That "we" isn't global. Some called it "the CPU", some called it "the hard drive", some made fun of those two groups for not knowing what they were talking about.

[–] frostysauce@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh, yes, I forgot it was also the hard drive! Now that I think about it, I'm not sure the proper name. Today I'd just call it the tower, but I'm not sure what the square ones that sat with the monitor on top would be called.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I think those are where the name "desktop" comes from, though that term now refers to other computer things.

I refer to them as "tower", "case" (which is technically just the shell and frame, but can include the contents), "computer", or "machine".