Maro
07-22-2003, 05:06 PM
Here is a funny article for you:
'Then I realised this was for the “case modders” — people who strip their computers of the dowdy beige exteriors and transform them into souped-up, futuristic pods. They are the hot rodders of the tech world.
Their journals are scattered all over the internet. Crammed with step-by-step photos, they show you how to carve bulbous Plexiglas windows into the insides of your computer, airbrush the keyboard into a work of folk art and drown a Pentium chip in so many luminescent liveries that passers-by develop cataracts.
Extreme case modders will liquid-cool the processors, embed the whole machine in a 1940s-style valve radio casing or, in a recent example, resculpt their desktop machine into a life-size Japanese woman. Case mods are impressive in a heavy-metal-album-art way.
I would never want my computer to look like that, but it does bring home how dull and unvaried most systems are. Even Apple’s aluminium and titanium machines begin to look like Steve Job’s limited set of approved case mods.
One of the beauties of computers is — or should be — how they slowly adapt to the way you use them. Anyone who has sat at someone else’s computer and discovered that it is not the way it should be will know what I mean. We hot rod our screensavers, our desktop screens, our folders.
The only reason computers look dull is that manufacturers are trying to sell to corporate buyers, who would rather not encourage life-size Japanese women on desks unless it is the Christmas party.
Your home computer does not have to look dull. Given the amount of money it cost, it should be as personalisable as your car or home. It is great that enthusiasts’ extras such as glowing fans are in everyday computer stores. Maybe more people will redecorate their grey boxes to suit their homes. Case modding is a hobby, but it could change an industry. "
'Then I realised this was for the “case modders” — people who strip their computers of the dowdy beige exteriors and transform them into souped-up, futuristic pods. They are the hot rodders of the tech world.
Their journals are scattered all over the internet. Crammed with step-by-step photos, they show you how to carve bulbous Plexiglas windows into the insides of your computer, airbrush the keyboard into a work of folk art and drown a Pentium chip in so many luminescent liveries that passers-by develop cataracts.
Extreme case modders will liquid-cool the processors, embed the whole machine in a 1940s-style valve radio casing or, in a recent example, resculpt their desktop machine into a life-size Japanese woman. Case mods are impressive in a heavy-metal-album-art way.
I would never want my computer to look like that, but it does bring home how dull and unvaried most systems are. Even Apple’s aluminium and titanium machines begin to look like Steve Job’s limited set of approved case mods.
One of the beauties of computers is — or should be — how they slowly adapt to the way you use them. Anyone who has sat at someone else’s computer and discovered that it is not the way it should be will know what I mean. We hot rod our screensavers, our desktop screens, our folders.
The only reason computers look dull is that manufacturers are trying to sell to corporate buyers, who would rather not encourage life-size Japanese women on desks unless it is the Christmas party.
Your home computer does not have to look dull. Given the amount of money it cost, it should be as personalisable as your car or home. It is great that enthusiasts’ extras such as glowing fans are in everyday computer stores. Maybe more people will redecorate their grey boxes to suit their homes. Case modding is a hobby, but it could change an industry. "