johns said:
To what extent has the "Vista Only" machines
been recended ? For example, the Compaq Presario
is Vista Only ... with no drivers available for XP ..
and they will void any warranty if you try to install
XP. As I understand it, Vista Only means "NO
BIOS" is needed for anything .. mobo, video card,
... it is already in Vista. And M$ has total
ownership of that hardware. Which says to me
I will not even be able to go to vendors like NewEgg
and buy a video card that is Vista Only, and build
my own machine. I will ONLY be able to buy a
Vista Only PC from a certified Microsoft Builder
... like HP. Compaq Tech ( Shhhh ! ) told me
that in the future, the video cards for Vista and
Dx10 will be embedded on the mobo, and that
is why ATI ( and NVidia ) are getting in bed with
AMD and Intel .... embedded video hardware.
Well your Compaq Tech was close. The CPU (central processing unit, or
microprocessor) will eventually be obsolete. Truth is, it is already
obsolete. GPUs, or graphics processing units (the microprocessor on the
video card, some of them already built into motherboards) are getting so
powerful that they can handle all the CPU functions (as well as GPU
functions) quite easily. Eventually, it will be redundant to install a
"video card" and a "CPU".
When you only need one chip to perform both functions, what is the point of
an expansion card to mount it on? That's why the video chip will soon be on
the motherboard. Will it be built into the motherboard? Possibly. When
you are upgrading the GPU and CPU (which will soon be both on one chip), the
cost of upgrading the motherboard is negligible on top of that. So we very
well could see motherboards with everything built into them soon. Even
storage!!! Kiss the hard drive goodbye... solid state storage isn't cheap
enough for mainstream yet. But it's just a matter of time.
So your compaq tech knew half the story, but he didn't understand, or didn't
explain, the reasoning behind the embedded video. Now you know... the CPU
is going the way of the dinosaur. And this has nothing to do with Vista, or
even Microsoft. The hardware is changing. GPU will replace CPU
oon. -Dave