jonIs the future in modular computing?
January 8th 2007 11:55
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The Dell XCS Concept - The future?
This week ASUS announced the first dedicated external graphics card, designed to be used with laptops. Interestingly enough the product - dubbed the XG Station - is not likely to cause much excitement in the mobile computer community, as much as it will for desktop fans. Why? The answer is simple enough.
While it may not look like it on the surface, the XG Station seems to be a step towards modular computing, a concept that has been contemplated over the years, but never seen fruition. Modular computing is essentially the idea that the desktop PC as we know it will eventually disappear, to be replaced by something which is not confined to the dimensions of a conventional PC case, but rather something which is designed around the idea that the computer's separate parts can easily be replaced by other components over a standardised communications system. Of course the modern PC is easily upgradable, but it is still based on dozens of different input systems, from PCIe to 5.5" ATA to CPU sockets. Rather, modular computing would see a more streamlined way for the different computer parts to communicate with each other, allowing for a better PC.
The XG Station is one step toward this ultimate goal, along with the external power supply, something which is gaining speed in a world where internal video cards are demanding more and more power. The arrival of the external graphics card could also make the external power supply rather redundant, should the XG Station see a desktop counterpart, however the concept of modular computing continues to lie underneath it all. Unfortunately, the idea is decades off at the best, so until then it seems like external graphics cards are the new market to watch out for.
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