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From: sauer@chs.dell.com (Charlie Sauer)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Tower vs. Desktop
Message-ID: <1991Apr14.160024.5673@dell.dell.com>
Date: 14 Apr 91 16:00:24 GMT
References: <1991Apr5.181414.12603@infonode.ingr.com> <1991Apr7.162437.25472@dell.dell.com> <1991Apr10.163915.5959@unixg.ubc.ca>
Sender: @dell.dell.com
Organization: Dell Computer Corporation
Lines: 45

In article <1991Apr10.163915.5959@unixg.ubc.ca> twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong) writes:
>In article <1991Apr7.162437.25472@dell.dell.com> sauer@chs.dell.com (Charlie Sauer) writes:
>>In article <1991Apr5.181414.12603@infonode.ingr.com> fordke@infonode.ingr.com (Keith Ford x8614) writes:
>>>The thing I dislike about towers is that a 1/2 or 3/4 card will
>>>have gravity pulling against the end that does not screen down.
>>>Full sized cards don't have this problem.
>>
>>Some floor standing machines, e.g. Dell 425TE and 433TE, have the cards mounted
>>vertically.  In the 4XXTE's, this was done to allow easy access to the card
>>connectors, which end up under a sliding cover on the top of the unit.  But 
>>this also avoids the cited gravity effect.
>
>How are the vertical cards positioned in a tower? I'm trying to imagine
>this. So does the cards hanging down from the top and have all the
>slot openings on top of the tower? Or are all the slots internal mounted
>vertically on the motherboard side by side, meaning all the connectors
>and cables will have to go right into the tower?


This is a side view sketch:

            +--------+
            |(*)     |
+========---+        |
|                    |
|                    |
|                    |
|                    |
|                    |
+--------------------+

The = signs indicate traditional AT-like card slot openings,
though the connectors inside are EISA, not ISA.  On the vertical panel by
the (*) are connectors for integrated I/O (keyboard, mouse, VGA, 2 serial,
parallel).  There is a sliding cover that normally covers the I/O cables
both for integrated and optional I/O and makes the top more or less flat
in the normal (closed) position.  There is a cable guide that snaps on the
back to help route the cables together and toward the floor.  Most pictures
in Dell ads/catlogues don't show the cable guide at all and show the sliding
cover in the normal (closed) position, but some of them give a hint of what
it looks like with the cover slid forward a little.
--
Charlie Sauer       Dell Computer Corp.        !'s:uunet!dell!sauer
(512) 343-3310      9505 Arboretum Blvd        @'s:sauer@dell.com
                    Austin, TX 78759-7299