A crowdfunded clear case
| Filed under Hacks & mods; 1 comment. |
Earlier this year, a company called MacEffects successfully crowdfunded a Kickstarter to create a clear case for the Mac SE/30. With delivery of that product due next month, MacEffects is ready to move on to their next project. This weekend, they launched a Kickstarter to create another transparent case — and this time, the platform is the Apple II.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maceffects/injection-molded-clear-case-for-apple-ii-and-ii-plus
The case models range in price from $150 to $450 — but all are for the Apple II and Apple II Plus. Other models of Apple II, including the IIe, IIc, and IIGS, are not included, though the project description promises that "If this Kickstarter is successfully funded, we will venture to open a new Kickstarter for the Apple IIe!" Unmentioned in the video is a stretch goal of $35,000, which will fund a clear case for the Disk II floppy drive.
The campaign seeks to raise $29,000 in two months. As of Sunday morning, the project has only 16 backers, but those backers have contributed an average of $277 each, for 15% of the project’s total. Similarly, their Mac SE/30 campaign raised $25,674 from just 84 backers, averaging $305 each. Supporters are clearly willing to toss significant sums at these cases!
I wonder if this new case will enjoy similar success, though. The Apple II already has a top that’s easy to remove, displaying the computer’s internals to the world. A clear case doesn’t make it easier to do so, though it does make it safer, since it doesn’t expose the circuitry to as much air and dust. I also found this Kickstarter video’s lighting, sound, and delivery underwhelming, which you could argue are to be expected from a low-budget retrocomputing company. Yet that didn’t stop Nox Archaist from pulling out all the stops!
On the bright side, you won’t ever have to worry about retrobriting this transparent case: "To avoid future yellowing of our custom case, we will NOT be adding fire-retardant additive. Therefore, it is recommended to not operate your computer with this custom case unattended."
No problem — unless you’re mining Bitcoin, why would you ever tear yourself away from a running Apple II and leave it unattended?
(Hat tip to Michael Mulhern)
This thing is pure beauty… I must own one for my Apple II! I’m glad someone finally brought this to the Apple II line.