The transistor, developed at Bell Labs in 1947, replaced the bulky and unreliable vacuum tubes that had powered earlier electronic devices. Within two decades, integrated circuits packed thousands of transistors onto chips smaller than a fingernail. Devices that had once filled entire rooms could be reproduced on desktops, and eventually carried in pockets. The price per transistor fell by many orders of magnitude over the same period.
Which choice most logically completes the text? The passage suggests that the diffusion of computing technology depended on _______
- A
the maintained dominance of vacuum-tube technology
- B
increases in the size of individual computing components
- C
consumer indifference to portability and cost
- Dcheck_circle
the combination of miniaturization and dramatic cost reductions in component manufacture
Explanation
Miniaturization plus orders-of-magnitude cost drops supports B. A reverses the trend; C and D contradict the passage.