Thanks Michael! I really look forward to hear your thoughts on it. I’d rather keep a kind of captain log I think it’ll keep me honest. Maybe force me a bit to properly research and ideate rather than tunnel-vision on a solution. Also, I’d really like to get the community comments as I go a long than only get critiqued on a completed project.
Yeah integration is quite neat. I’ve seen quite a few desks with computers integrated in them. Mind you it’s not really the direction I want to go in. Part of the appeal of a small machine is the portability.
The more I dwell on the problem, the more I want to target a happy medium. Trying to make the smallest machine has to end up with a compromise in compatibility and build ease.
One route that does seem interesting to me is bundling. You could then create a few parts like the PSU or CPU cooler very specific to the case.
Yeah, it’s really neat to see these companies coming out with external GPUs and they might become quite common in the next few years. Especially with the gaming crowd. Laptops CPUs seem to be powerful enough for most modern gaming titles but you need a really big machine to fit a GPU capable of running them. With that said, I know Intel is making a big push towards integrating better GPUs and the GPU vendors seems to be pushing for lower wattage with their coming generations.
Coming back to this PC case project, I’m not sure for a modular PC. The only true candidate I can think of is someone who’d have a laptop for who an external GPU would be small enough to carry but a full machine wouldn’t - yet that person would want to own full desktop for their office. There might be some uses for having removable/shareable storage but those are already readily available.
It might be worth thinking of expanding the case to a full product line up if the it makes sense in the style. Starting with a full desktop, then creating a smaller version that doesn’t support a graphics card, an external graphics card enclosure and finally a storage solution. That way it would be possible to mix and match a setup… Though that seems quite out of my scope at the moment.
I think it’ll keep me honest. Maybe force me a bit to properly research and ideate rather than tunnel-vision on a solution. Also, I’d really like to get the community comments as I go a long than only get critiqued on a completed project.