Every time I see one of these “retro-inspired” PC cases <https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/pc-cases/silverstones-retro-pc-flp02-case-launches-for-usd220-throw-back-5-25-inch-expansion-bays-meet-modern-360mm-radiator-support>,
I feel a yawn coming on.
Does anybody think of them as the personification of dullness? Like
the Morris Minor was to cars? (My mother had one of those when I were
a lad -- an old, second-hand one with a 945cc engine and the recessed headlamps, when she was learning to drive.)
These cases remind me of the latter 1980s and the 1990s, when MS-DOS
and Microsoft Windows gradually took over most of the PC market, in
spite of their manifest technical drawbacks compared to more advanced products from Apple, Acorn, Amiga, Be ... just about anybody else,
really. Those were flavourful platforms, whereas DOS/Windows seemed to
me to be just ... porridge.
But then, I suppose most people had machines of the beige, bland, Microsoft-compatible persuasion, so very likely products like this do
evoke feelings of nostalgia in such individuals.
Are you able to explain such feelings to someone like me? I’ll try my
best not to fall asleep ...
Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
But then, I suppose most people had machines of the beige, bland,
Microsoft-compatible persuasion, so very likely products like this
do evoke feelings of nostalgia in such individuals.
Are you able to explain such feelings to someone like me? I’ll try
my best not to fall asleep ...
I suppose they might look dull if you haven't been paying attention
to case design over the last 10+ years, but the point is they're
different to what currently exists in the market. And for a lot of
people who build PCs they're novel because they weren't born when
this design was last in vogue.
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
But then, I suppose most people had machines of the beige, bland,
Microsoft-compatible persuasion, so very likely products like this
do evoke feelings of nostalgia in such individuals.
Are you able to explain such feelings to someone like me? I'll try
my best not to fall asleep ...
I suppose they might look dull if you haven't been paying attention
to case design over the last 10+ years, but the point is they're
different to what currently exists in the market. And for a lot of
people who build PCs they're novel because they weren't born when
this design was last in vogue.
Yup, yet another example of the point of the XKCD "Ten Thousand" comic: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Those of us old enough to have had a great many "beige boxes" for
computers along the way
can easily forget that there's a whole
generation that has never seen anything but the clear sided, rainbow
color flashing/rotating LED light cases.
Surely that's the point - 'boring beige' is novel, amongst the
endless variations of cases with glass sides and RGB lighting, which
are pretty tiresome at this point. Of course you can still buy a
featureless black cuboid, which is arguably the modern version of
dullness. (look at a modern office PC)
I suppose they might look dull if you haven't been paying attention
to case design over the last 10+ years, but the point is they're
different to what currently exists in the market. And for a lot of
people who build PCs they're novel because they weren't born when
this design was last in vogue.
PS: the Morris Minor is now cool again now that everything is a
same-looking crossover/SUV.
On 20 Sep 2025 14:01:48 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote:
I suppose they might look dull if you haven't been paying attention
to case design over the last 10+ years, but the point is they're
different to what currently exists in the market. And for a lot of
people who build PCs they're novel because they weren't born when
this design was last in vogue.
It was *never* in any kind of "vogue". It was what the PC makers came
up with because they didn't know any better. When Steve Jobs rejoined
Apple and came up with the first iMacs and iBooks, that was when the
rest of the PC industry woke up to the idea that, just maybe, it was
time to put some decent industrial design into their products.
Some of those early efforts were hilariously tasteless.
PS: the Morris Minor is now cool again now that everything is a
same-looking crossover/SUV.
The Morris Minor is a horrible design to look at now.
The timeless designs are the ones that combine looks with functional efficiency.
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On 20 Sep 2025 14:01:48 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote:
I suppose they might look dull if you haven't been paying attention
to case design over the last 10+ years, but the point is they're
different to what currently exists in the market. And for a lot of
people who build PCs they're novel because they weren't born when
this design was last in vogue.
It was *never* in any kind of "vogue". It was what the PC makers
came up with because they didn't know any better. When Steve Jobs
rejoined Apple and came up with the first iMacs and iBooks, that was
when the rest of the PC industry woke up to the idea that, just
maybe, it was time to put some decent industrial design into their
products.
Gah, that's when they started with all the shiny polished plastic
finishes that I *hate*. Impractical computer equipment sold as
fashion accessories. I never bought it from Apple and I don't like
being forced to buy similar junk from every other company who are
stupidly cloning them now.
Efficiency doesn't mean replacing stuff every year just because the
case is all scratched, chipped and smudged.
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