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Hardware

Mac-Case Clone for PCs 229

Posted by timothy from the long-needed dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ever wanted a Mac case for your pc? Well this is your lucky day. Well sort of... you can read a preview of this yet-to-be-released case at hardware-unlimited.com." Smart design -- Now, if only this came in black ...
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Mac-Case Clone for PCs More

Mac-Case Clone for PCs

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  • Nice! (Score:2, Troll)

    by Spazzz ( 577014 )
    Wonder how long it'll be before Apple sues them for "look and feel" infringement, though?

    • Re:Nice! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Bedouin X ( 254404 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:24AM (#3881177) Homepage
      Nobody because the damn thing looks NOTHING like a Mac case. It doesn't have the 4 handles like a Mac case, the drive covers aren't nearly as seamless, it doesn't open like a Mac case, the drives don't floor mount like a Mac case. It seems to have that slippery covering like a Mac case but I'm inclined to think that even that is a subpar knockoff.

      Pathetic... and I'm not even a big Mac fan, I'd hate to hear what they have to say.
    • There were already Mac "clones" (i.e. Windos PCs with iMac-style case) during the first iMac wave and Apple sued them into oblivion.
      I suppose, Apple will it make soon impossible to pretend being smart by buying a special computer case.
    • But don't most PC cases look and feel close enough? If not, I am going to go patent a Black computer case and the "Retro" Beige case right now..

  • Doesn't look too "mac" but I guess thats a good thing. Its a REALLLY nice case, I think I should get one, the cooling on mine sucks, I cannot use the floppy or the cdrom unless I take them out of the case :(
  • ... this does'nt look as half as good as the original powerMac case does!
    Too massive and not enough transparency.a

    I'm not a mac-user, but I don't like it.

    Besides, not the right hardware in it! ;-)

  • Case color (Score:3, Funny)

    by tibbetts ( 7769 ) <jason@@@tibbetts...net> on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:13AM (#3881138) Homepage Journal

    Now, if only this came in black ...

    Now, if only this came in beige...

    • I have always been a fan of cheap beige cases. Not for the color itself, but specifically for the price. I also look for functionality - since I spraypaint my cases another color anyways.

      What I would like to see is a good spray that will coat my case/laptop with that 'wet'-looking gloss, and not wear down easily.

      I attempted to use one type of gloss coat on my laptop, but parts of it still wear down. (such as the corners)

      Anyone have any advice for this 'magical' gloss I'm looking for?
  • Yep looks great without anything in it
    however itt will look pretty crap with my beige floppy/zip/dvd/cdrw in it (although the top slot has a flip top by the looks of it)

    Will thety sell extra covers for these things?

  • Comments (Score:5, Informative)

    by kawaichan ( 527006 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:14AM (#3881140) Homepage
    OK, If you really want a MacCase lookalike, you might be better off getting an empty G3/G4 case on Ebay then mod the hell out of it

    G4 Case PC mod guide [slcentral.com]

    G4 Case Auction [ebay.com]

  • How about instead of having a Mac-Clone case for my PC I get MacOS X for i386. Now that's a fucking brilliant idea :)
  • i'd wager 10 minutes before this gets slashdotted....basically, the case looks the same as a G4 mac case....from about 10 feet away and if you squint real hard. no handle on each side, just round bumps where there would be a handle. 3 5 1/2" bays, a 4th 5 1/2" bay with flip out cover for a CD drive. oh, and it doesn't unfold like a suitcase (like the mac cases do - one of the main reasons to want one).

    i can't say i'm altogether impressed with this one, but put some blue LEDs on it and you have a case-modder's dream :)

    as for making it black, 20 minutes with paint thinner should make those outside panels clear, like the G3/G4 cases, and you can paint it whatever you want. the front has a flip down bit, behind it is a firewire, usb, audio in/out ports, which could be useful.

  • Whaaa? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wazzzup ( 172351 ) <astromacNO@SPAMfastmail.fm> on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:18AM (#3881152)
    This is no Mac case. Apple wouldn't be caught dead releaseing something this pedestrian.

    It's a beige box except it's not beige and it's covered in lucite. It is much nicer than standard issue cases coming out of PC manufacturers warehouses though.

    PC case, yes. Mac case,no.

    • Re:Whaaa? (Score:1, Troll)

      by Elbereth ( 58257 )
      I have a B&W G3 PowerMac. This is one of the older PowerMacs, but it runs OS X perfectly fine.

      The case sucks horribly, except for the fact that it opens easily. First of all, it's totally proprietary. Second, there's no expansion room at all. Want a DVD-RAM and a CD-RW? Sorry. Can't do it. That's pathetic. Third, it doesn't have any nice features like front-accessible USB/Firewire, big power supply (oh yeah, that's proprietary, too), slide-out motherboard tray, multiple fan mounts, etc.

      It's an aestheically pleasing case with horrible design. I much prefer my PC cases, even though they aren't spiffy colors or have handles.

      If you moderate me as flamebait, at least consider that some people on this Mac site [xlr8yourmac.com] agree with me and give instructions on how to move your Mac motherboard to a quality PC tower [xlr8yourmac.com]. The article is old and references an obsolete product, but the same thing has been done to newer PowerMac motherboards.

      • Re:Whaaa? (Score:4, Informative)

        by zapfie ( 560589 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @02:16PM (#3882104)
        Both the blue G3 and all the G4 cases have drivebays like PC towers, PCI expansion slots, etc. etc. This is something Apple fixed a loooooooong time ago. Nice troll attempt, though.
      • The power supply isn't proprietary. I cobbled together a G4/400 in a B&W G3 case a few years back from parts found around the building when I worked at Apple. The power supply was a plain old ATX unit.. nothing proprietary about it at all.

    • I agree. It's too ugly. The newer Macs are at least somewhat nice to look at.

  • Dunno about you, but I think your $150 could be better spent than on a Mac case look-a-like [directron.com]. Even retail stores have half-way decent cases for ~$30. Oh, I guess if you're the kind of person that'ld want to put a window in their harddrive or lights in their case, this might be right up your alley, but for the price difference, you could probably upgrade at least one of your major components (bigger harddrive, faster processor, better motherboard, faster graphics card, more memory, bigger monitor, etc).

    Wand then again, none of your hardware (drives, fans, monitor, etc) is going to match the case. Look at that case and imagine a bunch of white/beige components in there (makes it look ugly, doesn't it)...

    • Re:$150 for a case? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by adamwright ( 536224 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:24AM (#3881175) Homepage
      Some cases really are worth that (and more). I paid £120 (around $180) for my new Lian Li, and don't regret a single penny of it. 4 Builtin fans (variable speed), entirely thumb screw based, pull out motherboard tray, and the chasis is 100% aluminium.

      $150 spent on a graphics card might get you top FPS for a few months. $150 on a decent case will last you the rest of your ATX sized upgrades, and save you a LOT of pain if you go inside your machine a fair bit.
      • $150 spent on a graphics card might get you top FPS for a few months.

        True, but $150 spent on a better motherboard will go alot further than a few months.

        $150 on a decent case will last you the rest of your ATX sized upgrades, and save you a LOT of pain if you go inside your machine a fair bit.

        Agreed, but that is an argument for a highly functional case, not this one which seems less functional than even a standard case since you have to be careful not to crack the case...

        The thing is made out of plastic, not aluminium. It is not likely to hold up to constant upgrades as well as say an all aluminium case.
    • In my opinion, a system case does not need to be the cutting edge of external design.

      What I really want from a system case is the following:

      1. A decent 300W power supply at minimum that works with all the current ATX motherboards.

      2. Easy installation of the motherboard itself.

      3. Designed so system cooling works well with just one case fan and the power supply fan.

      4. Easy to remove system covers.

      Fortunately, you can get cases meeting my criteria for under US$70 pretty easily.

    • Re:$150 for a case? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Elbereth ( 58257 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:45AM (#3881217) Journal
      I seriously doubt that your $30 case can match my $100 case. For starters, my case has an Antec True 480W power supply. It also has four case fans. Your $30 case probably has room for one, maybe two case fans. You might not think this is such a big deal, but I've got a dual Pentium Pro 200 that's still running, not to mention a P233 MMX. My computers don't die, no matter how hot the summers get.

      Oh yeah, and that 480W power supply drives a dual processor Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard. You don't necessarily need more than 350W for that board, but you can't add more juice to your power supply when it turns out you miscalculated your power requirements.

      Your $30 case probably wouldn't hold half the motherboards I've got (with one exception, they're all dual processor). These motherboards are necessarily large, occasionally coming in sizes that won't even fit in a quality mid-tower case! I know what you're going to say: nobody uses dual processor motherboards. I'd mostly agree with that, but consider power users who want integrated IDE RAID (blech), Firewire, and 8 zillion USB ports. All of that takes up space on a motherboard. Some of the nicer motherboards require you to have a big case. Some of them even take up as much space as my dual processor boards! Let's not even talk about dual Xeon boards...

      Last but not least... you get what you pay for. I know, nobody wants to believe that, but it's mostly true. If you put down $60 for a motherboard, $20 for your RAM, and $30 for your case, I pity the stability of your computer. Every one of those components are going to be flakey, unless you're lucky (sometimes you do luck out and get good quality items). Chances are, though, that stuff is cheap for a reason... it failed QA testing, someone in China is dumping sub-par equipment in the West, or it's refurbished/returned.

      Don't get me wrong, I use $2 mice and $39 motherboards sometimes. But I know what I'm getting myself into, and I never, ever recommend anything but top quality stuff (Asus, Antec, Toshiba, etc) to my friends. Also, I never build systems for my friends or clients with cheap-ass components.

      Holy shit, this post is long. I better get moderated up for all this typing.
      • nope, more like modded down for being an uber-troll.

      • I don't think his point was "all anyone needs is a $30 case" but "if all you need is a $30 case, don't spend $150 on a fancy looking case". Of course there are good reasons to buy an high-end case, but most cases designed for looks aren't much better than the El Cheapo case you can get from your local computer store.
      • For starters, my case has an Antec True 480W power supply.

        Ok, my $30 case has a 450W power supply...you've got 30W on mine there...

        Your $30 case probably has room for one, maybe two case fans.

        2 fans (not including the power supply)...

        My computers don't die, no matter how hot the summers get.

        I didn't say anything about skimping on cooling...this case only has room for 2 fans that I see...and I haven't seen a system that needs more than 2 good case fans.

        Your $30 case probably wouldn't hold half the motherboards I've got

        It's a Mid-Tower case. And so is the "MacPC" case.

        you get what you pay for.

        And in this case you get "looks" and that's all...you either get more features or better quality at that price.

        If you put down $60 for a motherboard, $20 for your RAM...

        Agreed.

        $30 for your case, I pity the stability of your computer.

        Disagree.

        My $30 case is similar to This One [futurepowerusa.com]...which is all the quality you should expect from this system. If you need a better case, you should buy one, but this one offers nothing over my $30 case.
      • Last but not least... you get what you pay for. I know, nobody wants to believe that, but it's mostly true. If you put down $60 for a motherboard, $20 for your RAM, and $30 for your case, I pity the stability of your computer. Every one of those components are going to be flakey, unless you're lucky (sometimes you do luck out and get good quality items).

        If you carefully research the components that you are interested in then you can often times get excellent parts for considerably less than top dollar. It's all a matter of evaluating needs versus cost. For example, I paid less than $100 7 months ago for my DDR Athlon mainboard and got an Epox 8KHA+. It's an excellent board, is very fast and rock-solid stable. No compatibility issues and it has plenty of slots for expansion. At the same time I paid $40 for my Enlight 7237 mid-tower case with a 300W PSU. It's easy to get into, installation was simple and it looks and works fine. Around the same time I picked up a TDK VeloCD 24x10x40 CDRW for $70. It works great, burns everything I need to burn and hasn't made a single coaster. There's a lot more at work here than simple dumb luck. While I'm at it, I'd also like to point out the obvious: just because it costs more money doesn't mean that it's any better.

        Don't get me wrong, I use $2 mice and $39 motherboards sometimes. But I know what I'm getting myself into,

        And the implication you make here is that nobody else does. That's a bit of a ridiculous notion, especially when you consider the talents of the average Slashdot reader.

        Holy shit, this post is long. I better get moderated up for all this typing.

        It's usually quality, not quantity that matters.

        Now, on to the matter of this "Mac-alike" case. It looks nice. It seems to be fairly well designed, though still not as well done as a true PowerMac case. The smoked glass/charcoal color doesn't really do much for me personally, but that's just a matter of personal taste (like the rest of my comments about it). When it comes down to it though, it basically looks like any other mid-tower case. I've got a room full of PCs that look basically the same as this one. What is really far more interesting to me are cases like the Shuttle SS40 [tomshardware.com]. I think that the small form factor is probably the way to go for the average user nowdays, and the Shuttle systems look damn good. And they're quiet. And if you're really obsessed with wanting a "Mac-alike", just pretend it's a G4 Cube.
    • Cheap cases are like cheap motherboards. You get what you pay for. I love it when I pick up a cheap case and it bends the board.

      A case under $80 is not worth looking at. I usually (I work in IT) spend around $100-$120, most expensive was $800 but that was a server case.

      • I love it when I pick up a cheap case and it bends the board.

        I've bought tons of "cheap cases" (probably not over 100, but at least 75)...and I've never found one that actually BENDS the motherboard...I guess if it had a hole slightly off center it could bend the board, but I've never seen it...especially if you're using the proper connectors...

        I usually (I work in IT) spend around $100-$120

        I do too, and I've never spent that much for a mid-tower, of course I've done 20 and 30 systems at a time, where it was much cheaper to build a couple of extras rather than get more expensive parts. And cheap does not always mean bad. The power supply in my $30 case is perfectly fine....especially when you buy a case with signifigantly more power than you need. I have a $50 case powering a Linux box and it's been on (constantly...only turned off to move) for 5 years. And as for "defectives cases", if you are buying from any reputable firm, they should replace those cases at no cost...or at least that's what the BBB says :)

  • No flip side (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jonnythan ( 79727 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:19AM (#3881162)
    Looks nice, but doesn't have the functionality and *internal* configuration of a Mac. The current towers (starting with the Blue G3) are the best damn cases i've ever seen. Pull one small lever and the whole thing opens up, laying the motherboard flat right in front of you with nothing in the way. It's even got a very large, quiet case fan built into the side, opposite the PCI slots.

    Someone release a case like THAT for x86!!
    • The Dell Dimension 8200 [dell.com] is very similar to that. Push the release button, and you can open up the case just like the Apple cases.
      • The Dell Dimension 8200 is very similar to that. Push the release button, and you can open up the case just like the Apple cases.

        The key difference here though is that the G4 case [apple.com] you don't have to tip over to open up the case. You can open it while it is running without distrubing any of the cables or losing drive access. Beat that!

      • Push the release button, and you can open up the case just like the Apple cases.
        I wouyldn't say just like the Apple cases. I have both a G4 tower and a 8200 It took awhile to figureout the 8200 and to tell the truth it doesn't open very easy. and turning on it's face to open it isn't anywhere near how a Mac case works
    • I got a case that would do just exactly that.

      Problem was, it wouldn't work more than 30 seconds with my 1 Ghz athlon...see, when you flipped the case closed, the processor was in a nice little nook in front of the Power Supply and behind the CDRW and DVD drives. It made for a nice little heatmaker.

      So I overcompensated, got a huge tower box and never had a problem --past getting a floppy ribbon cable long enough.

      Does it look like a Mac's case? Well from sitting at my computer, it might as well. It's behind the desk, hidden in the corner. I don't look at it much.
    • Don't forget to mention the spot for the padlock on the back of the case. It is very slick. Just a standard padlock and you can lock the case closed ***and*** lock the entire case down to the desk. This would be a great feature for a computer lab.

      If anyone here ever goes to a larger computer store in the near future, I highly reccommend "window shopping" down the Mac Isle. Those 22-inch flat panels are amazing!
    • This thing looks like it was made to be a LAN party machine instead of a Mac lookalike. The handle, the flip cover for the connectors, all suggest that this box was meant for lugging to the next tourney. The question is why they didn't go to the logical conclusion and use more rubber or hard plastic to protect against scrapes and bumps. I would have gone for the yellow-and-black "sports electronics" style.

      Seriously, though, the builders ought to tone down their "looks like a Mac" spiel, or else they'll start drawing heat from Apple's rabid lawyer corps. I think the design is different enough, but there's no need to tempt fate.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Case condom? (Score:3, Funny)

    by JustAnOtherCodeSerf ( 181281 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:22AM (#3881169)
    Color me silly, but once again a PC maker is attempting to make a sorta cool looking pc by adding some plastic to the run of the mill pc case.

    My favorites are the ones where they just replace the front pannel... kinda like building facades... stock brick building with greek columns glued to its face. Maybe I should just glue a picture of the case I really want to the side of my pc.

  • NOT a Mac case clone; lacks best Mac case feature (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:23AM (#3881173) Homepage
    A colleague of mine who doesn't like Apples was in the lab when the first Mac with the current case design (the Blue-and-White) came in. It's on and working when he comes over to see it.

    This is a bare-metal guy. All his machines in the lab have had their covers removed because he's in them so often he can't be bothered to take the time to take covers off and put them back on. (FCC? What FCC?)

    He starts ranting and raving about how stupid Apple stuff is, how jerky the case looks, etc. "All this meaningless decoration." Pointing to the ring on the right side, he says, "Look at that stupid thing, for instance. What's that supposed to be?" He starts to fiddle with it--and the case swings open, the interior is completely exposed, the motherboard is mounted ON THE PIVOTING SIDE PANEL so it is totally accessible from above AND FROM THREE SIDES (nothing to obstruct your knuckles!)

    And the Mac goes on working without missing a beat.

    "Wow!" he says. "That's the best case design I've ever seen!" Then he adds, "I still hate Apple, though."

    This case clone reveals the shallow understanding of most non-Mac users who think the Mac is all about appearance at the expense of functionality.

    Who cares about a case that just looks vaguely like a Mac (I don't even think they've captured the appearance very well--it somehow looks awkward and unaesthetic)--but that leaves out the Mac case's best functional feature?
    • Does anyone know where there are some decent pictures of an Apple case thats opened up?

      I mean, we've all heard the propoganda (oh, the Nazi's did propoganda**), but I never actually see any pictures of an Apple with all of its guts hanging out. So to speak!

      **[Joke - works best if you're into Eddie Izzard]

    • Re:NOT a Mac case clone; lacks best Mac case featu (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rattler14 ( 459782 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @10:33AM (#3881341)
      I admit, I used to be just like this guy. I used to work at a PC store/repair shop and I despised macs to no end. In fact, the company I worked for wouldn't even allow someone to drop one off because no one wanted to deal with "those damn macs".

      So, i was a mac hater for a long time. And i would use all the excuses that people still use. They don't have any software support, they are expensive, people only buy them cause they're pretty, etc etc.

      But,a few months ago a friend of mine bought a powerbook, and i began my usual mac taunting. He then told me to come over and try it out. Now I own a powerbook and i'm happy as all hell with it.

      Point being, give'em a chance. Go and try using one at an apple store for a little while. Mac bashing without ever trying one (especially since OS X) is like posting comments on /. without reading the damn article first.

    • As a former repair tech at a PC/Apple shop, I've known for years that Apple has been consistantly (not 100% of the time, just most times) superior to other consmer PCs as far as hardware design goes. Cases included.

      And has anyone has the occasion to use Apple ServiceSource? Simply the best repair documentation ever. Down to sample startup sounds for the laser printers. We used to put the new guys on Apple repair because just about any moron with average reading comprehension abilities and a screwdriver could follow the procedures in there.

      The problem has always been the OS, and the costs of the hardware.

      Fixing one out of two isn't bad, right?
  • Buy a man a cheap suit and cheap shoes and what have you got? A man in a cheap suit and cheap shoes.

  • There Is No Spoon (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Effugas ( 2378 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:38AM (#3881200) Homepage
    Apple does something slightly out of the ordinary -- shave off a few edges, put a spit shine on the thing, throw in a screen -- and they're the heights of hardware innovation.

    Yes, cloning Luxo Jr. makes up for it all, but it's the exception that proves the rule. For the most part, a tower is a tower is a tower.

    They don't have to be.

    Where are cases that look like they'd fit directly in with an entertainment system, replete with integrated DVD-ROMs and elegantly sliding front panels for expansion?

    Where are low depth mods of rackmount cases, meant for vertical deployment next to your monitor?

    Why is everything so angular? Volvos weren't this boxy. Why is every sharp angle in the computer world the kind of thing you could just *see* a prisoner filing down in about five minutes into a lethal weapon? I mean, I know programmers have a thing for powers of two (bug me, we'll chant 2^n, it's a real party lemme tell ya), and 90 is 360/2/2, but damn. Pass calculus already.

    Hell, just to be ornery -- where's a natural keyboard clone you can stick a PC inside? In case you haven't noticed, your keyboard is several times larger than the avarage laptop.

    This isn't random complaining. We've got cookie cutter cases with trivial modifications for a reason: Systems that *do* new things are apparently selling better than systems that *look* like they do -- or at least, the economies of scale of making nigh-identical cases are so incredibly massive that every deviation from the standard design introduces order of magnitude slashes of profit margins.

    You might say this has as much to do with the limitations of the ATX spec, which specifically for cost purposes enforces fixed locations for all motherboard connectors. I don't know. I saw one random hobbyist with an ATX machine made out of a hollow cylinder of transparent plexiglass, illuminated with LEDs and with a detailed LCD providing system stats. Damn thing was a work of art. Sony, the one company most known for its attention to industrial design, recently came out with the closest "competitor": A _dark_ grey box with a spinach green LCD.

    And that's the thing, folks. That hobbyist probably spent dozens of hours hand crafting that beauty. The processes required to make such a unique case are extraordinarily varied and unique, and if every new generation of computers needed completely new case designs, costs would shoot through the roof. Your case would become the most expensive part of your machine.

    And so...we don't have unique cases. And I think I'm OK with that. But everyone, please. Unless you're talking about that brilliant homage to Pixar, don't think there's any originality at all among corporate case design.

    There's just not. Your dollars have spoken -- maybe even wisely.

    Yours Truly,

    Dan Kaminsky
    DoxPara Research
    http://www.doxpara.com
    • If you want a case that would go well with your stereo / VCR / TV, check out this one:

      ATC600 [dansdata.com]

      RMN
      ~~~
    • The who reason behind the square boxes is the motherboards. Motherboards are big rectangles, and as such cases are made to go around them. Do what you want, but nobody's going to cut apart their mother baord to get it to fit into a smaller shape, and so everything case design is still going to have to have a big flat side to it for the board. Here's where Apple's got its nice touch, since it designs the boards AND the cases, it can make em in funk shapes to fit whatever design they want. If a pc maked did it, they get bashed to hell for have a proprietary design, and nobody would buy thier stuff. Maybe when mother boards start being flexable, something will change, but for now, you get a new iMac, or you get a box.
    • The difficulty is twofold in regards to case design... One, coming up with a design that is truly innovative and original, second is coming up with a design that appeals to the masses at large...

      Case in point, the monstrosities that are unveiled by the major manufacturers, who are concentrating more on the bottom line, selling new machines, as opposed to actual innovation...

      There are a few exceptions, such as Lian-Li and others, but the primary difficulty is as old as the PC itself: The PC, from etching bath through soldering, testing, wiring and assembly, is an engineering task first, and a creative job second (or third, or fourth, etc)... It's overwhelmingly the "all" of using a PC... And unfortunately, there's little to no way for as vast an industry to make any real profitability from eclectic quirks and traits...

      Apple, in the meanwhile, has developed as a result of that very eclecticness, by essentially combining both the engineering AND artistic aspects towards the same goal...

      The (x86) PC market won't advance into that range until they learn to "think out of the box" as it were...

      And no, I have several unused aging Macs on a shelf in a closet, and a 1.5 Ghz PC on my desk, either are adequate as tools IMO, both have benefits and drawbacks... A terribly unpopular view in regards to technology, but hey, a wine drinker only drinks what brand is handy, a wine *taster* drinks all brands of wine one sip at a time...

  • Smart design? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hektor_Troy ( 262592 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @09:45AM (#3881218)
    Uhm, we're in the 21st century, and our "computers" are STILL huge metal boxes. Everything in the computerindustry shrinks, but aparently the case is the exception to prove the rule, as they keep making bigger and bigger cases.

    Place the latest and greatest Full-Tower-Ultra-Plus-Mega-Giga-ATX case next to say, a Flex-ATX or Micro-ATX case, like the one Tom's Hardware has their hands on here [tomshardware.com], and tell me which one embodies progress.

    Not to mention how nice it would be not to have to lug around a 30+ pound case (not to mention the heavy-ass 21" trinitron monitor) just to go to a LAN party.

    *sigh* Big Iron isn't a description of mainframes - it's a description of the standard cases you and I use and the cause of our hernia.
    • How many PC owners regularly lug their machines around? Very few I would expect. I certainly don't, thats what I have a laptop for. And I'd much rather have a spacious case than a tiny one. If you're messing about inside with cables etc, there's nothing worse than having no room to work with.
    • And you tell me how that little tiny thing is going to hold three hard drives, a CD-R, regular CD-ROM, Zip drive, floppy (yes, I still use a floppy), and my video card / sound card upgrades I periodically buy. There's a reason some of us like big cases.
  • As a Mac user for many years, all I can say is, " YUCK!"
  • are there any other places to buy G4 PowerMac cases? i've looked forever with little success.
  • Some links to check out.

    http://www.colorcases.com [colorcases.com] ( I've dealt with them and recommend them)
    http://www.pccase.com [pccase.com]
    http://www.crazypc.com [crazypc.com]

  • Reach for a bucket (Score:5, Interesting)

    by boris_the_hacker ( 125310 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @10:10AM (#3881267) Homepage
    A lot of the others posts hightlight one of the very important points about apple cases - the ability to open them up and have everything there easy to access. Brilliant. PC cases have cut me up and stabbed me so many times that this was ground breaking. Like most simple ideas are. But, alsa, that is not my point.

    Forgive me, but this case is disgusting. I would be embarrased to show anyone this case, it looks cheap tacky and the sort of thing a wannabe design student from school designed. To coin a phrase, "close but no cigar". Yes the apple case has curves, yes it's smooth plastic, yes it has handles and yes if you copied it out right you would have a law suit on your hands. But if you can't come up with something usefull and good looking dont even goto production.

    Let me ask a few questions, can you imagine a group of designers using this case? No neither can I. Can you imagine your parents using this case? Nope, not them. Can you imagine walking into work with your machines looking like this? Nope neither can I. Schools? Nope, Universitys? Nada. yet these are all places where Apples feature and look correct. Please, please, please can someone not come up with a case that is nice to look at, unobtrusive and functional. Surely I am not alone in wanting something like this.
  • I don't particularily care HOW nice a cse looks..... unless it is functional as well then it is just pretty eye candy coating of a poor case design. Even the Chinese PC case market with all their plastic mouldings and bulges here and there have made "kind of decent" cases that allow the mobo to swing out like the G3/G4 power macs. I have Celeron2 based minitower cased in plastic mouldings beside me that I use as a home server - upgrading or swapping hard drives is just a "push button, flip out side, fark around inside for a bit, slam side shut". Now that is functional.... - HeXa
  • A friend of mine in the mid-seventies put an aluminum V8 into a little Toyota (or maybe it was a Datsun, I forget.). Took quite awhile and a lot of mods on the poor little Toyota. He then drove the thing to Kansas.

    The point? Well, I think he did it so he could say he did it. That and the little Toyota could smoke anything else on the street. Computer hardware mods are kinda like that too. Fun to do and the result is you have something unique (or at least different from the mainstream.)

    I once hacked an Atari ST into a beige tower PC case. Wasn't much point in the exercise other than my ST looked a whole lot different than other STs and I learned alot about hacking hardware. Case modding is overall pretty damn cool, IMO.

  • Hmm, well, looking at it my first impression was "really nice", but then, looking more closely, some things are off ...

    1) The "handles" are not handles, but rather ugly protrusions. What a pity!

    2) as some ppl before me mentioned, as soon as you put your standard-beige drives in the drive trays, it will look a lot crappier than now. Do they plan to provide some way to cover the beige ugliness?

    3) and most important: You can't swing open the side door. That feature alone (and only that one, maybe) would convince me to go for such a case, despite the price tag. Because that is just a plain good idea. But no, not in this case.

    This makes me wonder: Is there a technical reason (I am no big hardware tweaker myself, so I am asking) that an assembly as seen with the G3/G4 macs can't be done in the PC world? Mount the motherboard on a swing-out side panel and leave enough room for the connectors so that it can be opened even when the box is running, and nothing snags or breaks? Why isn't this the standard way of mounting a PC?

    questions, questions, but I am sure the /. crowd has some answers :-)
  • We PC users feel inferior because of the recent study about mac users being more intelligent, so we need special cases to feel (or at least pretend to be) smarter.

    Makes you wonder though... one day after the aforementoned study, now this?

    self-esteem complex, anyone?

  • Bud Tuggly (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bill.sheehan ( 93856 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @10:48AM (#3881377) Homepage
    Wow - Slashdot is letting AC trolls select the front-page stories! Nevertheless, I'll bite.

    It's not a Mac. Doesn't look a blessed thing like a Mac. Doesn't have any of the attractive features of a Mac (flip down motherboard, e.g.) It doesn't have the fit and finish of a Mac. It's not ergonomic. It doesn't look like the ventilation is all that good, either.

    I was recently in the market for a new case. This [enermax.com.tw] is what I wanted. Unfortunately, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Keeper of the Privy Purse shot me down. So I've got a big beige box with beaucoup fans. It's functional, and sits under the table where big ugly boxes belong.

    Now, how about some Stuff That Matters?

    News for birds. Stuff that splatters.

  • Really. If you buy PC's, for whatever reason, stand to it. Trying to make it look like a Mac is just low.

  • This is no more a Mac case clone than a Hyundai [hyundaiusa.com] is a Ferrari [ferrari.com] clone

    IM(NS)HO, of course

  • Ever wanted a Mac case for your pc?

    You could Build a PC Inside of a Mac [slashdot.org]

  • It's farkin' hideous... the design, the color, the functionality, etc.

    The only thing it has in common with a Mac case is the shiny plastic.

  • That doesn't look much at all like a mac case - first of all it doesn't have the trademark handles, and feet that lift it up. Secondly, there's no distinctive trademark on the side.

    Just because it doesn't look like a hunk of junk doesn't mean that it looks like a mac.

  • In fact, this is very reminiscent of my trusty G3 Blue-and-White, aka "Yosemite":

    http://www.xoxide.com/ecmid.html

    It's reasonably priced too...

    --.\\-H--
  • As they say - been there, done that. While this is new, the concept is old. I thought this was Stuff that Matters.

    RonB
  • Clone is right...this thing looks like a mac case sketched from memory from a non mac user who once saw a magazine ad for a mac. Nowhere is the mac's simple mobo-on-swingdown-sidepanel layout that makes for simple addition of new cards, memory, chip without cramped conditions, or the addition of new drives without running up against the same tight corners.

    Nowhere is the mac's excellent, nonobtrusive front panel, with its simple inlaid reset and crash buttons, or the four suspension feet (with room beneath them for a keyboard), or the slight outward bulge which allows the machine to rest up against a monitor and still have room for cables running along side.

    In short: this thing is so unlike a mac case I'm appalled at the title of this news item. Try "Wannabe mac case for losers who hear about the wonders of macs but are too scared to switch, so they use some damn excuse like the single mouse button or lack of software or the 'cost' or some crap". That's a much more accurate title, and it securely brands the market for this case.

  • Fundamental problem: it's nothing like a Mac case (Score:4, Informative)

    by connorbd ( 151811 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @11:51PM (#3883874) Homepage
    Here's the thing: I've seen a PC case that is built like a Mac case, and it's a clusterfuck.

    Walk into any CompUSA and go looking for a case that bears a significant resemblance to a late-model HP Pavilion case. I don't even want to get into the quality of the case (execrable; it's meant for a full ATX board but has piss-poor ventilation; it also falls apart a bit too easily) or the looks of the case (copies HP's design while completely failing to capture its elegance). The big problem is that the ATX spec just doesn't work for this kind of design.

    The case in question (I think it's OEM by Fujitsu, but this is more speculation than anything else) initially appealed to me because of its easy access design. Just like a Mac case, it's a drop-side design, and in theory could probably be opened up while running. The big problem is that it's just not practical with the current design; the ATX power connectors are usually towards the top of the board, which is a very inconvenient place for a power cable; not only is the cable in the power supply that comes with the case too short, there is no obvious way to get it out of the way of daughtercards, fans, etc.

    I do think a case design like this is a really good idea. Unfortunately, it's just not practical with the ATX spec, and the case featured in the parent article (which is a very poor rendition of its inspiration to begin with) is just a plain old case. At least the Lian Li cases have easy-removal mobo trays and substantial sex appeal... /Brian

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