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Hardware

Easy Access PC Cases? 54

Posted by Cliff from the PC-case-mods-that-should-be dept.
swight1701 asks: "I remember seeing the MAC G4 case open for the first time and it was like a ray of light dropped down from above, and the Case was good. This has to have been the easiest access case in history, to be able to flip down the motherboard without removing any card from your PCI slots, genius. So why is it, like most of Apple's more frivilous case designs , and colors, was it not copied by other case manufacturers? If anyone HAS seen this, or know the reason why it wasn't, please tell us all!"
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Easy Access PC Cases? More

Easy Access PC Cases?

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  • Simply - Supply and Demand.

    Nige.
  • Why hasn't it been copied? Simple: Apple has a history of suing people for copying their desktop look+feel, so one can only assume they'd do the same for their case design. No-one would dare risk it.
    • Why hasn't it been copied? Simple: Apple has a history of suing people for copying their desktop look+feel, so one can only assume they'd do the same for their case design. No-one would dare risk it.
      It's not just a suspicion. Apple has [apple.com] sued.
      • The eMachine's case was more than just a basic design rip off, it was a blatent attempt to be a iPC. I doubt apple would have a problem with a pull down case from a PC manufacturer, just not one that was curvy, grey and plastic with funky handles and such. Although, for awsome case design, at least for a desktop model computer (not tower) I'd have to go with an old Dell Optiplex I was toying with the otherday. It was amazingly easy to acess. I wonder where PC cases went wrong.
    • If anything Apple copied some PC cases on that. I believe one of the major PC manufacturers was using that as a selling point about 5 years ago. Here at my office, I have cases with slide out trays and hinged ones. Neither requires me to remove the PCI cards.
  • Mainly in the business class models by the larger manufacturers.

    The HP Vectra was one of the most intuitive cases I ever saw. No screwdrivers were needed to dismantle the case, and take out every piece. Just a push of a button or flip of a lever.

    The Dell Optiplex line was also similar in those regards, although a few items did need a screwdriver.

    Unfortunately, the manufacturers only marketed these cases to the business IT people. The thinking was that only people who had hundreds of computers to set up would tinker inside the box all the time. Home users just let the box sit there and collect dust. To an extent that's true.

    I'm happy just leaving my case off and all the screws out, all the time.
    • The Dell Optiplex line was also similar in those regards, although a few items did need a screwdriver.
      As far as motherboard access goes, I agree that they're pretty good (although many of the Optiplex boxes from two years or so ago had this removable PCI riser that seemed like an unnecessary step). I'm not so happy with the drive bay access; it's a pain in the rear to remove the front and get at the the removable tray/shelf that the drives sit in, and I never have gotten the knack of putting the tray back in without it catching about a quarter of an inch before the final position.
    • The "Vectra" label has been put on quite a number of different chassis designs, some of them truly crimes against humanity. I have two different ones as servers, and while working on the drives may not necessarily involve tools, it certainly does demand very small and very flexible fingers to manipulate the power and data cables.

  • Check out Dell (Score:3, Informative)

    by blankmange ( 571591 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @08:27AM (#3549450)
    In this month's Maximum PC, they tested a Dell rig that opens up like a clamshell. And I have also seen cases for DIY ( ExoticPC [exoticpc.com] ) that have removable mobo trays that have back plane on them, so you don't have to remove your PCI/AGP cards.

    Keep looking, I am sure you'll find one in the right color -- if not, these guys Directron [directron.com] do custom painting of cases and bezels for your drives to match....

    • A MB tray isn't uncommon these days. I have a $45 (US) generic case that lets you loosen one screw, then pull out the MB and the card cage. With some thumbscrews, it works well as a computer that I can open up and play with with no screwdriver. The Apple cases are nicer, but for $45 with power supply, it seems like a pretty good deal.
    • I noticed while browsing through the ExoticPC [exoticpc.com] website that they have Penguin cases [exoticpc.com]. Very slick.

  • Easy access has been sacraficed for low price, and better airflow. Personally, I would love an easy access case, but i would not pay lots of money for a case that allows for little fan expansion, and a perk that i enjoy only a few times in the life of the PC. It comes down to the fact that most people do not open their PC case once in the life of the computer, and those who build their own computers either add a few parts over the lifetime of the PC, or go down the road of modding, where the flexability provided by the case is the most important, not easy motherboard access.

    • Re:Priorities (Score:3, Informative)

      by quinto2000 ( 211211 )
      I open my case frequently. To try out a new expansion card, to play around with Xinerama, to compare sound cards, to try out a free funky networking card, install a new hard drive, etc. Easy access is great. As it is, I leave the case open most of the time, destroying the airflow and getting dust in all of the components.
      • As far as airflow goes, I have noticed that leaving the side off of my case causes the processor temperature to drop 5-10 degrees depending on load. This is a Supermicro full tower case with plenty of ventilation, running a PIII-833.
  • Dell 4400 [dell.com]

    I've worked with this one for my home clients and I like it a lot. I have not, however, seen anything like it on the OEM market. You're right though, I would buy one if in a second if I came across one...

  • Another thing... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by ptomblin ( 1378 )
    Another great thing about the G4 case is that the cables are routed along the edge out of the way. You look at that Dell case somebody posted the URL for, and you still have IDE cables hanging in the air between the two halves. Not so with the G4, you don't even see the IDE cables unless you're looking for them.

    The downside though is that when adding hard drives to a G4, you don't get the inadvertent blood sacrifice to make sure it works. All my PC cases seem designed to make sure you can't add a hard/cd/tape drive without bleeding on it, which ensures the black magic works.
    • ide? you mean scsi, scsi cables can be long enough to allow for the distance stretched
      • ide? you mean scsi, scsi cables can be long enough to allow for the distance stretched

        Wrong, most Macs since 1998 are not SCSI unless you pay for an additional PCI card and drives.

        And you can buy 24" ATA100 cables that are within spec, so I don't see the issue. In the Mac cases, the cable goes from edge of bobo, over tray, across hinge, to drive bays in bottom of case. (Or to top of case for CD/DVD.)

        No biggie, and still under 24".
    • I dunno, I've had plenty of PC cases where it may not be the IDE cable, but the power cable has certainly caused me to make a few sacrifices of the Red Cross variety.

  • Your best bet... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ActiveSX ( 301342 )
    ...is to save up a bit and buy [apple.com] an actual G4 [apple.com] . They're great machines, they come with a killer operating system, they'll probably do everything you need, and do it with minimal hassle. Not to mention that, as fat as I can tell, Mac users are more attractive to the opposite sex. ;)
    • so your saying that if i go out and buy an mac, then people of the opposite sex will like me because of that, thats the most ignorant thing ive ever heard it like telling the world to wear abercrombie so they be cool. Mac them selves i hate but i do like there operating systems

      beware of the penguins!!!

  • Lian Li (Score:4, Informative)

    by d_p ( 63654 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @09:34AM (#3549919)
    I have a Lian Li PC-60. http://www.lian-li.com/
    Its brushed aluminum, all thumbscrews. All of the interior edges have been de-burred, so there are no sharp edges. I have worked on a lot of crappy PC's in my life and this is by far the best case I have ever worked on.
    • I just picked one of these babies up. It's an outstanding case. Well laid out, very light, tons of room to expand, and well finished to top it off. It also has excellent air flow.

      The only negative about the PC-60 USB is the price. It's about $150 without a power supply.

      Here is a nice review with a bunch pictures:
      http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.pl ?sid=01/08/ 29/0422237

    • I agree with you 100%. I work on computers all day for work, and I've seen a ton of crappy cases. Mostly the tiny little PCs by Compaq, HP, and the thankfully gone eMachines. People ask me why I spent so much on a case, and I explain how everything's exactly like I dream of cases being. I instinctively reach to unhook a latch, and it's there. Everything's really smooth and sturdy. And you can fit like 6 hard drives in it, if that's your thing.

  • 1030 (Score:2, Informative)

    by BenTheDewpendent ( 180527 )
    I find the anatec 1030 has lots of room to work. Slides for the 5 1/4 bay and removable HD bays.
    a handle pops the side off it can be locked with a provided key.
    • I find the anatec 1030 has lots of room to work.

      YES. I have an Antec SX830, and it's truly a joy to work with. Roomy, but not so big that it's a hard time getting everything connected (like some Supermicro cases I've dealt with). Plenty of space for fans, lots of drive bays. It's easy to open up, too. There's a review with some decent picutes here [pchardware.ro].

      The removable hard drive bays are sheer brilliance. They work perfectly. My dad uses a 1030, and it's just as nice (but a little bigger than I needed for just a little desktop box).
  • I've been using an enlight case similar to this one [bzboyz.com] It doens't flip down but it is very easy to work with as only one side panel comes off at a time. You also dont' have to worry about screws, the front holds the side panels on. My only issue with it is airflow. It has a fan slot in the front and back but the front didn't have any airholes. A little drilling solved this problem.
  • However, the SunFire V880 [sun.com] is very easy to work with. I had to strip one down to rack mount it (you want it light as possible when lifting it up 4 feet in the air) and managed to remove fans, CPU boards and power supplies very easily.

    Of course, as these components are designed to be "hot-swap" they kinda have to be easy to remove!

    While the V880 is in a radically different class from the G4 (server vs workstation), Sun kit in general is much nicer to work with. I remember one of the first things I did as a sysadmin was adding RAM to some SPARCstation 5s and my boss showing me how to remove/replace one of the hard drives. Of course, you pay for that ease of use.

  • Those features you mention are available, and have been available for years, if you look for it in the PC market. The reason, you don't see it regularly, is cost. The hinged tray or slide out tray add complexity and cost to the case. That is ok, in the Mac market where you only have Apple to buy from and cost is not the motivating factor most people buy from Apple. In the PC market where they all pretty much run the same, cost is a large factor in what computer you pick up.
  • I would put up with that, but helI'd have to freeze over before Apple would do that. A third party Apple case would prob. retail for 299+... I guess I could set you up with one for $1799, until then.

  • Apple //gs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MountainLogic ( 92466 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @04:44PM (#3553449) Homepage
    Apple has been doing great cases for a very long time. The old gs did not require a single tool to strip down.

    I've had the pleasure of hiring ex-apple industrial designers/mechanical engineers. It was a real pleasure working with such talented engineers.

  • Antec (Score:1)

    by Shook ( 75517 )
    I love my Antec Case [antec-inc.com].

    I can open it up, and change fans with no screws. The drive cages and external drive rails are awesome.
  • The problem with making a case too easy to open is that people will open it.

    Imagine a kid with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich opening the case just for the hell of it, to watch the CPU fan spin or whatever.

    I remember some old XT cases that had a suitcase-type lid where you just pushed a couple of buttons on the side and could open the top of the case just like a suitcase (hinged on the back and everything). The problem with those cases is that, as I said, "everybody" would open them.

    On the other side, the two absolute worst cases that I ever tried to open were both Packard Bell. I was trying to install a CD-ROM in one and discovered that the drive bay had a plate welded onto the front. I ended up using a hammer and chisel (literally) to beat it off. The other really awful Packard Bell case that I had to deal with is one that was a real Chinese puzzle to open. There were no visible screws and once I had actually found the screws then it took me literally a half-hour to figure out how to push-and-pull that case to get it to come apart.

    *shudder*

    There seems to be a happy medium between too easy to open and too difficult. Now once I've got it open, it's nice to have some room to work, indeed, but that's another issue.
    • Apple cases also come with great locking mechanisms. A slide on the back of the G4 locks the case and can be secured with a standard padlock (go to CVS and pick of a master lock for $3)

      The laptops are even better, a tiny screw inbetween the F4 and F5 keys. Only a computer junkie could open one of these if they were locked.
  • This case has a latched swing-out side panel, sort similar to the Mac. See a review here [iamnotageek.com].

    I'm getting one this week to try it out.

  • The side drops down and the G4 can operate without the fan blowing on the heatsink! In fact, as we all know Mac CPU's use a fraction of the power that PC CPU's use, so they heat up less. The heatsink is only on the chip so that it won't melt when you leave the case open for too long:) The upside of course is that you can open the unit, disconnect the fan and hey presto - a silent G4!
  • About, er... two years ago I bought a 486 server machine from a used computer place ("COMPUDYNE" I think was the manufacturer, and yes, I don't mean a 486 desktop being used as a server, but a 486 that was actually a server machine back in The Day). It was remarkably like the G3 and G4 cases, in the way it unhinged, the way the cables were routed, and the way the drives were mounted... All in all, a pretty sweet little machine with its pimpin' VLB 256kb vid card ;-) (it served as my lan2ppp machine for about six months, then it became an IRC server for a while, then I had to move and get rid of a bunch of stuff so it went to a friend).
  • G4-style ATX case. This one is housing the new amiga motherboard. http://www.amigascene.nl/nieuws/nieuws.htm

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