I recently revived a 2013 MacBook Air. Dual-core processor. 4GB of RAM. By today’s standards, that machine should be unusable.
It isn’t.
For everyday tasks like writing, browsing, light media consumption, and basic productivity, it still works surprisingly well. That led to an uncomfortable realization. Our devices do not slow down nearly as fast as we are told. What actually slows them down is the software ecosystem layered on top of perfectly functional hardware.
Modern software has grown heavy. Browsers are no longer simple tools for viewing documents. They are full platforms running security layers, background services, telemetry systems, sync engines, GPU compositors, and constant update checks. Many of these exist for good reasons, but they come at a cost older hardware was never designed to carry.
The web itself has also changed. Modern websites routinely load megabytes of JavaScript frameworks, analytics scripts, ads, trackers, cookie managers, and popups before showing any meaningful content. Users are then told to “update their browser” as if the problem is negligence rather than unrealistic assumptions about hardware capability.
The most common counter-argument is security, and it is not an invalid one. Older hardware can lack newer architectural protections, and some vulnerabilities are genuinely tied to CPU design. But security does not automatically require new hardware.
Most real-world security improvements come from software patches. Browser sandboxing, TLS updates, kernel hardening, and library fixes are software-level solutions that often run perfectly well on older machines. In many cases, hardware becomes insecure not because it is incapable, but because vendor support ends.
Buying new hardware is often presented as the only answer, when in reality a patched, supported operating system paired with a modern but lightweight browser can be safer than a brand-new device running bloated or poorly maintained software. Security is about maintenance and attack surface more than raw hardware age.
Hardware does not suddenly forget how to compute. Silicon does not degrade in a way that explains this level of slowdown. What changes is the baseline developers design for. Software today assumes regular hardware upgrades, making optimization optional and efficiency secondary.
The proof is simple. Install lightweight software on aging hardware and performance returns. The machine feels responsive again because the workload finally matches what it was built to handle.
Progress and security matter. But progress without restraint creates waste. Many devices are discarded not because they are broken, but because modern software has decided to leave them behind.
My 12-year-old laptop still works. It just needed software that respected its limits.