PCs Are Too Big
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As I sit here and look at my tower PC, I can’t help but think the thought… the average PC is just too darned big (and way too loud). My old Pentium 4 monolith eats up an inordinate amount of desk space. There’s a ton of space inside the case that I’ve never used. I’ve been considering the PC’s replacement for ages, but I’ve never been able to decide which route to take. I know I want something with an extremely small form factor. I keep thinking how cool would it be to integrate tiny industrial PCs into the furniture (or maybe the walls)… using wireless keyboards and monitors suspended from desk lamp- or floor lamp-like apparatus.
Crazy, huh? A little too much like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, perhaps, but in a flat-screen way.
The problem with a great many off-the-shelf LCD PCs is that they just don’t look right… they’re ungainly. With Apple’s iMac line as the exception, the aesthetics of most LCD PCs leave much to be desired. The marketplace has declared most of these designs as duds. Perhaps the designers are just not daring enough.
The guts of a PC shouldn’t be seen or heard. The idea of hiding the motherboard and hard drive in either the LCD or keyboard is less than ideal.
Let’s put that hardware someplace secure and out of sight (and earshot). I dig small form-factor cases like the AOpen MiniPC and Shuttle X100… but whattayasay we tuck them away in a nice soundproofed and ventilated cabinet, just for safe keeping?
Notebook computers are wonderful for their portable nature, but today’s common notebook throws off way too much heat to be used as a laptop. I want to kick back in the recliner with a (literally) cool wireless keyboard and swing in the monitor on a pivoting floor lamp base. Perhaps the computer itself is housed in the base of the lamp - a la the old Apple G4 “snowball” iMac, but in a floor standing model…
Maybe that’s what the PC world really needs… not just bitchin’ case mods, but an entire rethink of how the PC is integrated into the home.
[tags]aopen, shuttle, industrial pc, case mods[/tags]
3 Comments
Gerson Braschi
October 27th, 2006
at 6:48am
Locker, I have been using PCs since 1982 and last july I retired, bought two MacBooks for my doughters (11 & 13 years old), instaled XP pro and since then they did NOT used any more the PCs we have at home. They discovered software like Comics, Keynote and so, and they are delightfull with those Macs, forced me to install a AccessPoint with print server from Apple that do the job and I start to use sometimes one of those and I discovered “the power of the silence”. Last month I bought an iMac, mouse and keybord bluetooth, a Lacie external Disk, transfered all the personal stuff from the PCs, and, since that, NEVER powered on the PCs anymore. Bought an HP 1500 printer/scanner plugged at the AP, and now the DESK SPACE and SILENCE were the tremendous return in quality of life. Jobs was right in change to Intel!
Tim
October 27th, 2006
at 8:35am
Ok, so here is what I’m thining…
Lets go back to the “thin client” idea. We set up a central server in the basement, closet, or whatever and then set up wireless solid-state clients.
So that means low power cpus could work, low power solid state hard drives, and PSU that don’t need to put out for the demanding high power CPUS. Next, use the sky as your limits for integration!
-at the couch through your client on a stand with wireless keyboard.
-in your AV closet hook it up to your receiver.
-in your bedroom, pull out the touch screen tablet.
-in your kitchen… intergrated into the fridge, hanging from a cabinet, whatever!
don’t think this concept is out of reach and I’m awaiting my answers!!!
Dan Gray
November 6th, 2006
at 6:25pm
I’m inclined to think that’s where the home computing future’s headed, Tim. To borrow the line, “the network is the computer,” from whoever it was that coined it. (Sun?) We don’t need Windows everywhere in the house. A browser will do for many tasks, these days. How many years until a browser is all we need?
Gerson - There’s something to be said for the silence of those Apple boxes. I’m looking forward to installing XP and Parallels on the next Apple that lands on our stoop … sure would solve a lot of problems …