Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
Originally posted by: jjones
Actually, the true culprit is the PC industry as a whole. Face it, the average PC user doesn't need anything but integrated graphics to run their PC.
But what if you could buy a gaming card and just push it into a premade slot on your PC. No opening the case, no need to have a tech do it for you. The PC came with a slot accessible on the outside of the computer that you just take off the cover and plug in your new gaming card. How easy would it be for the average schmuck to game on their PC then?
It's amazing how behind the times the typical computer build is. Everything thing on the computer should be modular, snap in, and easily handled by the most ignorant of PC users. Able to be done without ever cracking the case. It's not hard to build a computer, but it's way harder than it needs to be considering how far we've come at this stage of the game.
Why is the computer still being built from the inside out? Why do I have to open the case and mess with cables if the only thing I'm doing is replacing a hard drive? All I should have to do is push the hard drive into a slot accessible on the outside of the case. The basic computer construction has not changed in more than 20 years. This is sad.
Wow, that's a really good idea. You could actually have a very slim case, with the motherboard being the front face with some plastic stuff over it. Then you can just plug stuff into the right slots, all pre-wired. You could even just stick a processor into the front.
imagine how easy it would be for your average idiot to wreck it by spilling something, knocking the card, etc. the case provides protection for all of the components.
I disagree. If everything is in a rectangular shaped slot (like PCMCIA, Expresscard, etc), it will be safe, even from spills.
What isn't safe is to have to open your case, pull cards and crap out, etc etc. Every time you work inside your case, you risk scratching your motherboard with a screwdriver, hitting a capacitor with your hand, bending a hard drive pin, breaking the poorly designed SATA connectors, discharge static etc.
When I dismantled my system to move to a new case, I dropped a thumbscrew on my motherboard. Then when it wouldn't boot up, I was afraid that the thumbscrew damaged a teeny tiny trace on the motherboard, which definately possible. It turned out to be the hard drive boot order set up in the BIOS, but there I have no way of knowing whether I did damage the mobo.
Then the problem is, even if you do cause damage to your hardware, it's not necessarily apparent. My HP laptop manual even warns about static damage, and says that even if the system works, there could be invisible errors. Why should, for example, a RAM stick even have the possibility of damage this way? Encase it in metal or plastic. Remember those old Seagate hard drives with the Seashield? All hardware should be like that.