wouldnt that give too much control to companes building these machines.. It would be nice to have, but your suggestion only brings us closer to "standardization". Im not saying that's bad, but being that the government wants more control over technology, this would be making it too easy for them. The market is the way it is for a reason. Careful what you wish for, Walmart might be closing your local computer store down.
Rather than having to send it in every few years I'd love to have full access to all of the parts myself. That way, whenever the greatest and latest part comes out I can easily swap it out with my old part. A Send in upgrade system could work though.
The send in and upgrade plan is actually a really good idea. Another advantage of this program is that less materials would be wasted with people not throwing their PCs away when they reach the end of there life cycles.
A while ago, there was a standard to upgrade notebook video cards, but no manufacturers seemed to use the expandible cards.
And some other manufacturer showed a proof-of-concept external video card for notebooks that attached via firewire or some other port.
But I think the best way for it to happen is to standardize on other parts. On desktops, if we have a case, pretty much any ATX motherboard will fit in it. Any optical drive will fit in it. Notebook makers should design a standard for the dimensions of motherboards and where the processors and fans should go, the locations of optical drives, usb ports, vga/dvi ports, and the size of keyboards, so power users could build/upgrade their notebooks on their own.
I'm sorry to say that, at least with the experience I have (just graduated in a computer science major), there is no way to future proof such things as PC, notice how I say pc's because this includes everything from desktops, laptops and netbooks. Moore said this a while back. you can however make upgrades along the way and sell your last piece of hardware but "future-proof" is not, happening.
I don't think it's possible to get "future-proof" hardware, as new technology demands newer standards, thus making killing forward-compatibility. A trade-in program would have to be the way to go. Maybe like Nvidia's trade-up program, but on steroids?
... Aren't current PCs, to an extent, future proof? I mean, until the next Vista comes along... I do like the upgrade idea, though. Seems like a really nice idea, though probably impossible...
The upgrade program could also have the added benefit of allowing the manufactures to recycle the old components and set up a charity offering low-cost laptops for struggling students.
Lack of upgradability is my biggest complaint about laptops.
wouldnt that give too much control to companes building these machines.. It would be nice to have, but your suggestion only brings us closer to "standardization". Im not saying that's bad, but being that the government wants more control over technology, this would be making it too easy for them. The market is the way it is for a reason. Careful what you wish for, Walmart might be closing your local computer store down.
Rather than having to send it in every few years I'd love to have full access to all of the parts myself. That way, whenever the greatest and latest part comes out I can easily swap it out with my old part. A Send in upgrade system could work though.
The send in and upgrade plan is actually a really good idea. Another advantage of this program is that less materials would be wasted with people not throwing their PCs away when they reach the end of there life cycles.
A while ago, there was a standard to upgrade notebook video cards, but no manufacturers seemed to use the expandible cards.
And some other manufacturer showed a proof-of-concept external video card for notebooks that attached via firewire or some other port.
But I think the best way for it to happen is to standardize on other parts. On desktops, if we have a case, pretty much any ATX motherboard will fit in it. Any optical drive will fit in it. Notebook makers should design a standard for the dimensions of motherboards and where the processors and fans should go, the locations of optical drives, usb ports, vga/dvi ports, and the size of keyboards, so power users could build/upgrade their notebooks on their own.
I'm sorry to say that, at least with the experience I have (just graduated in a computer science major), there is no way to future proof such things as PC, notice how I say pc's because this includes everything from desktops, laptops and netbooks. Moore said this a while back. you can however make upgrades along the way and sell your last piece of hardware but "future-proof" is not, happening.
I don't think it's possible to get "future-proof" hardware, as new technology demands newer standards, thus making killing forward-compatibility. A trade-in program would have to be the way to go. Maybe like Nvidia's trade-up program, but on steroids?
(frugally) upgradeable laptops would be a godsend for laptop power-users.
Nvidia tried this before with MXM. However, they need to make it cheaper and more commonplace.
... Aren't current PCs, to an extent, future proof? I mean, until the next Vista comes along... I do like the upgrade idea, though. Seems like a really nice idea, though probably impossible...
The upgrade program could also have the added benefit of allowing the manufactures to recycle the old components and set up a charity offering low-cost laptops for struggling students.
Lack of upgradability is my biggest complaint about laptops.