Building your own PC has always seemed a process tailored towards the more tech-savvy user. Between navigating Newegg and other sites, to figuring out if you want to go SSD or just your basic HDD, it’s a process mired in tech-speak and numbers. For some people, that daunting process can be enough to dissuade them from ever taking the plunge.
Razer has introduced their new concept at the Consumer Electronics Expo that hopes to appeal to the hardcore enthusiasts and the average person. Codenamed Project Christine, she is a modular PC based on separate elements extending from a central “spine,” easily slotted in depending on need and functionality.
Project Christine is a revolutionary concept design that allows users to build and customize PCs in any configuration without any prior technical knowledge.
The attractive looking concept revolves around separate mineral-oil cooled chambers. Each of these chambers includes a component to the PC, and to install, the user simply needs to slot the addition into the central tower. The hope is that such a system would allow for easy fixes for broken components and a system that is instantly upgradeable when the parts become obsolete.
There are obvious downsides for the consumer, in that parts would need to configure to Project Christine’s’ unique modular set-up. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan said, “It’s not going to be possible for you to rip it open and install it into another PC.”
But for a user that wants high-end components in an easy-to-install environment, Project Christine is an attractive offering. Because the components can be vastly different PC to PC, the price is incredibly fluid and dependent on the customers needs. While undoubtedly an expensive concept (since Razer would have to manufacture all the components) its innovative design is bound to influence future Razer products as well as those of its competitors.
Another interesting concept being floated around Project Christine is the idea of a subscription model for paying for the PC rather than the traditional system. Tan explains:
Something we’re playing around with is a subscription model so instead of having to spend $2,500 on a new desktop PC, because this is modular it could be a subscription model where you say you want a tier 1 PC at any point in time. Or I want a tier 2 PC at any point in time. Say a new GPU comes out, we could ship them the new GPU, they take out the old GPU and ship it back to us, and they just plug in the new GPU. And at any point in time, the gamer will always have a tier 1 PC without having to worry about all of that.
Definitely enticing for the gamer/user that wants to be on the cutting edge. Perpetually customizable, Project Christine is an attractive package.
Would you buy into Razer’s Project Christine? Does the subscription model sound like an interesting idea? Sound off in the comments below.
