Modularity in modern day devices are certainly something worth looking into – as it offers the flexibility of being able to move with the times without having to invest so much of your money on a new device each year. For instance, Google’s Project Ara toys with the idea of modular smartphones, while Acer themselves have a modular mini-desktop that has garnered some interest, so it is not surprising to see the likes of Microsoft being interested, too. In fact, Microsoft has already applied for a patent on a modular computing device that is more or less an all-in-one desktop PC – except that owners can decide to include more functionality down the road simply by stacking hardware modules on top of one another, keeping it future-proof (hopefully).
These modules will no doubt be swappable, and it opens up the doors of letting one swap out processors, graphics, memory, or storage in a jiffy without the need for prying open a PC case. This makes life a whole lot easier, and possibly far less screws to keep track off, too. Do take note, as usual, that having applied for a patent does not mean that the hardware is set to follow, although Microsoft’s assault on the hardware front cannot be faulted in recent times with the likes of their Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, Patent and Pc. Source: venturebeat
