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Originally Posted by pentoman
An important point is the cost. Micochips/computer parts are extraordinarily cheap (you can build a very powerful computer for $350), in theory these should be cheap in the cars too. No car in the next 5 years will need more processor power than a $100 Pentium 4. Less pipes, valves and hoses to go wrong and just these cheapo chips should be nice, but I suspect there'll be a reasonable mark-up from the manufacturer.
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Whenever a major module fails, it's costs more than a leading edge laptop! Attribute some of that to manufacturer markup, but while your typical standalone PC sits in one place in room temperature, those microprocessors are being severely jostled and vibrated in an unforgiving, hot environment! You have to go to military-grade stuff before you can expect any reasonable service life from those components, and that also serves to drive up cost...