1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,240
If you're building or buying a new desktop PC, we take it for granted these days

2
00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:09,240
that'll probably take the form of a tower. Perfect for fitting in a chunky graphics card,

3
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:14,160
lots of storage and plenty of cooling. But do you remember the days where horizontal desktop PCs

4
00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:19,280
were common as dirt? I'm talking about those computers that looked like large beige VCRs

5
00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,440
that you typically sit your monitor on top of.

6
00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:27,440
It seems like that would save space. So why are they so hard to find these days

7
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,560
outside of home theater PCs? The question becomes more interesting

8
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:37,600
when you consider that today's PCs are descendants of the original IBM PC from 1981,

9
00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,160
which used a horizontal chassis. Back then, the base model of the IBM PC

10
00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:46,880
didn't even come with a hard drive, meaning you were dealing with swapping out floppy disks

11
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,960
whenever you wanted to run a different program. And given that you were fiddling with floppy so often,

12
00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,160
it was very convenient to have the floppy drives right in front of you within ARM's reach.

13
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,040
On top of that, the CRT monitor that shipped with the original PC

14
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,160
wasn't all that big at only 12 inches, meaning it was advantageous to have the PC chassis

15
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:09,160
act as a monitor stand to make the screen easier to see.

16
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,200
And although tower computers were present throughout much of the 1980s,

17
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:18,200
the advantage that they could be moved off of a desk and onto the floor wasn't always useful

18
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,360
if you weren't running a more powerful workstation.

19
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,840
Towers could often fit more disk drives and expansion cards,

20
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,280
but this wasn't the paramount concern of the average user

21
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,880
for whom the horizontal form factor was probably more practical.

22
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,880
So when and why did towers become more popular?

23
00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,920
Even though it wasn't the first tower PC,

24
00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,640
the IBM PS2 is sometimes credited with popularizing the form factor.

25
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,200
Ironically, not all that different from the similarly named game console

26
00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,840
that would come out 13 years later. And also, I can't believe that's just a 13 year gap.

27
00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,620
That's crazy. A couple of the original PS2 models were designed as towers

28
00:01:55,620 --> 00:02:00,700
because they were meant to hold more drives and cards, as previously mentioned, but both IBM's market power

29
00:02:00,700 --> 00:02:04,220
and the fact it was the first time we saw an Intel CPU

30
00:02:04,220 --> 00:02:08,140
inside an IBM tower meant that it seriously got people

31
00:02:08,140 --> 00:02:11,780
thinking about buying a computer that was built to sit on the floor.

32
00:02:11,780 --> 00:02:14,860
A few years later, Apple came out with its first tower PC,

33
00:02:14,860 --> 00:02:19,180
the Macintosh Quadra 700. Launched in 1991, the Quadra 700

34
00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:23,740
was unsurprisingly aimed at creatives, much like today's Apple products still are.

35
00:02:23,740 --> 00:02:26,760
Back then, the Macintosh lineup already had a reputation

36
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:31,820
for being popular among desktop publishers and performing visual design on a computer

37
00:02:31,820 --> 00:02:35,140
means that larger monitors have obvious advantages.

38
00:02:35,140 --> 00:02:38,780
But this was, of course, well before the era of the flat panel display

39
00:02:38,780 --> 00:02:43,320
that's relatively lightweight, even at bigger sizes. Instead, the Quadra 700 was paired

40
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,780
with a gigantic CRT monitor that weighed 79.6 pounds

41
00:02:47,780 --> 00:02:50,380
or 36.1 kilograms. Big boy.

42
00:02:51,140 --> 00:02:54,540
That kind of weight didn't exactly lend itself well

43
00:02:54,540 --> 00:02:58,580
to the monitor living on top of the computer case. That monitor that we mentioned earlier

44
00:02:58,580 --> 00:03:02,360
that paired with the original IBM PC was only 12 and a half pounds.

45
00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,700
So that would be like stacking six of these on a single case, plus a little extra.

46
00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:10,500
So yeah, Apple decided to make the Quadra 700 a tower

47
00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:14,160
so the absolute chungus of a monitor wouldn't be placed on top of it.

48
00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:19,840
And even if you weren't getting the biggest monitor out there, larger, heavier screens were becoming more common

49
00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:25,160
for average users. Simultaneously, by the early 90s, we'd come a long way from the days of needing to insert

50
00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,860
and remove floppies quite as often, meaning the extra flexibility and space savings

51
00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:35,320
of a floor-standing tower eclipsed the older-style horizontal PC in popularity.

52
00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:40,500
So of course, now it's ironic that tower PCs are now commonly kept on desk as statement pieces,

53
00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:45,400
at least if you're a gamer. But of course, towers still do usually offer more space

54
00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,000
to build in than horizontal cases while having a smaller footprint,

55
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,080
contributing to their continued status as the go-to option for a freestanding PC.

56
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,220
However, case manufacturers still do make horizontal cases.

57
00:03:58,220 --> 00:04:02,960
I'd just be a little leery about relying on a piece of tempered glass to support the entire weight

58
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,020
of your fancy, ultra-wide. Thanks for watching, guys. If you liked this video, check out our other video

59
00:04:07,020 --> 00:04:10,220
on the evolution of computer cases. Comment with video suggestions,

60
00:04:10,220 --> 00:04:12,260
and don't forget to subscribe and follow.