their 10 Mega-Pixel digital cameras, downloading them to their computers, resizing them, enhancing them, cutting bits out of them and adding bits into them with $80 to $300 graphic programs, then uploading these pictures to their social site of choice. They’re not only embedding videos they’re making and even editing their own videos as well.

The Average User of the 21st Century is now syncing all sorts of mobile devices with not only their PCs  but other people’s PCs as well. The new average user is highly mobile, taking their version of a PC with them everywhere they go thus they have become very concerned about PC security in a way that was virtually unknown even as little as 7 years ago. They wouldn’t be without their Internet security suite of their choice, go online naked?? Never! Most of them even know the difference between a Home (trusted) network and a Public (untrusted) network and how to set up their latest Windows and OSX operating systems to switch automatically. Okay mainly because these popular operating systems today do most of the work for them but most of them are aware of the difference nonetheless.

Some even know how to setup and use a PC as their central entertainment system–movies, music, TV,  and games all run from one PC.

So, is there actually such a thing nowadays as an “average user” when it comes to the ever growing world of the personal computer? Personally, I don’t think so. Your opinion might be different of course and there’s always the comment section to let me know about it. Meanwhile, I’ll go back to figuring out how to successfully shut off my new PC without blowing it up.