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As has been mentioned you don't need a computer, but
I have 40 yrs of data that I find interesting to look at, you can see how things have changed over the years. Sometimes better and sometimes worse
Back in the day bike computers were simple analog devices w/ small watch batteries that needed to be occasionally replaced, data was kept in a notebook, simple stuff like time, avg speed and distance. During the ride it was interesting to see current speed, avg speed and distance covered, If you knew the route you would have some idea of how much time and distance still needed to be covered
then came desktop computers and spread sheets, now data was organized in Excel
Then came GPS, my first was a 2 Piece Timex Ironman, clunky and a PIA but, in addition to the old data, elevation changes were added and route maps. This one was also good for running where the only data you previously had was from a watch,
Then came the more modern one piece GPS computer that mounts on the handle bars, w/ rechargeable batteries, these added Rte maps embedded in Google earth maps and elevation, speed,heart rate profiles that could be reviewed at leisure. Then came online storage, Strava and Garmin connect, now you could compare and contrast w/ friends and usually w/ strangers( still anonymously) w/ segments, and lists of fastest to slowest.
A lot of the bike computer stuff is interesting health wise, heart rate is probably the most important, my doctor always asks about this stuff. calories is a rough approximation of what work was done but I find that to be wildly optimistic most of the time.
Currently I have a couple of bike computers, the bigger one will display route maps and course turns if I go to the trouble of entering the route, usually from downloadable bike club organized ride route map. This can be very nice on long rides in unknown territory, a phone can do this as well but in some areas phone coverage is spotty,
I gave up on chest straps for heart rate, I have a gps watch that does that plus all the other stuff too, the newer computers communicate w/ watch like mine and phones through blue tooth. The watch is used by itself for runs and collects all the same data as the gps bike computers.
Both bike and watch upload to Garmin Connect where all the data is correlated and collected, you don't have to do that of course but I find it interesting to see how my speeds and times compare to my own and others over various user defined segments of a given route.
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