[reboot]

Sure, newer faster hardware can compensate for the drain of a winmodem, but it can't compensate for phone line quality, modem quality, or ISP quality (or lack of it).
A hard modem will still give you better ping times, less lag/latency than a winmodem.
If you surf slow, and send email, a winmodem will suffice, if you're a gamer, it simply won't be a happy experience.
As hardware improves, so do the applications running on it. The more demanding an app/game is, the more it taxes the CPU and system resources. A winmodem is still going to require CPU time, and system resources, so unless you have the perfect phone line, and a major abundance of speed/resources to go around, they're still not worth the few $ you might save.