IBM Personal Computer System Case

The case IBM developed for the IBM Personal Computer Series was manufactured to the 'industrial' standards of their other equipment of the time, utilising relatively heavy-grade welded and painted pressed steel. Several revisions were made.

Model 5150

For the IBM Personal Computer 5150, there were two versions, both of which had five expanision slots with a slot spacing of 1-inch:

• Model A:
  • Large rectangular cut-out on the rear over the keyboard and cassette ports
  • Metal speaker frame
  • Brown or black PSU
• Model B:
  • Plastic speaker frame
  • Silver PSU

Model 5160

Although substantially the same as the 5150 case, the 5160 case was revised on account of the new 0.8-inch ISA slot spacing of the IBM Personal Computer XT System Board and the ommision of the cassette port.

At least for models shipped with a hard disk, the ventilation holes under the drive bays were taped over, presumably to ensure sufficent air was drawn directly over the hard disk itself via the ventilation slots in its face plate.

See Also

• IBM Personal Computer Series