Originally posted by mikhael
Um... when you put the droid in (a computer in a self enclosed shell) you are adding "more computer hardware in it". Further you're getting a standard interface to disparate hardware through the interface socket. Further still, you get mobile computers that you can take with you into town to talk to the parts dealer and let the droid tell the inventory droid what parts you need to repair your ship.
Plus add the fact that since the Astromechs (R2s, 3s, etc) do all the inflight repairs
/ power rerouting, it's good to have them completely seperate. My computer goes offline and you're stranded,.. the droid can work on repairs still. Also look at Empire (And Jedi IIRC), while on Dagobah R2 was making repairs to Luke's X Wing and helped prep it for flight while Luke whined to Yoda and Ben. Kinna nice having something that can plop out the ship and run around making repairs while you find a titty-bar to pass the time with
