IMHO there is no way to understand _modern_ computer hardware without knowing the old, retro one. Start with basics od digital electronics, then analyze some old computers (Altair, Apple 1, PC XT)then, slowly move on.
This is great advice. The concepts haven't changed much - electricity and physics don't change at all - we just have new techniques and the scale is way larger than before.
Electricity and physics change immensely with scale. The kinds of slop you could get away with at very slow speed and relatively low powers on old hardware are not allowed for with modern high-speed technologies.
In the context of PCB design, even something as simple as decap sizing and placement becomes tricky as clock rate increases. EE students regularly suffer through voltage drops and ground bounce from poorly managing the size and placement of decaps. These are problems that either did not exist or had simpler solutions in the old days.
"The laws of the universe are constant" is not useful advice for learning anything.
Which subset of said laws is applicable for electrical engineering has changed immensely over the years, and studying old hardware will not prepare the student for modern design.
