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17" Monitor Case Modding -- The "iMike"
greyrax writes "So what does a Canadian cabinet maker who's a closet techie do during those long winter months? You modify a 17" monitor case to house your computer (think iMac).
The blow-by-blow descriptions and pictures outline this three-month project. The only question that I'm left with is 'What is that antenna for?'"
With all those ports above his screen, he's going to have a hell of a time looking through all the cords plugged into them.
I understand that he's got skills, but the difference between this and an Apple product is that Apple products reek of sex appeal. You know, they have gorgeous curves, feminine touches, and the colors work together really well. When a woman walks into your home office and sees a bunch of Apple gear, she says "Oooo, pretty. You've got great taste." When she sees this, she's speechless, and not in a good way.
This thing is a farm implement. It's a high-quality farm implement, and I admire his work ethic, but it's still a farm implement.
What's your damage, Heather?
I agree, especially if it were manufactured for ease of parts access / upgrade.
The sleekness of the original form imac/emac all-in-one, with the power and versitility of commodity hardware.
If people pay 2-3k for alienware machines that could be parted out for less than half the retail cost... im sure there is a niche market for something like this.
Shiiiiit.
Lets see him do that with a regular CRT. This mod ranks up there with the guy that encased his mboard in foam insulation.
Seriously though, he may as well put it in a lunch box or something original. Maybe I'd be more impressed if he put a CRT in his old PC-AT case.
Go ahead. Mod me down. You know you want to.
Apple should take note of this. The use of lcd screens in their imac would resolve the following issues...
1. Extra heat your monitor. Let's face it CRTs and computers don't mix.
2. Degausing doesn't just demagnatize the screen but anything and everything. let's face it, CRTs and magnetic media don't mix
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Now the obvious question... is there a market for this sorta design? Personaly i'd say yes. I wouldn't nessicarly go with a traditional monitor layout, but there is a sorta apeal with lugables. Anyold joe can hookup a keyboard and mouse and plug it in the wall.
Something like this could in theory house batteries, a fuck of alot more then your average laptop. Also I like the idea of a cable run for my keyboard and mouse from my monitor. If i'm not mistaken Xerox did this in their workstations way back when.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
But after all that work they went and stuck XP on it instead of some BSD, poor little mac wannabe.
Kind of reminds me of the green color Acer used to make some of their computers. Maybe if he used a satin finish paint instead of the really glossy paint. Another thing I would change... Why would you put the audigy panel centered above the monitor? Maybe this guy bought a soundcard that he won't use nearly a quarter of the features on, but still if you want to plug in your head phones the cord will dangle down unless you secure it. Just my two cents...
Be a man! View at -1
acm.cs.uwec.edu
Actually, I think he picked the completely wrong design. You couldn't offer to do that to my computer for free. I'm impressed by his ability to solve various problems and make a working unit and he did a great job of being thorough, but I don't want it. For me, the biggest reason is that the whole point of the iMac and Macs in general are for understated elegance of design. The point is to actually remove everything that you don't need immediately. All those ports and drives and access ports should be off to the side of the monitor, not right in the front. It gives the whole thing a Battlestar Galactica look that I'd prefer not to have. I only want to see the display and I'm willing to live with a CD tray. I look at my computer, with my mid-tower is underneath. My only interfaces to the computer are the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, with occasional access to the CD-R drive -- a computer should be built with that in mind.
Companies already make all-in-one machines that are smaller footprint (not much bigger than just an LCD monitor). It doesn't have everything as roll-your-own, but the trade-off is small enough that I'd prefer to have form over function.
A great place for that audio gear is, you know, right in the top middle of the display. That way, if I plug something into it, like headphones, the cable hangs right down the middle of the.. oh wait.. maybe this is not a good idea.
So THAT's why apple puts the audio connectors on the side/bottom of the machines! Ingenious!
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
And someone used modpoints to rate this offtopic...I am supremely impressed. I hope I'll be seeing you in metamoderation.