After spending the past week browsing the Computex floor, it is clear that the focus is not on boring black PC parts as it has been in the past. From what I spotted of InWin's flashy origami PC cases and the amazing array of case mods scattered throughout the booth, it seems that the once monotone monoliths will take a backseat to the colorful array of goodies.
Of course, colorful parts are often a clever way to draw people to shows like Computex, and are often filed away as "show colors." But I am confident that what I see will actually make it to market.
Some colors are bright, some are pastel, and there are many options to choose from when it comes to PC parts. Matcha green, in particular, appeared in almost every booth I visited this year.
Thermaltake's booth was indeed green: not only is matcha green available for the Ceres 300 TG and Tower 200 (a refreshed version of the Tower 100), but there are also turquoise blue and racing green options in addition to standard black and white. I would have called the latter forest green, but given the amount of green surrounding the host city of Taipei, it would have been a more appropriate color.
Unfortunately, the new CTE C700, a slimmer version of the full-tower CTE C750 we recently tested, does not seem to be part of the brown-tinted craze, but at least I can be sure it represents a broader trend in the industry.
Fractal's new Terra PC case is a Scandinavian-inspired Mini-ITX design that comes in several color variations. It is basically matcha green, with a slight sheen thanks to the anodizing process. It's gorgeous and sophisticated, and has the potential to blend in with the modern, minimalist design trend.
"We realized in our office that we all play games. We don't make products for "gamers," we make products for ourselves," Victor Elberjun, head of Fractal's PC division, told me. We hope that our products will help more people not hide away in their basements."
By moving away from offering plain black, companies can cater to those who are less inclined to RGB. I am convinced that the industry as a whole is slowly beginning to realize that PC gamers are more eclectic when it comes to design trends today.
And while the more subtle pastel colors seem to be primarily employed in smaller form factors, I can see a move to full tower spaces once companies realize that we have all grown up. We've been seeing a lot of pastel-colored peripherals lately, so matching PC cases to them is a logical next step.
We also did a little research on the commitment to matcha green. According to one spokesperson, the trend is "an ode to Computex. Basically, the matcha look is a nod to the rich tea history of the host country, Taiwan, and now seems to be capitalizing on the youth's infatuation with bubble tea and pastel-colored PC cases.
After the show, over a cup of green tea with a Taiwanese spokesperson from MSI, she told me, "In the not-too-distant future, we're going to have a black PC. I have a feeling that in the not-too-distant future, those of us who own pitch-black PC cases will be saying that too.
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