Gizmodo: case mod

Lego Minifig Macbook Decal: Too Cute to Let Go

Danny Allen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:49:00 EST

Like that Snow White Macbook cover, I love how this Minifig interacts with the logo, instead of just covering it. MacSlap's shop on Etsy says it's sold-out right now—maybe enough interest would inspire more. [Etsy via iPhone Savior]

Ben Heck's Latest Atari 800 Laptop Could Be His Best Yet

Jack Loftus — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EDT

With the help of a GameCube power supply and the malleable magic hands of master modder Ben Heck, one lucky client can now play Buck Rogers and other classics on a positively portable Atari 800 laptop.

As Ben notes in the video, it's really the vintage Atari keyboard that sells this thing. The clickity clack is unmistakable, soothing and flashback inducing all in one—he even managed to get the thing to pop up at near the same angle as the original!

Some more specs, courtesy Ben's web site:

- Base unit is Atari XEGS motherboard, as usual.
- XE 130 RAM expansion built-in.
- Uses MyIDE circuitry and custom OS ROM to use a 2.5″ PATA hard drive. Very fast! You can check out Mr Atari's site here.
- Large 15″ screen, similar to the C64 laptop but this one is better looking and shinier (obviously important)
- Uses original, new-old-stock Atari 800 keyboard. This is probably the best keyboard in the history of computing, so it was worth including, despite the complications (see story)
- Flush-mount cartridge slot.
- Amazing old-school styling!

Oh, and there's the classic Ballblazer too:

[Ben Heck via Technabob]

Snow White MacBook Cover Can Only Be Awakened With Steve Jobs's Kiss

Jack Loftus — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Unlike the deep sleep she experienced in the movie, when Snow White bites into this Apple, she spontaneously transforms into a Gizmodo editor. [noquedanbogs via flickr - Thanks, Sabino]

DIY Asteroid Case Mod Comes Straight Out Of Krypton, The Flintstones

Sean Fallon — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:20:00 EST

If you are looking to spice up your PC case, the guys at Mashie Design have put together a simple set of instructions on how to deck it out in an asteroid motif.

All that is needed is some Styrofoam, Claycrete, and some paint to achieve a convincing texture that looks like it came straight out of space (or straight out of the stone age). [Mashie Design via Unplgged via Gearlog]

Wolfenstein Casemod Looks Just Like a Real WWII Gaming PC

Adam Frucci — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:45:00 EST

This Wolfenstein casemod features two functioning gauges on the front, measuring amperage and core voltages. Unfortunately, th phone on the side doesn't actually work. Yes, that's what's keeping me from making this. [Make via Kotaku]

Beautiful Walnut Radio Is Actually Artful PC Casemod

Mark Wilson — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:20:00 EST

I've always wanted an old radio, like this 1946 Stromberg Carlson recreation. But it would just be something that I looked at, like, "ooh, neat...now what?" But old tyme modder Jeffrey Stephenson has another idea.

This particular radio actually has a PC inside. So while the exterior is a tribute to the Ingraham Cabinet Co, an influential design company behind many wooden radio cabinets of the 30s and 40s, the interior houses a 1.6GHz VIA, 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 64GB SSD.

The silver gleam of my aluminum Mac was alluring at first, but I can't help but to admire the timeless beauty of American black walnut construction. Lots more photos of the build process at the link. [Slippery Skip via bbGadgets]

BBQ Grill Casemod is Cookin' Up Some Gaming Goodness

Sean Fallon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:00:00 EDT

With all of the heat a serious gaming rig can produce, it was only a matter of time before someone got the bright idea to turn a grill into a PC case. There isn't any information as far as specs are concerned, but we can see that this QuakeCon competitor has a decent sized monitor mounted inside the lid with some orange glowing fans in the range representing hot coals. It's a nice casemod—but unless he has some sort of setup that can cook burgers with processor heat I'm not all that impressed.

[Big Download via Technabob via DVICE]

Famous Batmobile Tumbler Case Mod on eBay

Sean Fallon — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:00:00 EDT

About a year ago, the Batmobile case mod lit up the internets with a design crafted from a Wal-Mart R/C Tumbler. The mod still kicks ass, but the specs were lame a year ago and are now...one year lamer. Still, it would make for a unique web surfing device and a great way to celebrate the opening of the new movie. Plus, its pretty cheap at the moment (although there is still a week left). [eBay via Geekalerts]

Double Case Mod: Xbox 360 and HDTV Mashed Up

Matt Hickey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:00:56 EDT

It's not often that a case mod involves modding two cases into one, but it's not often you get to see an Xbox 360 stuffed inside an LCD HDTV. PvP LostKnight has done just that to save space, creating what's perhaps the world's first Xbox console console. Not only does it work but it looks really nice, something I'd put in my living room without having to make excuses to my parents when they come to visit. And it's fully functional. [PSPMod]

HybRed PC Casemod Gives the iMac a Severe Inferiority Complex

Jack Loftus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Before we get into the details of this compact HybRed PC casemod from modder Ville "Willek" Kyrö, let's set the scene, shall we? An iMac sits comfortably at a local coffee shop, its wifi at 100%, eagerly sucking down megabytes of the latest Natasha Bedingfield mp3 from iTunes when all of a sudden, the HybRed bursts through the door and orders *gulp* a medium coffee, black, and pays with cash! Que the scratching record as the iMac wets itself and shorts out. And... scene. More seriously, the all-in-one design is really all the Hybred shares with the iMac, because as you'll see this is one serious gaming rig.

Inside the glowing custom-built aluminum chassis of the HybRed Gaming PC is an Athlon64 3500+ CPU. Graphics are handled by an nVidia GeForce 6800GT on a PCI-e bus. The power supply, as you can see, is kept separate in its own illuminated case. Red LEDs (HybRed, get it?) keep the rig illuminated when the lights go down low. [Metku Mods via Technabob]

Aftermarket Xbox 360 Case Reduces Noise, Heat and Design

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:20:00 EDT

If the Xbox 360 is simply too loud, hot and small for your taste, the Lian-Li PC-XB01 case mod can help. The case can silence the disc drive with sound-proofing foam and keep things cool with improved airflow, a single 120mm fan or optional water cooling system. Plus, it is four times the size of the 360—so you know it will take up that extra space you have been meaning to fill. A price point has not been made available, but we do know that you can get your hands on this hulking beast sometime this August. [Lian-Li via Xbox Scene via Hack a Day via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Geiger Counter PC Casemod Looks Good In Places That Can Kill You

Jack Loftus — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:00:00 EDT

This Russian Geiger Counter casemod (technically an Ion Detector) won't let you know if you're standing waist deep in nuclear radiation, but flick the power switch and the meter jumps to life, letting you know the relatively weak CPU housed inside is working properly. As for the specs inside the box, there's a 300 MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM and a 4GB Compact Flash card for storage. That's more Pong than Half-Life, but it still looks sharp. Just be sure not to mistake it for your real Geiger counter when you're packing for that vacation trip to Chernobyl. [Modding.ru via Technabob]

Commodore 64 Midibox Mod Trades In Games for Beeps, Boops

Jack Loftus — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

What you see here was once a Commodore 64, but no longer. Now it's a MIDIboxSID, which translates roughly into, this thing looks killer in the dark and can lay down a serious series of beeps and pew pew's. Best thing is that, thanks to the C64's mod-friendly SID chips, this is a synthesizer that uses SID 6582 sound chips from the original C64 personal computer. Hooray for recycling!

The technical specs:

The synth is built into an original Commodore 64 computer case. And features 8 SID chips (4 stereo pairs - one SID per ear x 4 voices). Each SID chip has 3 oscillators and a variety of other features like filters, ADSR, ringmod, sync. The synth has a very flexible (and simple to use) modulation matrix, LFO, bassline sequencers, and stores patches in presets.

[Flickr via Technabob]

XCM Xbox 360 Casemod Glows Whether Console is Overheating or Not

Jack Loftus — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Irresistible Xbox 360 red ring of death heatsink jokes aside, this glow-in-the-dark replacement shell from XCM is the bee's knees for gamers who like to do it in the dark. Even with the lights on the case is still pretty cool, as it sports a semi-translucent look, allowing onlookers to marvel at the melting electronics housed within.

[Technabob]

16-Year-Old Builds Elaborate S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Chernobyl Themed PC

Sean Fallon — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:40:00 EDT

It took around a year to put together from scratch, but a German PC modder going by the name "Froop" managed to build an elaborate PC casemod inspired by the Chernobyl theme in the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The result is "Unit 4," a working PC model of Chernobyl complete with a flip-top that allows you to peer into the bowels of the destroyed power plant. The construction process is outlined in its entirety in the following links, but you can check out some pics of the early stages as well as the final product in the gallery. [Thebestcasescenario and bit-tech forums via TechEBlog]

Iron Man Mark 1 PC Case Mod: What Would Tony Stark Think?

Sean Fallon — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Like most nerds, I am in full Iron Man mode as the movie release date draws closer. So, I couldn't help but get excited after hearing about a PC case mod based on Tony Stark's Mark 1 Iron Man suit. Is it the best case mod I have ever seen? No, not really. In fact, I would have expected a little more from the dude who brought us the Team Fortress II sentry gun mod. Still, I appreciate the hand-crafted look and the 2x BFG 9800GX2 Quad Sli under the hood. At the very least, it is pretty damn cool for a three- week build. Check out the video after the jump.

[Ironmods Thanks Tom!]

Batman Utility Belt PC is Better Than a Face Full of Acid

Jason Chen — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Made for the Mod Shop's Comic Book Challenge, this Batman Utility Belt PC is, well, it is what it is. There are wires interconnecting the various parts—you can see the power supply's yellow tentacles snaking all throughout the setup—as well as green liquid cooling tubes making sure everything is cool. Cool in the way that this PC is not. We're sorry to hate on this after the creator spent so much effort in building it (especially since we love the Bat), but it's pretty impractical. And dangerous. A much better mod would be to make something Batman-inspired that wouldn't cause a house fire if one of the pieces toppled over. [Modshop]

Roadrunner Beware: Real-Life Crotch Rocket Spotted in the Wild

Jack Loftus — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Hope and doubt are at war today as we pore over this picture of a literal crotch rocket. On the one hand, it looks pretty legit, right down to the stabilizing fins, exhaust port for the motorcycle housed within, and blast marks that are no doubt from one of the many instances where this beast dumped out while breaking the sound barrier. On the other hand, the kids and their Photoshoppin' these days means everything online is suspect (isn't that right, Steve?). Perhaps most damning of all, however, is the fact that the only creature capable of conceiving such a bike is nowhere to be found. Wile E. Coyote, could you please step forward and lay claim to your glorious invention? [Accordion Guy via Neatorama]

NVIDIA Motorcycle Casemod is the Fastest Computer On Two Wheels, Kinda

Jack Loftus — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:59:51 EDT

There are roadwarriors with their ultraportables and then there's master modder Dennis Ilyin, who took computing on the go literally with this ambitious motorcycle casemod. While the two-wheeled computing wonder lacks an engine, it more than makes up for it with massive LED-lit water tanks and what's sure to be ample processing power. The compu-bike was part of an NVIDIA-sponsored modding contest and actually came in second to this green thing. Fair? Unfair? Take a look at additional pics after the jump and you tell us.

[TopMods, via TechnaBob]

DIY Case Mod Turns Your PC Into a Gigantic Heatsink

Sean Fallon — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:00:15 EST

Once PC case modder has taken his battle with heat to a whole new level using a design that is 100% passively cooled. That is to say, the entire case is one gigantic heatsink. Unfortunately, numerous problems were encountered during the project and in the end, a faulty motherboard and power supply issues made a proper test of the case problematic. So, even though the mod is flawed, there are plenty of ideas that can be gleaned from the process itself that could result in something a little more practical. Hit the link for instructions. [Metku via Hack n Mod via Gearfuse]