Off Topic: Comptuers

I had an interesting vision of future computers when I was young. I envisioned a small box with less components that did more. My original idea was to have a 'motherboard' and 'processor' combonation that had less components lying around. Computers of the past were bulky and cumbersome to say the least. Things have gotten smaller and smaller over the years so here is my question:

"Why can't everything be controlled by the processor?"

You could theoretically have a 'dumb board' that acts as the receptical for a processor that does it all. It functions as a graphics card, sound card, and everything else. You insert one of these little numbers into a motherboard and it becomes true 'central brain' of the machine. It would make upgrades easier for one. Instead of picking up a motherboard, sound card, ram, video card, processor, etc. You buy a new processor and you're done. You could have your graphics and normal memory upgradable on the mainboard and be done with it. You need more processing power? Replace the chip, upgrade the ram.

I for one hate having to purchase a new motherboard, ram, processor, graphics card and everything else when I want to upgrade my computer to the newest standard.

Now for those who need the 'latest and greatest' without upgrading everything, go with the traditional method. I've been using the same machine for years on end and it plays world of warcraft just fine. It plays most games just fine. The components I need to upgrade are the processor and the video card, maybe the ram to DDR2.

I guess it's just a pipe dream but it would be nice to have one thing to upgrade on a PC instead of several components.