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| Home >> Computer Shows >> Computex Shows >> |
Computex 2004Show Cases of Computex 2004, when and where PC becomes a fashionBy Dr. Michael The annual Computex for 2004 was held in Taipei between June 1 and 5. Computex is promoted as the second largest IT show in the world, second only to CeBIT in Germany. However, I consider it second to none for computers since CeBIT includes many exhibitions not directly related to PC such as banking and telecommunication technologies. There used to be a saying about the computer shows around the world. Vendors display concepts for new products in November at Comdex, Las Vegas. They then show prototypes in March at CeBIT in Germany. They show real products and start receiving orders for their new products during Computex in June. With the advent of Internet, the supply chain has certainly been flattened dramatically. So did the cycles for new product development. We saw a great deal of concepts, prototypes, and new products ready for mass production mixed together in four huge exhibition halls. Here are some highlights of the interesting products I saw through the eyes of my digital camera. Some of these may have been displayed in CeBIT this past March, which I didn't attend. Nevertheless, they represent the current trends in this industry. Again, we have put a traditional emphasis on cases, thus the title for this summary. Status of case modding PC cases have undergone dramatic changes in the last two years. A few years ago there was a world-wide trend toward home-made case modding. Many businesses focused on the custom modding started out of this trend in North America, Europe, and Japan. Many of these small businesses operated in people's garages. They offer custom modded cases and home-made products. About two years ago, manufacturers in Asia started to catch up with the trend by producing "factory-modded" cases and related products with much more consistent and less expensive results. This has significantly changed the playing field for case modding. A window kit that used to be sold at $40 without the labor can now be found on factory-made cases with only $5 additional cost. A factory-made, professional rounded cable which may cost $20 two years ago now costs only $5 or less at retail. The result is the much increased popularity and acceptance of modded cases. This year, this industry-wide trend continues with the manufacturers in Asia are passing the home-grown "case modders". Previously the factories are simply copying the work of the home modders. We are now starting to see the "creativity" of the 800-pound industrial giants. This trend continues to put pressure on the small businesses of case modding. It may be just a question of time when these small businesses run out of ideas to compete with their factory counterpart. PC cases are now 3D sculptures Factory-made side windows appeared in Computex two years ago. Lights were at full display in last year's show. This year, factory-mod is at full speed with the introduction of many cases with 3D features in the front ¨C a development that can be easily traced back to the success of Alienware's case. We saw cases that show the likes of spiders, monsters, turbine engines, cars, airplanes, worrier's helmets, abstract arts, you name it. PC cases are no longer plain boxes. These are made largely for the gaming PC market. The companies include RaidMax, AeroCool, NZXT, V-Tech, Super-Flower, Asus, Amacrox, Chenbro, to name a few. Such 3D "mods" are much more dramatic than windows and lights. They also impress us with more creativities and artistic variations. However, they are very expensive to produce since retooling is required. Therefore, it's nature for such "mods" to appear later than the windows and lights, which are much simpler and less costly to implement at the factory level. Some of them incorporate such functionalities like lights, LCD displays, switches, and cooling into the designs. However, most of the 3D features are designed for the exotic look. Like watches and cellular phones, PC cases are now a "fashionable" technology. How often people buy or change watches these days only to keep up with time? How often people want to change their cellular phones just because of the look? The days are not too far when people want to change their computers just because of the look! These products will further differentiate home-built and small-company-built systems from those by the big guys such as Dell, HP, and Gateway. We noticed that these big guys have yet to offer systems with side windows and lights (with the exception of the Compaq/CompUSA gaming system), leaving alone cases with 3D features. Someone needs to wake them up. However, the fashion trend of PC designs will certainly make the life-span of a case much shorter as the fashion designs become a seasonable phenomenon, which spells headache for case manufacturers as they now have to constantly change their product designs. For business and office applications, the boring but ageless beige boxes may continue to exist for a long time. Click here to see pictures of 3D case designs. BTX We have read about BTX for a while now. We have finally seen one actual BTX case from In Win with a BTX motherboard from Intel. We are not aware of any other BTX cases or motherboard on display during the Computex. It's not surprising to see In Win as the front runner to the BTX land since after all In Win was one of the first case manufacturers that embraced ATX form factor a few years ago. Most motherboard manufacturers are not ready to launch the BTX mobos because of the lack of cases. Yet, the case manufacturers are citing the lack of BTX motherboards as reasons for their delay in going BTX. You just have to wonder which one is the chicken and which one is the egg here. The main design concept behind BTX form factor is the alignment of the CPUs in a straight path way of the air flow and in the front of the case. The idea is to let cool, new air coming from the front of the case to hit the CPU as soon and short as possible to enhance the cooling of the CPU. We pay a price for this re-positioning. First, there is no more space for hard drives in the lower front part of the cases. Hard drives are now pushed back to the rear of the case and above motherboards. Second, the add-on cards are positioned near the middle of the cases rather than the lower portion of the cases. This may not be a bad thing considering it now becomes easier to reach the connectors such as network adapter, modem, and audio connections. Third, the entire computer cases are now "right handed". To access the inside of a case, one has now to open the right side panel if he or she faces the front of the case. This would be great for people who have windows on the right side of the cases and for some reasons have to put the cases on the left side of their monitors. We were told that BTX will come in three sizes: Full tower, regular, and nano. According to Fabio Wong of In Win, regular ATX power supply would work in a full and regular BTX case. However, special BTX power supply will be required for the nano BTX cases. Click here to see pictures of the BTX case and motherboard Flipped ATX Is ATX going to die once BTX becomes popular like AT once did after the development of ATX? Not so fast, some of the case manufacturers are saying. One smart way to enlong the life span of the ATX form factor is to have the BTX effects without a BTX motherboard ¨C what I called flipped ATX. We saw at least two PC cases designed with the ATX motherboard mounted on the left side of the case, making the case opening on the right side. This design flips the ATX motherboard 180 degrees. As a result, the CPU is now positioned near the bottom of the case, allowing the creation of a straight air flow tunnel from the front to the back of the case over the CPU. However, the CPU is still positioned near the back of the case where the I/O ports are located. Therefore, the inlet air would take a longer distance to travel from the front of the case to the CPU than a BTX design. One of the two cases was made by Lian Li. Lian Li's design placed the power supply on the bottom of the case, which adds the physical stability of the case by lowering the gravity point. However, unfortunately, the CPU is positioned above the power supply and the front case fan is not "tunneled" directly to the CPU. We do not anticipate to see much of the benefits of the BTX design after the dramatic redesign of the ATX case. We like the other case design with the flipped ATX. In that design a clear plastic tunnel is created near the bottom of the case over the CPU. As a result, a straight air-flow is created from the front of the case to the back. How this flipped ATX design compare with a BTX design in terms of performance and cooling remains to be tested, which will determine the fate of the ATX form factor. Nevertheless, this is a smart idea. Many people including me should kick ourselves for not having done a long time ago. I have spoken with manufacturers about the right-handed cases before for a totally different reason: being able to show case windows on the right side of the case. I am glad to see that is now an optional consideration for the masses. Click here to see pictures of the cases with flipped ATX Small is beautiful PCs are getting smaller everyday. Almost every motherboard manufacturers now have a small barebone case to sell following the success of Shuttle. Chaintech, ECS, and Abit are entering into this field to join Shuttle, MSI, Gigabyte, Asus, and Jetway. The small form factor has now been widely accepted by the mobo manufacturers. These products are not only small but also powerful with many integrated features. For example, ECS' looks and feels like a stereo player rather than a PC. It has a built-in DVD player that can play DVDs without turning on the PC part of the system. However, what's really lacking is the endorsement of this product by any of the big four retail system builders: Dell, HP / Compaq, Gateway, and eMachines. I predict that whoever introduces such a small system in their line up would grab much attention in the retail market and further advance this form factor. The interesting introduction of gaming PCs by Dell and HP following the success of Alienware was a perfect example of the big guys playing catching up with the small guys. One SFF case with a hidden handle, which is a much needed improvement over the bulky handle seen on AMS's G-box. The handle can be put away so that the top of the case is still flat. I Will introduced a SFF case that allows the installation of dual-Opteron processors. Heat pipes are used to squeeze in the processors into such a small space. To our knowledge, this may be the first dual-processor SFF system, which further enhances the power of SFF. Click here to see pictures of many small cases / barebones / systems. PCI Express and Socket T are coming Almost all mobo manufacturers have shown mobos with PCI Express slots and Socket T. ATI had a big launch of their PCI Express products during the Computex. Intel is set to release their Pentium 4 processors in Socket T form factors soon. PCI Express is a true performance upgrade from the AGP, which should ignite another round of upgrade fever once the gaming and 3D applications catch up with the technology. The Socket T form factor mainly solves the problem of the CPU feet being easy to bent and further distinguish the Intel products from AMD's. We don¡¯t anticipate a rush to Socket T unless Intel forces the market to change. Click here to see pictures of motherboards with the PCI Express slot and Socket T. Other developments In no way we can touch all of the new products at Computex with 1300 booths. Here are a few additional interesting, new products: Click here to see more pictures from Computex 2004. |
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| 3D Case Designs | | | BTX Case / Motherboard | ||
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| Flipped ATX | | | Small Cases / Barebones / Systems | ||
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| PCI Express Slot / Socket T | | | More Pictures from the Show | ||
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