I couldn't go with CRT. I wanted a drop -in PC rack: Masahiro Yamaguchi's "PC Peripheral Equipment Chronicle" 4th
Best match PC rack for CRT display
The "drop -in -type PC rack" refers to a PC rack that can be installed by tilting the display by inclination on the top plate portion where the PC display is placed.The advantage of this method is that the back of the CRT display, which has a depth of tens of centimeters, can be stored in a PC rack, not entirely.When the LCD display was still expensive and the CRT method was mainly the most popular display, this drop -in -type PC rack, which suppresses its presence as much as possible, was gaining popularity mainly among power users.
現在ラインアップに残っている数少ない“落とし込み式PCラック”として、ロアスのRU-201がある。とはいえ、すでに限定品扱いでその入手できる機会は少ない。傾斜式の天板にCRTディスプレイを載せることで、CRTの後部を目立たなくし、かつ画面と手元の移動距離を短くしてくれるメリットもあるDue to the large number of parts, the store price was close to twice as much as the normal PC rack (RU-201 had a price of about 30,000 yen at a fixed price), but depending on the model, a normal PC rack.It was not unusual to increase the same sales.In addition to the computers of universities and corporate computers, in home use, a drop -in PC rack that eliminates the presence of a huge CRT has been accepted by the market as a product that has the advantage of price.。I think many users have longed for the near -futuristic visuals where the display is stored in the desk.
Another advantage of the drop -in PC rack is that the keyboard and the screen are close to the user's gaze.In fact, there was a drawback that the ceiling lighting was easily reflected on the diagonally upward display, but the popularity at stores was still strong.Looking at the flyers at the time created by the mass retailer, a normal type of PC rack and a drop -in PC rack are listed in a ratio of 3 to 1.It was such a major product.
The rise and fall of the PC rack that affects the change in PC
It is unthinkable, but in the early 1990s, it was not unusual for a PC input interface to be only a keyboard.Therefore, the width of the rack to install the PC was enough if it was about 50-60 cm, which was a little extra in the size of the keyboard.
After that, Windows 3.With the appearance and spread of OS that requires mouse operation by adopting GUI, such as 1, PC racks gradually change to mouse -compatible specifications.Specifically, it was equipped with a foldable mouse table, and the width of the rack was widened to about 80 cm.This is around 1993-1994.
It was just in the mid -1990s that the drop -in PC rack mastered "Eika".And it rapidly declined from the late 1990s.There was no demand for installing a CRT display in a replacement to the liquid crystal display ... but the boom of the dedicated PC -integrated PC ahead of it was triggered.
Until the boom of the display -integrated PC arrived, many PCs were called "pizza box type", which used the display on the main unit.If the PC itself and the CRT display are different, the display was dropped into the rack, and the PC itself was installed on the overtop or at the feet to make the most of the merits of the drop -in rack.
However, since the display -integrated PC such as NEC's "Canbe" and IBM "Aptiva Vision", the "multimedia -compatible all -in -one PC" at that time became a boom, the drop -in rack was a "partner".I lose.The method of dropping a large -sized single PC that cannot separate the display and the PC to the rack, but also the advantage of the drop -in method of eliminating presence is no longer required.
“CRTを組み込んだ”一体型PCのブームのきっかけとなった「CanBe」（写真左）と「Aptiva Vision」（写真右）In addition, the existence of a CD-ROM drive, which had just begun to spread at the time, has been negative for the drop-in rack.This is because if the CD-ROM drive is tilted, there is a problem that the media cannot be read well or that it cannot be taken out normally.
Being unable to get on the explosive boom of a display -integrated PC (although it was short) was a fatal hit for a drop -in rack that has maintained some share.At that time, the wood -grained PC rack began to become a standard mass retailer, so the drop -in rack was out of the store exhibition so that it would be replaced with the rise of wood grain racks, and it would finally be revived as a protagonist.
By the way, the boom of the displayed PC integrated PC ended in a few years, but the CRT display itself had already disappeared from the market, so the drop -in rack was not reviewed.In the 21st century, the demand for drop -in racks has almost disappeared due to the reversal of the laptop PCs.Even Elecom, the largest PC rack, is now only a few products for corporations.
It is easy to describe these changes in products as "swallowed by the waves of the times."However, these "sub -streams" products have a strong sense of the transition of technology that existed in that era and the air that the era had (it may be possible to replace it with the word "nori").Can do.It's so clear that it doesn't seem to be more than a dozen years ago, and somehow sad.