Of course, there are things in the hardware industry that have changed significantly, especially in terms of performance. However, the basis, structure and way of working of computers has changed almost nothing in more than two decades…
The shape and structure of computers does not change
Processor mounted on the motherboard, which in turn is cooled by a heatsink. RAM memory “punched” on the motherboard, expansion slots for the graphics card and other devices, connection ports, power supply, fans… all in one box. This structure or way of assembling a PC has hardly changed in recent years, and nothing indicates that it will do so in the short or medium term.
If we look back a bit, there have been some interesting changes in the way we know desktop computers. For example, the trend now is for storage drives to be connected directly to the motherboard (M.2 format) instead of having a rack for hard drives that had to be connected with both a power cable and a data cable (SATA ), just as the trend of installing the power supply on the top has changed (now it is installed below to promote better cooling and to lower the center of gravity of the assembly).
But apart from this, what else has changed on the PC? In fact, it’s not like this changes the way we build a PC much, because it really remains the same: a box with its cooling system, motherboard, power supply, components… all interconnected.
However, we cannot say that this is a bad thing either, mainly because it has been standardized to the point that all computers are modular, allowing the user to choose and change any of its components, such as the processor, the heatsink, the RAM, whenever they want. , power supply, etc. (as long as they are compatible, you know).
Therefore, we consider that this is not bad news, and in fact the fact that, for example, the storage now connects directly to the board is a very good advantage that does not deprive us of this modularity or freedom when connecting, disconnecting and change devices inside our computers.
Substantial changes would deprive us of versatility
Obviously, we all expect this to evolve sooner or later, and in fact it has already done so in other market segments. There are logically laptops in which everything is integrated (although it is true that, fundamentally, they continue to be a motherboard with its processor, its memory, its cooling system, etc. even if everything is soldered and integrated in some way), as well as many OEM PCs or mini PCs that also integrate all or most of the hardware.
But of course, if they did the same thing on desktop computers, we would have the same problems as on a laptop or a mini PC that has everything integrated: we would lose a lot of versatility. Despite the fact that in many of these devices we can change some things such as storage or RAM, there are other components that we cannot touch such as the processor, the cooling system or the casing itself, something that makes us lose that modularity that we have in today’s desktop computers.
Therefore, and answering the question in the headline: is this good news or bad news? Should computers radically change? Personally, we believe that this is good news precisely because of the standardization that exists in the market, something that gives users a lot of freedom to choose. In this way, we can always, for example, buy a cheap heatsink and then buy a better one, we can add RAM memory or buy a faster kit, or we can add SSDs or install higher capacity models whenever we want.
And you, what do you think about it?
