For many years, computers were just tools that helped you perform your job and access the internet. There was a certain uniformity about them and a blandness, they lacked personality and one machine was hard to differentiate from another. This was quite the opposite of course to mobile phones which has always been about personality. From screen savers to phone covers, cell brands and ringtones, phones have always been about creating extensions of the user’s personality. In recent time things have started to change, perhaps it has been on the back of the rise of the laptop or perhaps it is down to the popularity of gaming and people taking their machines to gaming events and LAN parties. Computers are now more than just uniform boxes. Here are some ideas on how to make your machine stand out a little from the crowd.

All about the box

There are so many options in this space now that it is hard to know where to start. Perhaps, somewhat obviously, the best place to begin is online. A simple internet search for a phrase like ‘PC cases Australia’ should be a good place to begin. The results that come back will be many and varied and the ranges in price and coolness will also be huge. A fancy housing can cost more than an ordinary computer, so the field is wide. But start exploring the options, you will, in all likelihood be blown away by the options available to you.

Processing power

Some people are about the flash and dash, the looks of the box they operate from. Others are much less focussed on looks and far more focussed on performance. If this is your bag load the machine up with ram and other performance enhancing tools. An additional fan to ensure that when the computer is working hard that it doesn’t overheat could be a good idea. In short, an industrial looking box that can grind the big gears quicker than any other machine will carry with it a lot of cool credibility points.

Accessories

Just like when we dress up for a big night out on the town and we accessorise with things like hats or scarves, a computer also comes with plenty of options for accessories. From standard features like the mouse to external speakers, fancy keyboards or printers there are a ton of options available to complement the overall offering of your machine. Naturally all these items should be wireless and easy to network – the days of a mouse being plugged by a cable into a USB port are long gone. That just makes for cumbersome set-ups and takes away from eth ability to move your machine from one place to another. As was the case with the computer box, all of these elements now come with stylish branding in alternative shapes and in colours and designs that render them virtually unrecognisable from what their forerunner looked like ten years ago.