Hey Dave,
Currently the official answer would be 'Sorry not yet'. Unofficially you could try a combination of custom fields and a custom taxonomy.
The custom field is to describe if a product is a component or a base product.(in your case you can make 2 different product-types, but if you image computers and also selling cpu individually a custom field would be easier)
Components would be initially hidden in the product listing by extending the the widget selector and displayed selectively based on parent taxonomy.
The custom taxonomy would describe the hierarchical relation between base products and components. Since products can belong to multiple taxonomies, components could show up under different 'parent taxonomies' (read base product groups).
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So yes, it currently would be do-able, but it would require you to alter a few things:
Extend product types (implemented).
Hierarchical taxonomy (use departments, if not extend BE:products to allow a 2nd).
Alter display of product widgets to hide components (implemented)
Selectively display component-products (not implemented - custom coding).
Hope this helps...
Jochem
