Technology is wonderful.

Rik · Apr 20, 2008, 19:12:44

Yeah, and most of their ideas work against the consumer.

Niall · Apr 21, 2008, 20:42:14

Quote from: Rik on Apr 20, 2008, 17:14:18
For now. My first CD player a 1x affair, complete with SCSI interface, cost over £200. My first 10MB HD cost £300. My first packet of floppies (5.25", 160K) cost £36, 32K of RAM cost about £60...

I remember when x16 Plextor CD writers came out. I paid over £200 for mine and that was nearly £100 cheaper. Computer fairs used to be brilliant

bob_s · Apr 21, 2008, 21:42:35

I can see in a few short years, PCs being made without a single moving part as standard. With the flash memory getting better, and the growing move to lower power usage and climate change.
A well designed PC, good heat sinks as part of the chassis, no fans, no hard drive. Perfectly quiet, cheap to run and more than the average office or home user needs. I know these exist now, but they are still not mainstream.

Rik · Apr 22, 2008, 09:22:43

I agree with you, Bob. The move to reduce moving parts is inevitable and highly desirable. In part, I suspect it will be driven by the desire to make the PC the entertainment centre.

pup · Apr 22, 2008, 09:24:45

Quote from: Lance on Apr 20, 2008, 17:09:34
Once they are a bit faster, solid state hard drives will be much more practical!

Sebby · Apr 22, 2008, 13:17:32

Quote from: Rik on Apr 22, 2008, 09:22:43
In part, I suspect it will be driven by the desire to make the PC the entertainment centre.

I look forward to the day when this is the norm. I know it's possible at the moment, but I can't help but feel it's too much of a hassle.

Rik · Apr 22, 2008, 14:06:29

It is right now, Sebby, but I'm certain the solid-state HD is not far away.

kinmel · Apr 22, 2008, 16:23:12

My media pc is very similar to this this setup , the OS is on the flashdrive and instead of a hard drive it pulls data off the network from another pc. No fans at all and no moving parts, so it is completely silent.

Using an adaptor plate it is bolted to the VESA fixings on the back of the lounge LCD TV

Rik · Apr 22, 2008, 16:30:22

Eventually, we'll all be handling our entertainment this way, with a media server to handle supply to the whole house. If we could get fibre to the home, other forms of TV distribution could be abolished.

john · Apr 23, 2008, 00:54:47

The trouble with fibre like the copper wiring before it is that it has to be run to every location that people want to use it. A wireless solution would be better but I don't think existing systems are up to high bandwidth mass communication of data for a while yet.

At the moment I'd just like everything to work as it should and I think solid state devices will mean more reliability.