AOpen F501 - Folding Cases. Interesting.

[Zepper]

.
Linkage: http://usa.aopen.com/products/housing/F501.htm

.bh.

 

[gamefreakgcb]

Nice. I wonder how durable these things are.

 

[peleejosh]

I fail to see the end user benefit of this?

 

[Zepper]

For those that rode the small buses to school: 😉

1- Lower shipping costs to resellers = lower cost to you. Get more into a shipping container.

2- Lower shipping costs from reseller to you for potentially bigger case (oversize surcharge starts at 84" total length + girth package size for some shippers).

3- Lower chance of shipping damage from torsional stresses and bezel is packed separately so less chance of broken bezel mountings.

4- Some shippers (Fedex for one) also charge a density surcharge for packages that are light for their size - e.g. a light aluminum case.

5- And for us techies it would probably be fun to assemble - at least the first time...
etc.

.bh.

 

[erikistired]

somehow i doubt the end user is going to see the cost benefit in that, but that's just me. it might be neat to play with tho for a little bit. once you put it together tho, there's not much left to do with it.

 

[Corporate Thug]

pointless

 

[pkme2]

Nice case but not aluminum.

 

[VinDSL]

Cool! Reminds me of Transformers 7.4.7... 😉

 

[Zepper]

"... not aluminum"

For most characteristics except lightness, steel is better anyway.

.bh.

 

[suckerpunch]

Originally posted by: fisher
somehow i doubt the end user is going to see the cost benefit in that...

In the furniture industry, those able to move to flatpack designs (Bush and O'Sullivan come to mind, but the original and reigning cham-peen is IKEA) have both provided much lower costs to the consumer while outcompeting all other companies. It's been such a wildly successful technique that it's being applied to every other area possible. (You can do a websearch for 'flatpack' yourself, but start out by checking the Flatpack House.) Long story short : flatpack designs have benefitted the customer so far, and there's no reason to doubt it yet.

I should mention that flatpack designs offer greater savings in furniture, as it also removes cost of assembly. You won't see that cost savings in case manufacture. On the other hand, the major consumer complaint against IKEA et al is that cobbling the furniture together yourself is a bit of a pain. (I'm going to make a guess here and say that the most immediate beneficiary of flatpack cases will be small builders - local retail shops with three or four employees who attempt to compete with Wal-Mart / eMachines in the consumer market. They'll be able to immediately lower their prices closer to an eMachines level, easily handle any issues caused by putting a case together, and experience almost no issues.)