36 | MAXIMUMPC | SEP 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
We’ve come down pretty hard on Windows Vista over the last 18
months, but the OS has shown major improvements in stability,
reliability, and performance, especially since the launch of SP1.
While we’re infi nitely more confi dent in Vista now than we were
in 2007, we’re still not quite ready to roll solo with the OS. That
said, XP isn’t perfect. Since 32-bit XP caps out at 4GB of usable
memory, fully half of our Dream Machine’s RAM is useless. We’ll
take the best of both worlds, thank you.operating systemoperating system
Windows Vista Ultimate
x64 Edition + Windows XP
Professional
Between the two OSes, we’re covering all our bases
We were lukewarm on the HP Blackbird PC we reviewed in our
Holiday 2007 issue, but we’re big fans of its one-of-a-kind chassis.
The heavy aluminum case is well constructed and much of the
electrical wiring for its features—such as front-panel USB and
FireWire connections, a pop-up 15-in-1 card reader, and external
LED lighting—is kept hidden from sight.
The hot-swap drive bays on the case’s interior are a treat to
work with. A 9.2cm fan runs air across all fi ve hard drive slots.
This nod to thermal management is replicated on the case’s ceiling,
where two 12cm fans churn the air overtop your heated mother-
board components.
HP will sell 25 of its Blackbird cases on a fi rst come, fi rst serve
basis beginning September 1. The cost is $1,000 (plus tax and ship-
ping). To order, call 877-776-4752.casecase
HP Blackbird 002
Why throw the baby out with the bathwater?DREAM MACHINE ’08
casecase
The Dream Machine is all about going the extra mile—in
parts and aesthetics. To give HP’s Blackbird case our
own unique stamp, we had the whole thing nickel plated.
Computer Choppers (www.computer-choppers.com)
does all the hard work and offers a selection of more than
70 plating and fi nish options, from chrome to copper to
platinum. We chose smoked nickel for our rig, which looks
a lot like chrome, only smokier and more awesome.
Before the plating is applied, the case is disassembled.
Then the parts to be plated are stripped with nitric acid
and immersed in a zincate solution so the metal sticks.
It’s a complex process that can be made more diffi cult
depending on the quality and/or porosity of the material
being plated. Waiting on the fi nished case was the most
nail-biting aspect of building this year’s Dream Machine—
we didn’t receive it until the day the feature was scheduled
to be photographed! Luckily, HP had sent us another case,
which we used to work out all the building issues in the
interim.
The cost of having an entire rig plated runs from
$5,000 to $10,000, depending on the plating metal.BEHIND THE SCENES‘Chroming’ the Blackbird