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CASELABS Resurrected

Latest update is that Emil thinks it will take about 10 months to save up the $5k for the prototypes the (potential?) outside investors want to see before moving forward.

He's reluctant to do any sort of crowd funding due to fear that if any other delays hit he'd be accused of scamming. Given his history with the project so far I can't blame him in the least there.
 
10 months for 5K? How long does he think it will take after he gets the money to fab the prototypes and/or get approval? Also did he manage to get the schematics converted / 3D rendered already or is that still on the table?
 
Emil's savings are apparently depleted and he took a $1k/mo hit changing jobs.

Don't know to the first. At least some cases (not sure ifall) are supposedly done; with the last major delay being the previous planned manufacturing partner using "but they're in inches" as an excuse to back out.
 
Considering component prices, is creating a new case for the market now ideal?

How much as custom builds dropped due to prices, which likely wont change for a couple years at least...
 
What's worse is how cheap relatively good cases are now. They may not be as refined, but you get 90% there for half the cost (if that).

Some people would be willing to pay that price, but it's a tough market right now.
 
Nobu said:
What's worse is how cheap relatively good cases are now. They may not be as refined, but you get 90% there for half the cost (if that).

Some people would be willing to pay that price, but it's a tough market right now.
Click to expand...
Ya, I love a good case, but once you get around the $150CAD mark, it better be making me breakfast as well :D
 
DanNeely said:
Emil's savings are apparently depleted and he took a $1k/mo hit changing jobs.

Don't know to the first. At least some cases (not sure ifall) are supposedly done; with the last major delay being the previous planned manufacturing partner using "but they're in inches" as an excuse to back out.
Click to expand...
It would be unfortuinate if Emil's personal financial situation became difficult, but I'm sure he needs to attend to his own/family needs first before taking any business risks. It would be nice to have as much info as he can give how this is going to proceed, like if he has one or more potential investors who are ready to jump in once they see the prototypes, or if its a matter of getting them made and then shopping around for those willing to help bankroll widespread production. Maybe I'll try and give some suggestions. There may be ways to raise some money and make progress on the project at the same time, without resorting to what may be a stressful attempt at traditional crowdfunding.

I'd guess that the cases that are done (converted to metric and fully 3D rendered schematics ready for manufacture) are likely the ones he discussed as the first wave of the most desirable cases awhile back - Magnum SMA8-A 2.0 / SMA8-X 2.0 (whatever the latest revision to the -A or -X models, plus the upgrades discussed is called) for vertical mobo arrangement, Mercury S8 for horizontal mobo, and then maybe one of the Bullet models for a more compact and less expensive kit (even the BH7 I think was the largest one and ATX compatible was still very small from a CaseLabs standpoint), and supposedly a TX10 upgraded variant (late arrival, VERY niche but very unique; probably still the largest production PC case to date). I'm guessing that the SMA8 Revision and the S8 are the two most likely to start with given they ar both desirable for new buyers and have a bunch of existing owners us like who will buy accessories and parts, many (but not all - obviously there are some specific to each case including things like pedestals are interoperable thanks to things like flex-bay compatibility. Some of the modular components would work for those who had older models and variants that may not be returning (M8, STH10 etc) too. There were discussions of new cases and designs but that would all come later.

MrGuvernment said:
Considering component prices, is creating a new case for the market now ideal?

How much as custom builds dropped due to prices, which likely wont change for a couple years at least...
Click to expand...
Nobu said:
What's worse is how cheap relatively good cases are now. They may not be as refined, but you get 90% there for half the cost (if that).

Some people would be willing to pay that price, but it's a tough market right now.
Click to expand...
I think CaseLabs , even back a decade ago, were sort of a niche that were not as sensitive to price, more like a luxury good? Yes, they cost more than a lot of other cases but they were both made in the USA and were 100% aluminum (something that has become increasingly rare over the years. Back then you could pick up a full or nearly full aluminum case from LianLi or Silverstone etc), as well as completely modular and - until the end of the company - capable of upgrading through that modular nature. When other "high end supertower" cases from bigger companies cost $300-ish, CLs could easily be $500-800 but it would last you ages and swap out and upgrade parts as needed. Enthusiasts were willing to pay more in light of all that but it never felt unreasonably expensive and people generally felt they were supporting something beneficial for all those reasons.

I don't think they're worth bringing back without maintaining those features today - if you cheap out, cut corners, and still have to jack prices people will wonder why they'd be paying such things. I think the only way it will work, even with increased costs of materials or fabrication, will be to keep the same high level of quality as otherwise there's no point. As far as cheaper relatively good cases, I don't know maybe I'm out of the loop but it seems like the opposite. Prices have gone up, where there are enthusiast 'supercases' by large companies, manufactured in cheaper areas, that cost what used to be only boutique CL tiers in the past, not to mention that former aluminum focused companies now have moved to only use it as an accent. Designs of the cases themselves have changed along with the "average builder"'s needs, so there's less room for modular features and bay devices, and more "glass fishtank" cases (lots of LianLi O11D EVO style cases) which even for a high end build are meant to be used more or less one way. Not that there aren't some exceptions, but it seems like CaseLabs could be even more desirable now given the rest of the market, but of course they were always made for a niche userbase.

This does mean that they have to "get it right" though - users willing to pay more in this case, will expect results. When I think of some other niche case manufacturers, some seem to be moving right along, others have stumbled, and still others seem sort of stuck in time for better or worse. I think CaseLabs will need to do what it always did best, while also keeping up with more recent developments (ie the SMA8-A Revision coming with tempered glass is a good example here), but at this point their revival is contingent on just getting off the ground, so I guess we'll see how that moves forward.
 
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RanceJustice said:
It would be unfortuinate if Emil's personal financial situation became difficult, but I'm sure he needs to attend to his own/family needs first before taking any business risks. It would be nice to have as much info as he can give how this is going to proceed, like if he has one or more potential investors who are ready to jump in once they see the prototypes, or if its a matter of getting them made and then shopping around for those willing to help bankroll widespread production. Maybe I'll try and give some suggestions. There may be ways to raise some money and make progress on the project at the same time, without resorting to what may be a stressful attempt at traditional crowdfunding.
Click to expand...

I'd need to dig through a few months of old discord messages. He first mentioned them a few months ago, unless I'm misremembering Emil gave the impression that he was in talks with someone specific (not if you build a prototype they will come) as long as the prototypes are good everything would be good to go. I've seen enough cases where what a first time small business owner thought was agreed to with investors and what the investors actually committed to were widely apart. As such, I'm not holding my breath until the prototypes are made, Emil reports a signoff, and opens a shop to order from.

RanceJustice said:
I'd guess that the cases that are done (converted to metric and fully 3D rendered schematics ready for manufacture) are likely the ones he discussed as the first wave of the most desirable cases awhile back - Magnum SMA8-A 2.0 / SMA8-X 2.0 (whatever the latest revision to the -A or -X models, plus the upgrades discussed is called) for vertical mobo arrangement, Mercury S8 for horizontal mobo, and then maybe one of the Bullet models for a more compact and less expensive kit (even the BH7 I think was the largest one and ATX compatible was still very small from a CaseLabs standpoint), and supposedly a TX10 upgraded variant (late arrival, VERY niche but very unique; probably still the largest production PC case to date). I'm guessing that the SMA8 Revision and the S8 are the two most likely to start with given they ar both desirable for new buyers and have a bunch of existing owners us like who will buy accessories and parts, many (but not all - obviously there are some specific to each case including things like pedestals are interoperable thanks to things like flex-bay compatibility. Some of the modular components would work for those who had older models and variants that may not be returning (M8, STH10 etc) too. There were discussions of new cases and designs but that would all come later.
Click to expand...

One of the cases is an SMA8 variant. I'm not sure what the other is, it might be SMA8A and SMA8X since those two would have the most part commonality and b because the SMA8X was the winner of a "what else would you like" poll done on discord last year. SMA8-X never went beyond a single prototype by the original CaseLabs.

Emil's plan years ago was only to have the most common models in continuous stock and do once or twice a year batch orders for the rarer ones. The giant double wides were definitely in that group. Not sure what else was. If not there originally, I suspect the bullet models probably would be there today. The enormous size of current generation GPUs makes trying to build around an ITX board mostly pointless.

First he actually needs to get the initial batch of cases built and then hope there's enough sustained demand once the initial backlog of people who've never found what they were looking for in the used market is satiated.
 
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