Ok, so I got this old Apple III monitor that's in nice condition but the crt is fried.
Looking at it I'm thinking I could put a 12 inch PowerBook or any LCD screen in that sucker and still have lots of room for a logic board and PSU.
Here's a V-Hack I did using Photoshop and a photo of an Apple III w/Monitor and External drive.
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/3635
I don't plan on trying to use anything but the monitor case but I think it would be a cool hack.
If you do it with a full A-III, you could put a slotloader CDROM in the floppy slot.
That would be really cool, but I don't have one. Getting the keyboard to work may be beyond my abilities. I wouldn't know where to begin....
There is lots of room in those old monitors and cases for all kinds of fun toys though.
maybe put a cube in there? you probably wouldnt even need to dissasmble it. IIRC the inside of the apple III was big enough to even put a whole old g4 in there, i would put an lcd in the monitor, the harddrive(s) in that middle unit(dont remember what it was for) and a computer in the main part. put it on my desk and everyone would think i was stuck in the computing dark ages. untill i turned it on. great idea to do anything with the case
I love that idea. I like bringing back that futuristic '80s style and making it useful. I've often want to stick this LC I have into some IBM from the '70s or '80s, but I haven't found one yet. The Apple /// is the epitome of '80s computers.
What would be cool is if you managed to mount both a Mac and a PC (Mini ITX) inside an IMSAI case. You could use one of the switches for booting the Mac, another for the PC, one for keyboard switching, one for video switching, etc..
And you could hack an LCD into one of those retro '70's dumb terminals, the white ones with the smooth design that look kind of like a smaller iMac with integrated KB.