I'm working in Asia (Singapore) and here everyone referes to the tower unit of the PC as the 'cpu'. Made me blink at first as well, but clearly that's just how some parts of the world refer to it...

I bet you don't call an Intel Core2Quad a central processing unit either....

He's just showing his age a bit, back in the day CPU didn't refer to the silicon processor, but to the entire case. The entire kit an' kaboodle of monitor (output device) + printer (output device) + keyboard (input device) + case was called a computer. The case was called the CPU back then for central processing unit.

That was back when computers were business machines that cost five figures on the cheap side and before the IBM clones hit.

don't be a 'tard mistry, he means put the case on the desk, and unless this is your first day on the inquirer you should know by now they always use daft names for stuff (vole, blighty etc)

Ahem,
"CPU on the desk"
Last time I looked the a CPU was the famcy bit of silicon that gets hot and is "the brains of a computer (according to the bbc)".
I woudl have thought a jornalist of your (apparent) experience in building pcs (qucikly) would prevent you from making such a newbie mistake.
On a different note, with the Shuttle KPC K48, I think I have foudn the ideal match for my HTC Touch smartphone.
Niki Mistry