(I can't bring up custom computer building without mentioning arstechnica's computer buying guide. Every time I've ever made a custom PC I've done the week of so of research and ended up with exactly what arstechnica recommends. Well, disturbingly close anyway.)
At any rate, the point I was getting to was the question of which case to buy came up in conversation. These days it seems impossible to talk about computer cases without mentioning the mighty P180 case from Antec (or the new, updated P182). The Antec P180/P182 is widely thought of as one of the best if not the best case on the market. One of the most important about this case is the designers made quite allot of effort to make it --QUIET--! I own one. It's quite nice. The doors and sides of the thing are made of some sort of sound dampening material. The drives and fans are mounted on vibration dampening mounts.. It's well thought out.
That said, it doesn't *look* very exceptional. The case comes in black and silver. I bought the silver version and I think it looks like a mini fridge with the front door shut. Needing a name for it on the DNS, I called the it "the fridge". Funny eh? no? well never mind then!
anyways.. So the P180 I have is good and all but I can't help but compare it to the PowerMacs G4 MDD case. I mean they sit side by side on the floor next to me so it's hard to resist the urge.
When I first brought the P180 into the house I was impressed at its height. This is a full tower case. Really it's in a whole different class than the MDD since the MDD (MDD stands for mirror door drive just in case you were wondering) is a half height tower or Mini tower as some people call them. The youngens I think call them that. Damn things keep playing in my yard. Get out of my yard you rascals. Wait, I don't have a yard.. never mind.
The PowerMacs G4 MDD is freaking fantastic. To open it you just use the handle on the side and the whole side door comes open like this:
Notice the lack of cables? The cables are all built into the case. They took the time of threading all the big fat IDE cables through the case. I love it. The case has space for 4 hard disks and two optical drives. Putting in new HDs is incredibly easy and you don't have to worry about the big phat IDE cables getting in the way.. did I mention that?
Upgrading the RAM is easy, you just open the door and the slots are laying there in plain view uncluttered by cabling on the open door. Just plunk in RAM and your good to go.
The computer even runs with the door open. It doesn't like it but it runs.
The experience with the P180 much like any other case in this respect. First there's the screws:
Yep, I took a picture of the screws. They can be undone without a screwdriver but, meh, I didn't need to unscrew anything with the mac. It has a handle with a metal latch.
Then you have to slip the big door off like this:
.. just like every other PC case.. booo.
oh and be very, very careful when you do this. The first time I did this I was having trouble getting the door off because the monkey that made my machine put the side panel on such that some of the panel's slotting hook thingies (technical term) were on properly and some of them weren't. The panel was really on there tight.
So what I do is I grabs the front of the case and pulls the side panel with all my might... you know.. the way you do when the door is stuck. BAM! The damn thing exploded in my hand.. bits of the door hinge when flying all over the room. "%^*&(^!" I yells.
(The picture it a view of the front of the case from the top. You can see the optical drive in the right of the image.)
The P180 has a big front door on it. The idea is the big front door covers up the drives and air intakes and such so the sound is muffled. This door is on a double hinge that lets you fold the door out of the way.. The first picture on the blog shows you what the computer looks like with the door folded to its side. Unfortunately the double hinge is a bit weak. If you put pressure on it it breaks into many pieces. (5 actually).
So.. I super glued all the pieces back together.. That didn't work very well.
and sent an email to antec that basically said
"Um.. I broke the door, can you send me a new one of those plastic door hinge bits."
They sent a new door so I'm happy again but I leave you with the warning: "The door hinge on the P180/P182 is weak. Don't apply any pressure on it or you'll break the hinge into 5 pieces!".. That said it looks like Antec will email you a new one free of charge if you or a former friend breaks the door .. presumably within some sort of warranty period that I should now about but haven't bothered to read. :-)
Anyways.. inside the case looks like this:
.. well... it looks like that if you happen to have a computer inside it.
The P180 puts the hard drives in the little removable compartments so mounting them is easier. It's no MDD but it will do..
See the circle thing that looks like a keychain ring? If you undo the screw underneath and if you unhook it and pull the whole thing comes out. Very nice.
Dear Antec,
Please get an old PowerMac G4 MDD and make a case that has the sound dampening of the P180 but the convenient access of the MDD and I will declare it to be the ultimate case.
Sincerely,
me
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