But I think it's got something to do with issues relating to things like Design aesthetics that may or may not lend itself very well to things like Airflow, RGB, Off-the-shelf parts, etc.
In other words, some OEMS try to make their computers looks stylish and sexy but prioritization on aesthetics take away from the more important things like Airflow.
A complete reversal from the beige-box days where the OEMS or Clone Manufacturers didn't care about aesthetics and focused more on the their machines getting the job done.
Today, most OEMs from the likes of Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, ASUS, etc,
they have really nice looking builds but they are braindead in terms of parts selection.
While OEMS like Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, etc,
they at least have a brain by choosing parts that yes they're mediocre but at least they still let us replace them with something better in the future since their OFF-THE-SHELF,
(Doubly so for ASUS since they also sell better components separately from their pre-builds)
DELL and HP are the worst offenders since their machines can sometimes go with the worst of Proprietary components, especially for Power Supplies.
No wonder people say ALIENWARE was better before Dell bought them.
Some OEM Manufacturers like ASUS also have a market where if people don't like their OEM builds, they can always go for their separate components to let them build their own machines too.
ASUS is probably better known for their OFF-THE-SHELF parts like Motherboards, GPUS, Cases, AIO Coolers, Wi-Fi Routers, Monitors, etc.
Yes, I know I'm trying to praise the company despite being in the wake of the Controversies about their business practices if their Fights with GAMERS NEXUS is any indication.
But considering the company's been around since 1989 during the middle of the peak of the 386 era and beginning of the 486 era,
You gotta give the Taiwanese company some slack.
Yes, I know their Customer Support is now terrible now even before GAMERS NEXUS' fights but so are the other OEMS due to the change in their offices and locations.
And besides, we shouldn't rely on a call center anyway since us Enthusiasts are expected to service our parts and troubleshoot by ourselves.
And YOUTUBE is a better Customer Service for PC Repair than a call center anyway due to the commodity of more Competent Tech Support enthusiasts regardless of accent.
Anyway, back to topic.
Remember a time when OEM Manufacturers actually made good PC designs?
Pepperidge Farm Remembers.....
Wait.... THAT'S A BAKERY COMPANY!!!
Anyway, good PC case designs happen if you hire the correct kind of people who have creativity instead of relying only on their Diploma.
German-American Industrial Designer Hartmut Esslinger is a testament to his profession on designing things that are stylish and have character, especially in the realms of computers.
His company FROG DESIGN was responsible for the SNOW WHITE design for many a Macintosh Computer during the 1980s,
Starting with the famous APPLE IIc in 1984
When FROG DESIGN was let go from Apple,
they went to other manufacturers.
One of these manufacturers, aside from NEXT which i showed an example above, would be ACER.
On September 1995, ACER release this beast shown below:
it was a wakeup call for the other clone manufacturers.
And that was not the only OEM company FROG DESIGN worked with.
FROG also worked with PACKARD BELL as well.
These two are examples of Wonderful looking PACKARD BELLS that Esslinger's FROG company worked on and it really shows.
Anyway, real wakeup call for all them OEMS.
So they decided to borrow a page from FROG Design in making stylish PC Case designs for the masses and they might as well borrow from that since in 1998, guess what company was going to change the landscape of Computer designs forever:
The 1998 release of Apple's Bondi-Blue iMac G3 all-in-one computer was a game changer not only to making a new computer to signal the new millennium, but also case designs as well.
The new aesthetic of translucent plastics were now all the rage for case designs and as a result, this put the death knelt for Beige Box designs.
While not every manufacturer for translucent, they did become convinced of this wakeup call.
eMachines would attempt to copy the iMac with their eOne PC in 1999
But Apple took notice of the similarities of the design but also the slightly higher specs compared to their second generation G3 Imacs so they sued eMachines for blatantly ripping off Apple for the computer's design.
Others like HP and Compaq, while wisely avoiding the All-In-One design for their newer computers as to avoid another eMachines lawsuit, designed their Desktop towers in a similar style to Apple's Homework.
HP took their boring old Pavilion from this:
And turned it into this as shown below:
But even if I was as smart of a Toddler like Stewie Griffin back in 1999 or 2000,
I wouldn't be caught dead with a Pavilion like the one above.
Instead, I would have preferred a Translucent Compaq Presario as shown below:
And even then, I would have preferred to have my Compaq Presario
running an AMD Athlon instead of an Intel Celeron, Pentium III or Pentium 4.
By then, perceptions on Pre-Builds started to fall apart due to what enthusiasts think are OEMS focusing only on aesthetics or them being apathetic in terms of either reliability or customer service in the name of saving on costs.
So this led to a phenomenon that started in the 90s but skyrocketed in the 2000s in building your own computer from off-the-shelf parts.
And so other Manufacters, especially in cases started to show up to appease those enthusiasts.
Some ranging from Aquarium Side Panels from Lian Li
To drive bays with a Toaster Aesthetic
And yes, Even Woodgrain.
None of that Plastic Molded or Vinyl-Wrapped crap.
Just good old CNC Milled real Wood.
Like the Fractal Build I did for my Baptist Church back in late April 2024
as shown below.
And I've been called up by my Church to do a deep-cleaning of this PC come forth January 2025.
So there you have it.
Design aesthetics that used to be good from OEMS, and I guess they still do.
But really, the problem is perceptions from Buyers have changed.
Because you have people like GAMERS NEXUS or JAYSTWOCENTS who are serious about having proper airflow in people's builds.
And those viewpoints are perfectly valid.
If I don't post anything before December 25,
Then Merry Christmas to all of you, my wonderful dedicated readers.
And as always, see you next Blogpost.
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