Intel's pop art PC – the E-Shell

Every now and then Intel allows its designers to go a bit loopy and come up with off-the-wall housing for PCs. The latest though is a corker. Nicknamed the ‘E-Shell‘, the Home Entertainment Shell has obviously been designed after spending too many hours imbibing pop- art sixties movies like Modesty Blaise.

Apparently influenced by Eero Aarnio’s iconic bubble and ball chairs of the early 1960s, the ‘E-Shell’ harks back to an age when just two or three simple items of technology shared equal space in the living room with exciting new furniture designs and futuristic materials.   
“The ‘E-Shell’ doesn’t apologise for its presence or try to hide under the TV,” said its designer Ryan McElhinney.  “It’s proud to stand alone as a piece of furniture in it own right.”

Although it is a prototype only at the moment the spec seems pretty decent as it incorporates a Hi-Grade DMS II 3400 entertainment PC running a 3.4 GHz Intel Pentium® 4 Processor 550 supporting Hyper-Threading Technology¹, 512MB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

It also features a TV tuner, DVD reader and writer and radio player. The machine also features Intel’s Balanced Technology Extended (BTX) motherboard and chassis design, which offers improved internal airflow – meaning fewer fans and quieter operation.