By Andrew Liszewski
Besides being able to completely customize your system the primary reason people build their own PCs is to cut down on the cost. AOpen Asia believes they’ve come up with a great way to help make a few of their PC tower cases even cheaper. The F501A (and a handful of other models) actually come folded down not unlike a cardboard box.
Besides being easier to carry home the smaller form factor also means that shipping costs are reduced which in theory allows the savings to be passed on to the customer. In fact the company claims they can fit at least twice as many of the foldable units into a standard shipping container than the conventional pre-assembled ones.
Of course the cases are not really designed to be used for building that bleeding edge gaming or graphics workstation but for the average PC user they should be just fine. I should also mention that in order for the cases to fold flat the power supplies aren’t included. But really who needs power?
[ AOpen Asia F501A Foldable PC Case ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]
I would guess that another advantage would be reduced chance of damage in shipping. Damn near every computer case I’ve ordered over the Internet has arrived with some broken tab or banged-up corner or some other form of damage related to shipping. I would imagine that a folded up case would be more resistant to that kind of damage.