If there has ever been any doubt, the proof comes from the Japan-based Universal Roaming Company, that the classiest personal computers come from Japan. Their Ryou Collection of PCs feature wooden cases lovingly crafted from actual wood. Remember that stuff those things with leaves are made of? The same place paper comes from? Those things you used to climb on when you were a kid? Right–trees.
In a time when plastic is starting to suffer the slings and arrows of environmental outrage, leave it to the Japanese to design a computer that does away with the plastic case and manages to add an impressive amount of class to one of the most ubiquitous machines in the world. Having one of these on your desk will make you the envy of Apple users everywhere. Sure, the MacBook Air may look sleek and sexy, but the Ryou Collection is sleek, sexy and biodegradable!
However, there is more to the Ryou Collection than just a pretty facade.
After all, these impressive PCs are not made entirely of wood–these gorgeous little boxes sport impressive innards made from silicon and metal. These silicon and metal organs include a 1.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a gig of RAM (expandable to 2), an 80 gig hard drive, a dual layer DVD±RW burner, wifi and a flash card reader.
The wooden part of this elegant machine (aka the case) measures out to 7.5 inches wide, by 9.5 inches deep, by 2.8 inches high. That’s not that much larger than a Mac Mini. There are six different wooden cases to choose from, but they all contain the same ingredients. Each of the systems comes with Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 and, sadly, there is no mention of price anywhere on the Ryou Collection’s web page.
However, seeing as these breathtakingly beautiful computers not only feature wooden cases but lacquer-finished wooden cases with silver and gold powder accents to boot, expect to pay a pretty penny when you find these works of art in the flesh–er–wood. Of course, finding them will be another challenge since Universal Roaming is a Japanese company. Odds are you won’t find these PCs at your local Best Buy.
