You can get everything today as a USB device. USB harddrives and storage, USB to Ethernet/wifi adapters, USB to VGA adapters, etc
So I propose a minimilast cube shaped PC, containing nothing but a processor, RAM, and one or two USB ports. Optional accessories would include a 4, 8 or 16 port powered USB hub that snaps seamlessly onto the cube PC. Of course, the user is always free to use any external USB hub of their choosing.-- ServoMan314, Apr 03 2009 Mac Mini http://www.apple.com/macmini/even better than a PC, because it doesn't depend on a crap, virus ridden, operating system [xenzag, Apr 03 2009] I don't know if USB is fast enough for everything, but I'm sure there are applications where would this would be cool. Slap on a terabyte USB drive and a wifi adapter and you have a nice tiny remote network storage device... Bun!-- Alpharaul, Apr 03 2009 "one or two"? I'd say to be useful, you'd need a minimum of 8. Like the idea, though. [+]-- gisho, Apr 03 2009 Baked by Apple years ago, in the form of the Mac Mini - see link.-- xenzag, Apr 03 2009 [xenzag] - neither does a PC, unless you're using "PC" to mean "Windows machine only". This would be a cool hobbyist/small business product, in which context it would almost certainly have to run Linux, for lack of money to throw at Microsoft.-- gisho, Apr 03 2009 //it would almost certainly have to run Linux//
excellent point gisho, I should have mentioned that originally.-- ServoMan314, Apr 04 2009 I can see where this would have applications, but I don't see it as a viable future for general purpose consumer computing.
- USB is a CPU-driven bus; every transaction over USB requires processor intervention, and thus takes away cycles which ought to be available for other things.
- I don't agree that the main system GPU should be offloaded to USB, for bandwidth, speed and latency reasons.
- The new point-to-point motherboard buses are far superior.
- USB networking can be problematic.
- Lastly, adding USB to every device makes each one more expensive than a bare, internal device.-- BunsenHoneydew, Apr 19 2009 ...but on the plus side it would make it much easier to take the computer apart while it's running in order to re-enact that HAL9000 "My mind is going" scene.-- hippo, Apr 20 2009 [Ian], Are you the elder or younger Ensor?-- wjt, May 30 2017 [Ian] It's a fictional surname.-- wjt, May 31 2017 random, halfbakery