[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by FFL I agree that it would be a great advantage in upgrading and especially in low-cost repairs, to put I/O ports on PCI Express cards. However, there is no way Apple will release anything that doesn't have the standard ports of USB, FireWire, and Ethernet. The fact that all models in the line have those, is part of the whole Mac aura, and part of what makes compatibility with 3rd devices much more simple than on the Wintel platform.

Thanks for your comments. I am mainly interested in the "TC" concept here, whether it makes sense and is reasonable, so your remarks are encouraging. I suspect you are correct about Apple's I/O policy, but I can hope things change a little. Maybe Apple could have a ready made home configuration with the three I/O you mention and a graphics card with eMac performance. Apple might sell lower performance to enterprise and education on a built-to-order basis. That would be a good start at least.