Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! Curated by PC Hardware Lead Editor Richard Edmonds through almost two decades covering the sector. Think something should be covered? Hit me up at rich.e@valnetinc.net!
One area of the personal computer that showcases one’s personality is the case. Previously, the computer used to be contained inside a beige box but today you can purchase a chassis in all shapes, colors, and sizes. We looked at the Apple II system in a previous feature and almost every PC created between that period and the early 2000s were big beige boxes. Nowadays, you will only find these behemoths with PC builds known as “sleepers” much like internal modifications of old slow vehicles where you only notice the power with the hood popped.
Where it all began
Beige, beige, and more beige
The PC case or chassis was designed to prevent accidental damage to the internal components. These boxes helped to keep dust and other particles out and it made everything safer since you wouldn’t want bare electronics running with kids and pets running amock. Little effort went into the aesthetics of the PC case. So long as it looked like a complete unit, it was good to ship. There wasn’t any demand for unique-looking cases and this was reflected by PC sales, particularly those from Apple and Windows PC partners. A PC was also something you kept out of sight, under a desk, or inside a cabinet.
When the new millennium arrived, it was time for a new trend in PC case design. Enter the age of steel and loads of drive bays. Cooling was still an afterthought — often removed from the drawing board altogether. Cable management started to take shape with cable ties and Velcro being used to wrap PSU cabling together since these units were still mounted at the top. I recall being amazed when systems started to use 120mm fans, or rather just one but at least it was still an upgrade over the single 80mm blower that sounded like it was attempting to move the entire PC. Modding became more prevalent.
Antec put it so eloquently; from function to fashion.
LEDs started to make their way into PC cases with some design elements on the front, as well as a few diodes within the chassis. Coupled with a plastic window, this created a new “gamer” look, showcasing internal components and tighter able management thanks to all-black cabling and mounting points for cable ties. Manufacturers started to toy with minimalism and busy designs, which sparked an avalanche of cases to the market, catering to all demographics. Cases including the Cooler Master Cosmos introduced tool-free installation, removable drive cages, and bottom-mounted power supplies.
Modern advancements
The PC became center-stage
You could only dream of having removable magnetic dust filtration systems in the late 90s. You wouldn’t find anything other than UV tubes for lighting, and cable management wasn’t even discussed. No one had a window to peek into a system because it just wasn’t that interesting. The motherboards were ugly green PCBs, early graphics cards didn’t have outlandish designs, and no one used cable ties. We take many features for granted that weren’t even possible with PC cases of old. Even the Mac Pro G5 case I transformed into a PC barely had anything to work with.
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Nowadays, you must search far and wide for a chassis without a window on the side. RGB lighting is everywhere, and we’ve seen some truly outlandish case designs like the Vetroo K1 Pangolin. Thankfully, fan lighting has come a long way where you can address RGBs on the blades themselves to change color, which is a huge improvement over the classic LED blowers with four light sources and no way to change the color. It was around 2010 when we started to see modern-looking case designs with all-black finishes, mesh paneling, and plenty of cooling for more powerful internals. These design choices are still used today.
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It’s interesting to imagine where the PC case will go from here. Of course, we didn’t believe we’d had a sea of lights and glass in the early 2000s, but case design has largely peaked with refinements being made. There are some unique designs and form factors, but the PC case of today is largely the same. It’s either steel or aluminum with some plastic and tempered glass for good measure. We’ve gone full swing back to minimalist designs that were present in the run-up to the millennium. You’d be hard-pressed to locate a PC case listed today with whacky colors and features.
It’s largely thanks to the ATX standard, which has been a blessing for component support, but a curse for case design. The PC case has become more a fashion statement and piece of furniture than actual technology and that’s indicative of how we approach technology in 2024. The Internet of Things and smart home devices have transformed how we interact with everyone outside a PC. Instead of the desktop and laptop being the only truly connected hardware in the home, we now have mobile phones, tablets, appliances, network-attached storage (NAS), consoles, and more. Everything is powerful enough to run software and complete specific tasks.
Single-board computers (SBCs) are also taking off. As we keep making everything smaller and more compact, could we see a significant shift in PC case design? I doubt we’ll see anything occur within the next couple of years, but something is brewing on the horizon.
#case #evolved #fashionable #furniture #piece
source: https://www.xda-developers.com/how-we-became-obsessed-with-the-pc-case/
