So another year, and another ambitious concept design by Razer.
http://www.razerzone.com/christine
Project Christine, simply put, is a modular PC concept that literally brings plug and play accessibility to hardware directly via the use of huge boxes that hold PC components and are plugged in via PCI-Express.
The concept is novel, as far as I'm concerned, but I have my doubts.
The first is that it's being developed by Razer. Some people like Razer, some people don't. I am amongst the crowd who don't, finding most of their products to be second grade plastic crap, built for design and brand like an Apple iPhone without any of the quality.
I find the idea incredibly fascinating, but what worries me is that the entire thing will be under the jurisdiction of one company: Razer.
If a new GPU, CPU or better RAM is released, how long do I have to wait before I can buy a box for it? Does Razer design these boxes with the new parts or do they work alongside hardware developers like NVIDIA directly? More importantly, what's the cost?
Price is my primary concern here. I find Razer rather melodramatic about PC gaming, admitting on one hand it can be very difficult for an average person to understand how their computer works, what goes wrong and how to upgrade it whilst offering "solutions" that tend to be rather overpriced, leaving a lot to be desired.
As easy as Project Christine might make upgrading your hardware, if I have to wait more time before I can upgrade only to then pay a hefty premium to do so, why bother? It'd be far easier and cheaper to just learn how to build a PC yourself.
Hell, if the price is as extreme as I think it'll be, it'd likely be far cheaper to just buy the parts and pay an IT expert to do the job for you.
Sounds like the Steam Machine all over again, really. Marketed for people with too much money and not enough sense.