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Cool looking vintage computer cases

I think you mean Inwin not Inqin Mad-Mike. PS Inwin made mid tower ATX cases like the one you show and also came in AT and the whole motherboard tray slides out (I got one new from ebay a few years back NIB and it rocks). I also have the full tower Q500's they make great server cases.
 
Shadow Lord said:
Nice pic. I saw one of those on eBay I think last year. Was tempted given the compact design but it went way over my budget.
Click to expand...
An Amstrad PPC640 closed on eBay on 10/14 for < $50. There's one with a BIN of $70 on now. They're out there if you look...

What surprises me is that no one has linked one of my favorite personal cases... the Commodore SX-64! First color portable, sexy blue accoutrements... I absolutely love mine :)

320px-Sx-64_build.jpg 800px-Commodore_SX-64_front_1.jpg sx64.jpg
 
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Heathkit/Zenith Z-120

Wish mine were as clean as that. Still, I like this design. It's built like a tank, it's big enough to set your manuals on top of, and aside from the pre-101-key standardization woes, the keyboard is pretty nice. It looks exactly like someone built a PC into a VT-52, and that is awesome.
 
I have to tell you that for some reason, I never looked at or considered the sx-64. I have no idea why. There is one on ebay right now with breathtaking pictures.
A portable 64 with a color screen! The case is just so retro and perfect. I think I have a new favorite! They are a bit pricey due to the limited production, but being a commodore, it is both useful and beautiful. I have to have one!

Thanks for costing me $500+ bucks!

look at this auction for the presentation and pictures alone. This guy really knows presentation.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321006684042?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619
 
That IS a funny oversight. The sx-64 is very cool. It's been a great hit at the VCFs I've brought it to and yeah having the sounds and color video built-in it's great for examples of Commodores technology. Hope you didn't spend $500 though, I see them crop up for $200 pretty often. Those who have one already know but it not only has the 5.25" drive in the front but also a c64 cartridge slot on top as well so it's a full 64 in a great portable (first? color portable) as well. The handle also has adjustable locks so you can lock it into place as you like to prop it up. That and a very sleek look.

But hey, I'm a sucker for so many vintage systems. They all had such great personality behind the designs.
 
agreed on the personality. I havent spent anything yet as the hunt just began 30 minutes ago....lol

To me this is the ultimate 64. Sounds like you agree
 
I remember playing with a new SX-64 at K-mart while my parents were shopping. The machine looked cool but the screen was too small. From my understanding traders loved those machines for copy parties since they were so portable and you didn't have to mess with cables.
 
I love the designs of the 70s-80s computers, before they all became boring beige/white boxes. When I look at my collection it's hard to pick a favourite. Is it the spaceship design on the Atari 400, that blue racing stripe of the SX64 or maybe the "crouching creature" look of the Lisa 2? The baby Macs are fun to look at and I love all the all-in-one models like the PET and TRS-80 Model III/4s. The industrial seriousness of the IMB 5150 and 5170 and the pizza-box look of the PS/2 30-286 also appeals. Then there is the Jurassic look of the Osborne 1 and the army-surplus utilitarianism of the Kaypros. The cute red joystick on the Spectravideo 318 and the mushroom-coloured keys on the NEC 8201a bring a smile. Even the grey angularity of the TRS-80 Model 1 appeals!

Design is one of the reasons I enjoy these old classics.

Tez
 
Brad, that's good to hear. Didn't want ya to get ripped off. I have no idea why that one is going for so much other than perhaps it's a non-us auction and hard to find there. The sx-64 also supports an external monitor IIRC so you can still hook it up like a regular system if one wanted. The two joystick ports are on the back. I've heard some folks do have problems with the keyboards so it's nice if the person can actually test it which perhaps is leading some of the bidding on that specific system. I've also seen several pop up from time to time on craigslist. Again, the folks sometimes want a bit more than they're worth but never hurts to haggle.
 
they don;t make cases like this anymore for sure!

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Industrial design is also one of the major attractions to me, and that includes the insides as well. Despite the sea of beige, Sun Sparcs are well-designed throughout including ease of assembly and serviceability.

HPs also have some nice details if you look closely. A mouse and keyboard from my 735.
P8180181.jpg735-mouse.jpg 735_kb_1.jpg 735_kb_2.jpg Pa270052.jpg
 
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Yea, look closely at the photo showing the upper left corner of the keyboard. The "reset" key is in the same location as the escape key on a standard IBM PC keyboard. It was a problem if you had an HP server that used a keyboard like this on the main console. Users got so used to using the IBM PC keyboard that when they switched to the HP keyboard they would accidentally hit that key, causing the server to reboot and everyone losing their data. Some system admins would actually pop that key off to avoid this.
 
Long and pathetic story but a friend is the one who found a haul of old IBM gear once. He gifted the two 5363s to me (well I think he or another friend kept one and I got the other, the other one just ended up moving with me since once we found it wasn't a PC the other guy lost interest outside of destroying it). The other system I wish I knew what it was. It was also huge and weighed a damn ton (figurative). The think I found funny but cool about it was when we took the case off it had a black plastic box (almost I dunno 9"x9"). We opened the box to see what it was and it was a series of car fuses. Anyone ever seen that or know what model of IBM took car fuses? lol Unfortunately he destroyed it pretty quickly to see what it was but didn't care about the system so we never saw what was on it or what it could do. I always wondered if it had something in relation to the 5363s.
 
I had one of the Packard Bell "corner computers" pass through my hands a number of years ago. Still kicking myself for letting that gem go.

And while it isn't exactly vintage by the standard of this group, I'm still using my original Chieftec "Dragon" case for my primary computer. I think everyone remembers that case! They came out in the late 90s if I remember right, but I've had mine since 2000.

Also not truly vintage, but I have one of the late 90s/early 00s HP cases with the translucent gray plastic on the front, only on this one that plastic is dark green.
 
Wow this is an old thread, but I am new - so I'll add to it. :) I worked for Pyramid Technology Corporation, and this promotional system set up was a single Pyramid 9000 bay on the left (ho-hum) but it has a massively parallel bank of their MP2000 (if I recall correctly) Circa 1995. The smaller rectangular bays had up to six RISC CPU bays on each side, and the center was populated with disk modules. All the processor interconnection was done with ethernet. A very interesting approach.

Picture swiped from this site: https://doug338.wixsite.com/douglogan/favorite-computers
 

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