The X500 Plus computer case

[Gryzor]

Nice Kickstarter project:
A computer case inspired by the classic machines of the '80s such as the Amiga, Atari and Sinclair, but for modern hardware. 



What is it?

The X500 Plus is a computer case I designed as a tribute to the computers of the '80s and '90s and it's overall inspired by the Commodore Amiga 500. It's a wedge styled computer case with inbuilt, full size keyboard.

The X500 Plus has a retro feeling but with modern, clean lines and lots of internal space. It's made of aluminium, plastic and steel and it's designed for modern computer hardware.

The X500 Plus allows you to build your own modern, powerful computer, with your choice of components and Operating System like Windows, Linux, AmigaOS, AROS, MOS etc...you can use it for your mini-itx x86 motherboards, PowerPC boards such as the SAM motherboards by ACube, the Natami and the upcoming FPGAArcade Replay board, basically any board which is mini-itx or flex-atx format with low profile heat sinks (overall internal height is 52mm).

The combination of a PowerPC board (ACube's SAM) and AmigaOS4.1 (the most recent version of the Amiga Operating System by Hyperion Entertainment), the free AROS (Research Operating System) running on a supported x86 board or MorphOS running on supported hardware inside the X500 Plus are ideal for the full, original experience of Amiga inside a retro looking case.


The case has been designed primarily for low power consumption boards and Solid State Drives, this way one can build a very silent but modern system with classic lines.

I have designed everything (well nearly everything) to be replaceable; LEDs, ON/OFF switch, fans so if things need replacing you can.

What is included:

The fully assembled case (3 plastic parts, cut and machined - one aluminium part, cut and machined)
All the screws, washers and nuts.

One custom made DVD-RW and 3.5" card reader bracket

One slim, low profile USB keyboard

One slim SATA DVD-RW with one slim SATA cable

One 3.5" USB card reader (limited availability of white card readers - white version).

One On/Off power switch

Braided and tailed (2 pins) LEDs, colour of your choice (amber, red, white, blue or green)

One 40mm silent fan (2x40mm silent fans for the POWER USER model)

One 50mm silent fan (2x50mm silent fans for the POWER USER model)

Silicone mounts

Keyboard holders

Spacers

Rubber feet

What is not included:

Power supply - the case has been designed for a picoPSU, they come in 80-90-120-150-160W,  plenty to power up the machine in the video (intel i3 dual core 2.5GHz, Ati Radeon 6570 2GB, two 2.5" HD drives...), they have 20 or 24 pins and some might be slightly higher than others so please check before buying.


£200, quite expensive, but nice. More here: The X500 Plus computer case by Loriano Pagni - Kickstarter

[robcfg]

Looks nice, but it's waaaaaaaaay too expensive...


For f***s sake, then you have to add around 40 pounds, I repeat, POUNDS, over the 200 POUNDS (not euros or dollars). For an empty case, you'll be paying 277 euros!!


For that price I'll be buying a panasonic MSX2+ or TurboR which have even a more beatiful case, and I'll manage to get a Raspberry Pi into it.

[Gryzor]

Well, come on, this has nothing to do with the Pi... You can shove the Pi into pretty much everything, but this case accommodates a lot more than that!


And yes, it *is* expensive.

[Bryce]

You'd probably get an ITX into an MSX / Amiga / CPC too. Just the mountings and openings would mean some serious case hacking.

Bryce.

[ralferoo]

Yeah, this does look pretty expensive for what it is, and to be honest, there is almost certainly no need to use aluminium here at all.

Obviously, injection molding has quite a high setup cost (I'm actually skeptical that £10k is enough) but they should be able knock these out for less than a tenner if they were making a few thousand of them in plastic only. Obviously, I'm not counting the cost of keyboard etc, but it sounds like he's just gutting a bunch of cheap USB keyboards.

[TotO]

The design, done by Loriano Pagni, was originaly intended to be used with the Natami Amiga compatible system.
Looking the videos, the plastic look chip compared to the orriginal Amiga cases.
I personnaly really dislike the glossy finish.

But, the price is not expansive at all, when you look the 2 cases parts complexity and the final quantity done (probably less than a undread).
You have to report, at less, the mold and the prototypes prices inside.

[mr_lou]

I like the idea, but I don't like the keyboard.

The keyboard should be oldskool as well. It's not.

[Gryzor]

I agree with a couple of things mentioned - I don't like the glossy finish and the chiclet/island keyboard.


I've got a very expensive Logitech keyboard, gift from my girl, and although I love it it's a pain in the arse to keep it clean because it's piano black with a really glossy finish. You have to wipe it every second day, so a whole case mad elike that... ugh.


Also, the chicklet/island keys are, I think, a necessity for laptops and should stay there. That's the reason I don't like those Mac keyboards either - give me full-height keys any time. Much more comfortable (if done correctly) and, of course, the look would be much better too.