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CES: IN WIN Displays Costly but Beautiful Computer Cases (Video)
This video shows a computer case that's "pretty expensive," says Timothy Lord. "It's over $300. On the other hand, it is beautiful." The manufacturer, Taiwan-based IN WIN, has put a $399 MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) tag on their top-of-the-line "limited edition" computer cases. Wow. Most of us probably won't buy one of these, considering that low-cost mid-tower cases can be had for $30, and the entire computer used to edit this video cost $399 (with the addition of some RAM and a better video card). But there is a market for Lamborghinis, and there is a market for computer cases that cost as much as a complete low-end computer. And CES (annoying sounds if you click the link) is a great place to look at them even if you don't really need a computer case that costs more than a minimum wage worker's entire weekly paycheck.
More like a Lamborghini replica kit. It looks cool (or horrible, depending on your aesthetics), but it doesn't actually help you go faster.
The reason they make hugely expensive computer cases is not so they will sell a lot of them. The reason is that they want to manipulate people into thinking paying more is sensible. So, by advertising very high prices they may sneakily get people to pay $50 when before they would only pay $35.
Here in the U.S. there is a big effort to do that with food.
"I'm hawking some crappy overpriced gadgets. You've probably never heard of them..."
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How nice that there are links to just about every product mentioned in the posting, except the one the posting is for. Just a Flash-based video (people still use Flash for video?).
These are going to clash with the existing furniture. Got anything in wood in the mission style, cherry stain?
I am actually a bit surprised people are not willing to pay more for cases, since it is one of the few parts in a computer that can be reused after many upgrades.
It's pretty, but completely impractical, it's literally wide open, you can't create a significant air flow and it might filter your air better than a hepa filter right before it overheats your components from the dust, but as I said it does look cool... just needs some finishing touches from somebody who understands a thing or about computer building. Also those pipes would be 10x cooler if they supported water cooling. Might as well right?
For $399 I can easily get a full tower that has everything I just mentioned and most of those look pretty nifty too.
Yuck. My opinion is that it's over $300 and ugly. There really haven't been good cases made since IBM's PS/2 line, which was carefully thought out to be easily opened using a nickel and one's hands. It also had internal moldings to channel air to the right places and foam on the inside of case to deaden noise.
A beautiful case is one that is small enough to escape notice, quiet enough so that is is effectively silent, or well engineered enough to allow easy construction or 10 hard drive bays in a small volume. How many people really want a bright orange monstrosity on or under their desk that screams, "LOVE CHILD OF A COMPUTER AND AN ERECTOR SET!!"?
From a person who builds his computers still from components instead of ordering from prebuilt systems, I used to buy the lowest cost cases. After many a times where the cases were made shoddy, sharp edges, bays that had screw holes that didn't line up, etc, i opted to try out the more expensive cases (70-120$) and boy was i impressed. Anyone who's had to deal with the no brand name cases, and then put together a antec p182 or antec 900 is in a world of difference. Cable management, fan filters, vibration gromits, extra airflow from properly designed and positioned case fans, etc. Not to mention they use thumbscrews as much as possible, are pleasing to look at, come with extra cables. My own p183 came with a special ssd bay when ssds were just started to be made and getting popular.
Sure it's a niche market and artsy cases aren't usually worth it, but don't knock well made cases that are reasonable until you actually put together computers and experience the difference.
Transparent looks cool for a couple weeks untill the fuzz starts getting in everything. Then you find out what "detailing" the inside of a computer really means. It's not long before you just want a basic nice looking case back.
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I'm still waiting for a decent small form factor case.
The PC industry is still putting out these huge ugly boxes. Even the Mini ITX cases are cumbersome ugly boxes.
Frankly, it disgusts me that WIntel companies haven't followed Apple more. Small, sleek, minimize the wires(size and quantity).
Nobody needs 5 or 10 expansion bays anymore, everything is on the motherboard. Shrink the PSU, use a big, slow, quiet fan and put it all into a small sleek case!
Resisting the urge to take my credit card out of my wallet right now... what?! How did it end up in my hands while I was typing this... gosh darn it...
I don't really need this either although I buy a lot of things I don't really need and can't really use and dare I say haven't bothered to open. I got piles of stuff that was really totally useless like the raspberry pi, macs, netbooks, iAnythings, etc.
Humorously the stuff I actually use daily and really like tends to be free (ie thinkpenguin.com's got some freeken awesome stuff to support you if you like that sort of thing)!
I guess though it all depends on what definition of free you use though. My personal donations for the year to free software projects were over 10,000 USD. Hehe
I've got the cash to spare and am a free software advocate if it wasn't apparent.
Boring designs, doesn't look like anything special,only one that caught my eye was the metal tube 'd-frame' design. Most of them are generic enough looking huge ATX towers. Still I wouldn't want to let someone into my house and tell them 'yea dude, like I spend $400 on a fucking case for a computer'. Now if I made a similar case myself out of metal tubes for my own mini-itx machine, that is something I could be proud of. Splashing out on a mass produced case like that from Taiwan is nothing but shameless excess like you would have seen in Celtic tiger Ireland.
It's four hundred dollars.
I thought it was funny that she said it was only for people who are crazy. In other words, they have too much money on their hands.
While we're on the subject of cases, does anyone have any recommendations for an inexpensive, small mini-itx case with good cooling that can hold five (or more) 3.5" disks and a 2.5" disk?
I like the LIAN LI PC-Q25B, but at $120 (without a power supply), it's more than I wanted to spend.
I don't care so much about looks, but I'd like it to be as small as possible (so don't want a Micro-ATX case).
They should have put one of those in the video instead of that ugly orange thing.
I have a Cooler Master Haf X full Tower that came with a 1 KW power supply and 3 or 4 10 inch variable speed fans, clever wire routing grommets and accessibility options to get at both sides of the motherboard, front side USBs, card readers, external sata connectors and enough plugs and wiring to hook up every accessory you could think of, all for less than the cost of that case. And it's also not ugly.
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This post is horrendous. Apart from plugging in several links that fail any notability test, the case is not notable either as there are much cooler and much more expensive cases around, the video is cropped to oblivion and player controls don't fit in the video frame either. If only I could fathom why did I waste another minute on commenting???
http://www.envador.com/cases/PVCII/
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I think this looks like a pretty terrible one. First, I'm not looking for an Ikea case. if I build it myself, I expect it to be customizable -- I should be able to piece together various parts like an erector set to build something unique and perfect for the parts I put inside, not have only a single design. What's the point?
Second, an open-air case sounds like a bad idea. There's going to be no control over airflow here so despite what the woman in the video says, I think cooling will probably actually be worse. Being open-air also means it's going to be a lot louder when your GPU or HDDs start going. As someone who once had cases full of ridiculously noisy high-speed fans, I now cherish a silent PC above all else.
The next case I get will probably cost $200+, but I'll end up using it for 10 years like I have my current one.
Is it me or is everything that is posted by Roblimo recently a bloody commercial including pricetags and manufacturer links? Might be just me, but I sure hope this isn't product placement.
I can't see the video (why slashdot has to use its own not working for me, flash player instead of youtube, who knows) and from the other posters, it sounds like its just flashy. However there is much to be said for putting down a few hundred for a good case.
About 7 years ago I purchased an thermaltake armor fulltower case ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021 ) to replace my then aging and not enough drive bay 90s era full tower. This was probably the best decision with regards to purchasing personal equipment that I have ever made. Although the link doesnt say, I remember it costing about $180 before taxes.
This case has survived several builds. There is so much room inside I have never again had an issue with space or heat. With 13 drive bays, like 5 or 6 fan spots, a well engineered case will last you 10+ years.
At the time, I was thinking, I can't believe i just payed $200 for a bit of steel and some fans. Luckily I made the right decision and I have thanked myself every single time I go to work on the machine. No more drilling and tapping holes, trying to squeeze drives in. No heat problems, as all the drives sit in their own 5 1/4 slots with large fans blowing over all of them.
A proper case is a kind of bliss everyone should know. The case can often be an overlooked part of a system build, when really it can be argued that it is the most important component in the system.
TLDR: I cant actually see this inwin case, so I cant say if the expense is justified in this particular instance, but it certainly can be.
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I don't think wow! is really the comment one can make. Lian-Li has made (and still does make) many of it's full tower computer cases with MSRPs $100-$200 more than this.
Anyone who thinks that this is somehow special, or thinks that the price will prevent it from being a major hit is quite out of touch with the gaming community.
It's nice and all, but they just need to bring back their Q500 Full tower case.. that's the stuff that late 90s builds were made of.. Built my first personal system with one..
I'd bet money that a Lamborghini has gotten SOMEONE laid.
Do you see what I did there?
Tried to look at their website, but with all that loading, blinking and moving stuff 14 seconds was all I could endure.
Yes, they are expensive, but the bits processed by these cases are warmer. True computerophiles can detect this.
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I am very pleased to see some good case design. I really like having a case that is fun to look at. (The odd thing with non-computer types is if they see a really snazzy case, they assume you've got some sort of super computer under the hood!) This one is a little interesting, but I don't think it is $400 worth. Myself, I recently got a lot of bang for the buck modding some NZXT Phantom cases. They've already got a very nice sci-fi design and look like props from Mass Effect. They are $90 shipped at TigerDirect right now, which is tough to beat. Large as hell, too. I think the only thing I really didn't like about it is that some of the older NZXT Phantom cases have USB 2.0 built in. The newer one I picked up had 2.0 and 3.0 built into the case. But back on topic, PLEASE, encourage cool case makers. I just don't think this one is $400 cool.
I think they mean, to quote the saleswoman herself "This sell for like crazy user." Personally, I might believe her, because I'm not sure that case provides an effective faraday cage, which should be the first thing you look for in a case. If you are crazy though, you clearly wouldn't care about that.
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This is probably the best case I've ever purchased:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129093
Too bad it's discontinued :(
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Interviewer: And uh and.. how many are.. are these.. are these going to be.. a limited edition? ..
Company Rep: Oh! The important thing is that it's limited edition
It's just over half the price of my Mountain Mods case. "Expensive" is relative, I suppose. https://secure.flickr.com/photos/14865808@N00/sets/72157623761503153/
something like that. Thanks for the idea !
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How on earth would they expect this to pass any RF or safety tests?
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Looks like a roll-over cage for a computer. Handy if your computer crashes.
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Even a piece of 3/4" Plywood can acoustically couple to some lower frequency sound inside your box and make a dandy plywood Planar Speaker, if it's over 12" square.
I've seen water-cooling and phase-change cooling cases go for more than 399 USD. Also, open air cases while nice looking make sounds eve louder, and directed airflow hard.
$300 is obsurd for alluminum pipe anyone can glue/weld together and make in a shop in a hour or so this company is just looking at everyone like they are idiots sheesh
Yes. Yes they do. Computer construction is usually a one off event for nearly all users out there. Sharp edges, screws which don't line up are issues that plague you for half an hour and then never again until the next computer.
People refuse to spend $100 on things which plague their lives every day or every week. Don't underestimate how cheap people in general are.
Orange? Whoa. Fortunately, the case should be easy enough to strip down for a re-spray.
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90% of the cases on that slashvertisement site looked like a bunch of 90's fugly rejects... and the flash, gah, make it stop.
I wouldn't pay $40 for one of those.
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Quoth the content:
Is it still 1999? We haven't moved on from this buggy, horrible, shitty runtime (Flash) yet? Even though its origins are in early 1990s interface design software?
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...otherwise I'd never be able to get it home in my Lamborghini.
I hope Balmer is paying attention. There's a real marketing opportunity for him here. He can hire this woman to do a commercial. I can see it now in my mind's eye, and it's beautiful:
Windows 8. It's for the crazy user!
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