WEBVTT 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 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, 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 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.280 were common as dirt? I'm talking about those computers that looked like large beige VCRs 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:22.440 that you typically sit your monitor on top of. 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 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.560 outside of home theater PCs? The question becomes more interesting 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:37.600 when you consider that today's PCs are descendants of the original IBM PC from 1981, 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.160 which used a horizontal chassis. Back then, the base model of the IBM PC 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 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, 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. 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:00.040 On top of that, the CRT monitor that shipped with the original PC 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 00:01:05.160 --> 00:01:09.160 act as a monitor stand to make the screen easier to see. 00:01:09.160 --> 00:01:13.200 And although tower computers were present throughout much of the 1980s, 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 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:21.360 if you weren't running a more powerful workstation. 00:01:21.360 --> 00:01:24.840 Towers could often fit more disk drives and expansion cards, 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:28.280 but this wasn't the paramount concern of the average user 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:31.880 for whom the horizontal form factor was probably more practical. 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:35.880 So when and why did towers become more popular? 00:01:35.880 --> 00:01:38.920 Even though it wasn't the first tower PC, 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:43.640 the IBM PS2 is sometimes credited with popularizing the form factor. 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:47.200 Ironically, not all that different from the similarly named game console 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. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.620 That's crazy. A couple of the original PS2 models were designed as towers 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 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:04.220 and the fact it was the first time we saw an Intel CPU 00:02:04.220 --> 00:02:08.140 inside an IBM tower meant that it seriously got people 00:02:08.140 --> 00:02:11.780 thinking about buying a computer that was built to sit on the floor. 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.860 A few years later, Apple came out with its first tower PC, 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:19.180 the Macintosh Quadra 700. Launched in 1991, the Quadra 700 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:23.740 was unsurprisingly aimed at creatives, much like today's Apple products still are. 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:26.760 Back then, the Macintosh lineup already had a reputation 00:02:26.760 --> 00:02:31.820 for being popular among desktop publishers and performing visual design on a computer 00:02:31.820 --> 00:02:35.140 means that larger monitors have obvious advantages. 00:02:35.140 --> 00:02:38.780 But this was, of course, well before the era of the flat panel display 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:43.320 that's relatively lightweight, even at bigger sizes. Instead, the Quadra 700 was paired 00:02:43.320 --> 00:02:47.780 with a gigantic CRT monitor that weighed 79.6 pounds 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:50.380 or 36.1 kilograms. Big boy. 00:02:51.140 --> 00:02:54.540 That kind of weight didn't exactly lend itself well 00:02:54.540 --> 00:02:58.580 to the monitor living on top of the computer case. That monitor that we mentioned earlier 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:02.360 that paired with the original IBM PC was only 12 and a half pounds. 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. 00:03:06.700 --> 00:03:10.500 So yeah, Apple decided to make the Quadra 700 a tower 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:14.160 so the absolute chungus of a monitor wouldn't be placed on top of it. 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 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 00:03:25.160 --> 00:03:29.860 and remove floppies quite as often, meaning the extra flexibility and space savings 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:35.320 of a floor-standing tower eclipsed the older-style horizontal PC in popularity. 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, 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 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:49.000 to build in than horizontal cases while having a smaller footprint, 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:54.080 contributing to their continued status as the go-to option for a freestanding PC. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.220 However, case manufacturers still do make horizontal cases. 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 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 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:10.220 on the evolution of computer cases. Comment with video suggestions, 00:04:10.220 --> 00:04:12.260 and don't forget to subscribe and follow.