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A Real Tabletop PC
Xunker writes: "Sure, your modded case-with-window from ThinkGeek looks cool on your desktop, but it's nowhere near as cool as this case that turns your PC into your desktop. Drive bays, casters, fan ports and a glass top so you can see everything. With some uncontrolled overclocking you could probably use it to keep your tea warm, too."
I will not be impressed until I can fit a PC into my coffee mug. With overclocking, my java will never get cold.
"I hope they legalize drugs so you hurry up and fucking die." Charles Bronson (the band, not the man)
Before I followed the link I thought - "Cool! What an ace idea!".
The I followed the link. That is one ugly lump of metal.
jebus - now the MCP will become a reality. nice work guys....
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
They ripped off my computer!
My computer has been my computer for the last 2 years. It is a pentium 233MMX with 64 megs of ram and 2 hard drives. It has a DSL "bridge" above it.
It was built into my desk and has survived 2 moves and lasted a long time.
here
and here
these are the largest images I could find...
-metric
I'd be more interested in a case made out of that new-fangled transparent concrete. Granted that maintenance would be a bitch, but talk about uber-l33t!
Of course, it didn't have the natty glass cover and its processing power was somewhat small compared to the average pocket calculator, but it was a desk. It was also IBM's first real foray into the world of the minicomputer where they were looking for a form that could even go into an office (with a/c of course). Of course, when you added a line printer and a card-reader, this rather defeated the object as they were each larger than the desk.
I'm fairly certain that Digital also had some early systems in the desk type format.
See my journal, I write things there
but the case is the least of my concerns. Sure it it the ugliest part of a PC, but what about the monitor, and some sort of input like a keyboard? Cord management? I can always hid the case relatively easily. Let's see some monitor mods that aren't done with a shotgun.
I like the opposite end of the spectrum and wish rackmount cases were cheaper! I'd put everything I own in racks if I could.
Those that suggest you "dance like no one is watching" really want to see you make a complete fool of yourself.
If you made it a big bigger, painted it green and put a net in the middle, you'd never need Pong again.
Looking at the pictures hitchhacker so kindly mirrored for us, The desks strike me as much too small. By the time you plop down a 21" monitor and a keyboard, there is very little surface area left to have a couple of open books, notes, coffee, and whatnot. Maybe I'm just too dumb to memorize all of my programming books, but I like a desk to be at least 5 feet wide so I have room to actually get stuff done.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
This is an interesting case, but it wouldn't be difficult to recreate it. Start off with an industrial strength work table. Add some high quality casters so you can move it around. Glass table tops can be obtained from a craft store like Michael's or a place that sells custom cut glass. Plexiglass would also work, and has the advantage of being lighter. The keyboard tray is also easy; Home Depot/Lowe's/your hometown hardware sells the mechanisms for that. PC Mod sites can get you the fans, motherboard offsets, and suchlike (or simply buy a cheap case and raid it for parts). This goes for drive bays and such as well; many cases these days come with a cage for several drives. Et voila! Fit, assemble, and you've got it. You get the joy of construction, and save money too.
I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check. -M.C. Escher (1898-1972)
Hey!!! the parentheses are good for something
but how do i take it to lanparties? ;)
about such tablecase system design, esthetics, usefulness, and construction:
The example at hand appears, um... less than sturdy. The top appears to be a U-shaped frame with the "bottom" of the U at the back of the desk. The legs must be welded to this U-frame (it would be downright flimsy if they were just bolted somehow). I'd like to see some spreader beams just above the casters, plus some braces or cabled braces tensioned with turnbuckles. A hefty spreader beam at the front below the system case would help keep structural alignment too. Sturdy is good, in an office space.
Second, the airflow doesn't look well thought out. The disk drives appear to be mounted against the front sill of the system case with no air inlet. You won't get away with mounting several high-rev SCSI disks in there without risking overheating and shortened MTBF. The fans don't look up to cooling anything hotter than a Celeron or Duron.
Where are the AGP and PCI cards? The system case doesn't look tall enough to hold either. Is the case designed for onboard graphics, sound, NIC, and modem mainboards? Well, that's rather, er... limiting. This thing looks like something you'd give a teenage kid - a cool-looking desk PC with low-end components for AOL, IM, CDs, and MP3s.
However, the concept of computer systems integrated into furniture, for home or office, is... intriguing. Herman Miller (modular cubicles) should jump all over this idea. Look for end-tables with multimedia digital-convergence PC-based systems hidden under their tops, tucked behind clean looking woodwork, plastic, or metal structures.
In ionized water, the fish will die in about 5 minutes.
If they don't, they'll take a shit, and that'll dilute, and your boards will instantly short.
You'd be better off just doing creative glass work - put the board and all behind the aquarium, fish in front. Clean the glass really well so that you can't even see it through the water.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
A good cup of china black, well steeped, would kick the living shit out of whatever 'coffee' you think you need to drink to get a 'buzz'...
Still, this case would make a pretty shitty tea table.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Now, anyone want a slightly damp, previously working iPaq? Going cheap!
Eric
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Maybe this guy in Austrailia will help you make that computer fish tank. Check out the close ups.