Improving Computer Form Factors?

eschasi asks: "Recently we've been seeing some trend towards smaller footprint machines like the new iMac or the tiny PC system shown in this recent article. All these tiny systems have scalability or quality problems for me, and I don't think it has to be that way. But all the solutions I see require discarding much of what we think is standard to desktop/deskside mechanical design for PCs. Apple has been able to do with much more freedom becuase they own the whole process. PC makers, however, don't. The last major improvement to PC motherboard/case design was the ATX design, and that was evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I think that major improvement can still be made in an evolutionary way. I want both worlds: I want a small footprint; I want it in a premium system; I want it to have enough room for a pair of hard drives, a 5.25" external slot, and a 3.5" external slot; and I want it using largely off-the-shelf components, and I don't want to have to re-invent ATX and PCI and ya-da-day to get it!" Do you feel the same way? How would you improve the current crop of PC form factors?

"IMHO large chunks of the problem could be solved by taking advantage of both sides of the motherboard. Put the CPU and most of the misc. chips on one side, put the expansion slots and RAM on the other. The case design would have to change but that's quite doable.

Using both sides of the motherboard does more than reduce footprint by half while returning to full expandability. You also get the benefit of having the RAM sit directly opposite the CPU, reducing trace length problems and permitting RAM bus speed increases. Other timing problems might also be reduced.

I've left aside the rest of my extensive arguements for why this is or isn't a good idea; what I'm interested in is this:

• Do other people see the same drawbacks with small-footprint systems?
• What seems to be out there on the drawing board for post-ATX systems?"

Krow's comments: Form factor and cute design is all great and lovely but I want to know what can be done to reduce electrical usage for the average geek's home hosting farm collection. Even small usage reductions add up.

Comments

Re:Reducing electrical usage

[stevew]

So you want me to put 220V into my 1.8V processor. Uhhuh...good idea.

SHEESH!

As for form factors - Apple is getting away with it primarily because they have more readily accepted the USB as the upgrade path, where as the PC world is still keeping the entire legacy around AND adding USB.

The problem with this is that you wind up with all those messy cables again as soon as you add the peripherals back into the mix when they're connected with USB! Not to mention where do you put them all on your desk?