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Really Stylish PCs and Peripherals
knipknap writes "With Christmas lying ahead I decided it was time to present myself new PC hardware. Of course, nothing can be good enough for my Linux box, so I ran looking for some really nice cases - but was soon disappointed by the very little options available when it comes to stylish cases. There is the very nice Hoojum Nanode, which is for Nano-ITX boards only, while I was looking for more powerful alternatives. Then there was the Cubit P4, also from Hoojum, which seemed to suit my needs. I ordered one via mini-itx.com, but unfortunately they messed up the order and noticed only after it was already sold out... so there went my last option.
I was also recommended Hush (I already own one) and Shuttle, both of which I found looking kind of cheap.
Another problem seems to be finding good peripherals - I have not found a single higher quality mouse and keyboard outside the plastic computer world. So I decided to ask Slashdotters - which other options are there available?" Personally I love the Hush box.
Look at some of ThinkGeek's peripherals. I particularly like their mini wireless mice, though those are more for laptop applications. They carry some really nice Logitech keyboards and mice which are both stylish and functional.
Personally, I love the Jeantech cases - I use a Visco myself (www.jeantech.com)
...i suggest a nifty ergenomic dvorak keyboard, you can get it on ebay fer a bit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=51083&item=5149151249&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
theres always alienware et al, altho im not certain you can get just a case...
i also suggest getting a wireless gyro mouse. again, i suggest ebay as a good source for one of them pretty cheap.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
Or you can always go for the old school look.
http://www.teschke.de/heatpipes/i-1.jpg
Everyone seems to be suggesting to go with a Mac. Well, if I were you, I would take a half-way decent case and mod it. Chop off the back if it is too long, put some plexiglass on the side, stencil on the side, whatever floats your boat. Much more unique than the standard Mac, and you'll have fun making it too.
thisnukes4u.net
About the same way you put it on a PC box, downlad an appropriate ISO, burn it to a cd, and boot from it.
Doing your own case mods is something that requires time, patience, and some money, but there's nothing that you buy that compares the final product.
My favorite is my Fossil computer, which is a Victorian beauty of brass and wood. I've also done the "all black" computer before black became the new beige. I also dallied with a Lego computer, though the innards finally died.
I wanted to buy a clear acrylic case for a PC I was buidling, and decorate it with neon wires (one reseller). I went ahead and purchased from ClearPC, a Canadian company (actually, just some guy, but read on).
I was told the case would be packaged in a safe way, so it would arrive undamaged. When it did arrive, several parts were broken, and some extras I ordered like LED fans, etc, were just missing.
After 6 months of constantly trying to get a response from ClearPC, I finally got some of the broken parts replaced and some of the missing parts (I still did not have everything I need for a full case, nor all the parts I ordered).
I just gave up, but swore I would tell anyone looking for a cool case that ClearPC is a horrible vendor with horrible customer service. I usually live and let live, but this is a very special case for me. I will not put their URL here, no need to give them a free link. But if you find yourself on a case site offering clear cases ending in ".ca", just keep on surfing. BTW, this is not a dis on Canada at all, it just happens that this company is there or I probably would have at least taken them to small claims court and tried to get them blocked from doing business in my state.
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
Apparently they don't teach you how to spell, though.
Lian-li makes some nice atx cases. The one I have, the pc-v1000, looks a lot like a g5 with the drilled aluminum front. Zalman makes an absurdly expensive (~$1400) aluminum case indended for fanless cooling. Most of the decent-looking cases I came across were flat and designed for home theater applications.
As for peripherals, I don't think you'd actually want a metal mouse or keyboard in the long run. Logitech makes a nice looking high-end wireless keyboard with detachable number pad for about $200, and I like the way their mx700 mouse looks.
The Thermaltake shark http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/shark/black/b lack.htm is one of the nicest cases I've ever seen. It is designed with water cooling in mind and it is made practically "tool-less".
It looks delicious (and this by the same company).
Try using things like capitalization, pronouns, and verbs. This is not IRC, k1dd13.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Plug and Play or Play and Plug. Automatically adjust's to your male connector's size.
Dyslexics have more fnu.
...you try this place for your mouse and keyboard.
Although if you find their $US5000-8000 pricetags a bit much, the overstock page might be a bit more useful.
I've always loved the look of these wooden mice & keyboards. http://www.woodcontour.com/index.php
Wanna get nasty? - DaNasty
I'm rather fond of my Antec Sonata
The exterior is pretty toned-down (aside from the blue led on the front, which I have unplugged for sleeping purposes), damn quiet, and well thought-out from front to back (drawers for all drives, rubber-mounted fan/drives, etc). For those who believe that the style of a case need not end once you open it, it's a good choice.
(I've never used one -- I'm satisfied with IBM Ms, Fujitsu KB4700s, and/or Apple Extendeds when away from my Kinesis Contoured -- but they have ALPS switches so they're doubtless fine.)
echo 33676832766569823265328479713269.8639857989Pq | dc
I am astonished that no one has mentioned soldam, a japanese case maker. very very nice stuff, but obviously comes at a price.
www.soldam.com
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
I have a dead NeXTStation that I'm going to mod to fit an ITX board and three drives. I'm also hoping to figure out a way to maybe use something like a notebook DVD drive in place of the floppy port.
Actually modding these, though, is tougher than a standard PC case -- they're thick cast metal, which looks difficult to cut.
Next thing to do is find a monitor and keyboard that look like they belong with it. Or, I might just use it as a MythTV setup, as it'd look good beside a TV.
For my part, I still haven't found a machine to displace my NeXT Cube from my desk at home, though my Fujitsu Stylistic is getting pretty close.
I've always thought it a shame that NeXT wasn't able to continue to make up-dated motherboards for it (they did three, the original Motorola 68030 @ 25MHz, an '040 at 25, then the ``Turbo'' '040 @33MHz --- there are a couple of ``Nitro'' processor daughtercards at 40MHz though).
And of course, one could squeeze say 16 small motherboards into it, run a Beowolf Cluster and have a ``hypercube''.
Seriously, it's kind of sad that there's so little being done in the way of nice looking machine designs that an almost 15 year old design still seems current (or timeless?). Most of the nice design work these days seems to be at Apple (heir to the NeXT throne --- I just wish they did something other than the iPod in black) in laptops or Tablet PC systems, esp. those w/ docking options.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
So, let me translate. "Do what every male 16-25 has been doing with his PC for several years now- making a box with a window in the side of an ugly box, because it was "cool", so mainstream that now Dell and everybody else will sell you a machine with a window in the side. That will be more original than buying a Macintosh which is actually cutting edge design".
Everyone seems to be suggesting to go with a Mac.
I'm suggesting he go with a Mac keyboard. I've seen tons of PC keyboards just die- Mac keyboards just keep going, no matter what you dish out. The latest Pro keyboard is also pretty stylish and does not feel even remotely "plasticky" and cheap...cause it isn't. I remember when the original Extended II Pro keyboard was still around- mine lasted for years until ADB was finally not supported by Apple anymore. Those things were damn tanks!
As for a mouse, if you manage to break a Logitech optical, you're insane...I've had the same one for years, and I've never had to replace one in a work environment. Seen plenty of those shitty Microsoft mice die ugly deaths though.
Please help metamoderate.
While I'm a Mac user, I can in no way endorse Linux on the Mac...yet. I ran Yellow Dog Linux on my old iMac for almost a year, and it worked great, but there were very few options for pre-compiled software. There was one guy, I think in Germany, that was turning out about 60% of the software that I used. It was reliable, and TerraSoft supported it well, but being a niche within a niche is just begging for trouble.
Why doesn't anything interesting happen when I have mod points?
Forget your computer for a few days. It won't mind. If you have extra money after getting your loved one's their gifts hwy not put it towards something more satisfying. How about donating it to some shelters or soup kitchens, or maybe toys for tots. I know it's not the American thing to do any more but damn it's more important then turning your pc into the digital equivilant to a rice-burner.
Now a Merry Christmas to all and fucking do it right.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
For cases, have a look at the Antec Sonata. A simple stylish design in smart piano black. Try a search at various online retailers that let buyer's post reviews and you'll find the case to be well-rated. The Nexus Breeze is also a nice design.
If you're going for an AV-component look (i.e. clean and functional, but relatively stylish) then Silverstone make some pretty damn good cases.
- Antec
- Silverstone - if getting an HTPC case, be careful to get one that doesn't have cooling problems with your CPU of choice. HTPC cases with higher numbers in their names are generally better at cooling.
- Travla
- Ahanix
- XOxide carries their own brand of cases, plus a lot of the other ones on this list.
- Arisetec (formerly Kanam)
- CoolerMaster
- Logic Supply
sells the Hush cases you're familiar with, along with some house-brand models.-- Fratz, human
I've been looking for stylish cases as well. I ran across the Asus Espresso and thought it looked pretty sexy with a touch sensitive LCD display. I am probably going to get it to be my new mythTV box. http://usa.asus.com/products/desktop/s-presso/over view.htm
HTPC (Home Theater PC) Cases are generally understated and made to look more like they house a stereo component then a computer.
The two most prominent manufacturers are Silverstone and Ahanix, generally one of the cases will set one back $100-$250-ish so they are definatly on the higher end of cases pricewise. Generally they suffer from a number of common defects - heat management is poor (the cases are meant to produce very little noise and airflow suffers accordingly), and the layouts and placement for the various components is, more often then not, cumbersome. That said, from an astetic standpoint they are clean, from a noise standpoint they are quite; they are the kind of thing that would be at home in a living room...
How do I keep track of people who are fingering
That's because on Macs, the spell-checking software actually works.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Is there ANY available? What do people use, for heavens' sake?
What I mean by this is that I need:
I can't find anything that actually meets these requirements. My mother has a Mini-ITX machine in her study at present, something like this, but the fan noise is too much for the living room.
Mini-ITX.com sell Epia fanless motherboards with processor already mounted, and I gather that 600mhz or so is fine for a MythTV box, if one is using Hauppage cards' onboard MPEG hardware, but they all have only one PCI slot.
I can find riser cards to convert these motherboards to accept a second PCI, card, but the only case I can find that accept this hardware is pretty uninspiring.
So it seems to me that in order to build a decent MythTV box I have to do some modding of some sort, which I'd really rather not do. Has anyone solved this problem with an off-the shelf solution.
Alex.
First you where looking for good quality peripharals... You seem to have the small form factor case down. I am a littel leary of the Nanode, since the specs are a little vague and it runs on a VIA cpu.
Today most computer parts are no longer beige, it seems that build quality has gone down. Mitsuko which is generally considred low end becuase of the price, but they make a good keyboard available in a variety of colors, and for mice Alienware has all the microsoft high end mice in custom colors. You pay a little bit for it but they match the mitsuko keyboards in color.
As for cases most cases look like cheap plastic junk now. I've been using a server size chenming that is similar to the original alienware. Not flashy not cheap looking, but has the size I need to run all my drives, as well as clean lines.
Another option is just to check out www.newegg.com and see what is offered they have a large selection, with pictures of every item, as well as a good search engine, and search engine interface.
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
I have an old Sony stereo receiver I got off a trash pile. I gutted it and installed an old G3 Mac and 2 160GB hard drives. This is my digital music player in my A/V rack. As soon as I can afford it, I'd like to get a smallish (6" high) LCD touch screen and use that to control iTunes. For now, I just remote access it.
You might be able to find some cool retro A/V cases, ala McIntosh. That would sweet, especially if you got the analog gauges working.
I drank what? -- Socrates
If you are looking to stick a mini-itx board in something, you can use almost anything as a case. I like the classics, and breathed new life into a dead SGI O2 workstation. (Not pics my box, but a nice set of pictures of the space you have to work with) Add a wireless mouse and keyboard, mix in a nice LCD display, and it makes for a lovely terminal.
The look on my uncle's face when they saw the 'email and web browsing' computer sitting on their mom's desk was priceless. Such awe for a meager fan less 533mhz Eden board - due only to the case. (grin) A gift that keeps on giving.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
"Helping your uncle jack off a horse"
vs.
"Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse."
I just saw that in someones sig.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
Soltek IQ3601 - Via C3 1Ghz, colored cases, just throw in some DDR266 memory, a hard drive, CDROM and voila! Bought mine from newegg.com, the damn thing is too quiet. I forget it is on, except the hard drive spinning noise is just enough to make you hear something, but not enough to identify what it is.
www.soltek.com.tw
6 USB ports, 2 1394, VGA, 6.1 audio, optical audio out, TV out option, 1 PCI slot, all for under 200 bucks!
I may buy a couple more to hand out at Christmas.
Cheers-
Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com