2001-2002 if you bought them for a self build (not just black cases, but different colors than the standard beige one). Around 2004 for retail computers.

Well I bought quite a few computers and and my fist black tower was 2003.

I'd say 2002

Dell went black/grey around 2001. Though their notebooks were black for many years before that.

I remember more stylistic cases with different colors and designs (even clear ones) as early as 2000. They became more popular around 2001 or 2002.

I remember a purple case in 1995 housing an AT 486 66, but that didn't sell well I don't think. Ahead of its time 🙁

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

I remember more stylistic cases with different colors and designs (even clear ones) as early as 2000. They became more popular around 2001 or 2002.

I remember cases becoming more uhm...exaggerated in design for a while (including the weird extra-wide front panels) and cases being silver colored for a short while before becoming black.

I was thinking some of the early boutique computer builders like Falcon Northwest and Alienware were using black cases as early as the mid 90's to make their systems stand out from the beige Dell's, Gateway's and Compaq's..

Escom, a compute chain in German / Austria, started really early with black computers. Think 486! There was also this T-Bird machine. Not sure what company was behind it. It was a 386 or 486, black, and came bundled with a few games.

Well, black became common for laptops in mid 90's. I remember the first laptop with a TrackPoint which I laid my hands on, back in '96. It was a HP 486 DX4/100, all black, except for the red TP.
So is my recently acquired IBM ThinkPad 600E from '98. All black, soft rubbery case, red TP.
And before computers, a lot of electronics stuff were black: HI-FI combos, VCR's, TV's, SEGA game consoles.

As far as it concerns me, my first black case was bought in 2005. Flimsy aluminium s.h.i.t., replaced by my current case, ASUS Vento TA-861, in 2007. For now is my longest serving case for main computer. I still have a desktop AT case (white/light beige) which housed my main from 2001 to 2003. Now is relegated to the computer from my signature.

I had an Asus Vento ta-361 myself, in red, 2005-2010. Big, heavy with a tool-free side panel almost impossible to put back on easily. The flip up front panel broke early on and the on button shield popped off in the first few days. Not my favorite case. Looked like an air intake duct off a Ferrari F1 racing car though..

@tincup TA-361 is one thing, and 861 is different. 861 is classic/conservative. Just your normal midi ATX tower with frontal panel USB and audio. Sturdy and reliable.

I know, 361 -> 861 = BIG difference!

I thought about it, pondered for a long time, then I decided that I do not need a flashy case. Unusual shape? Saw some cases with carrying handle on top. Why would I chose one of those? I have a stack (more like 3) of optical disks on top of my computer; I could not put them on a case with uneven top.
Transparent side panel? lots of leds? They are annoying and eye catching; not good when you want to be immersed in games, they distract your attention.
For practicality's sake, I am considering a case with upside down components. Or at least one with the power supply on the bottom.

I'm a fan of the Cooler Master Elite 360 - small, light, well built, inexpensive, good ventilation and *just* enough space to squeeze in a Voodoo5 if you choose your PS wisely. It stands upright or flat like an old style desktop. Not particularly retro but nice for housing retro rigs. Oh, and it's black.

Occasionally you could get black computers in the 90s, but they were novelties. Actually, remember that in the 1980s it was very common to have grey (rather than beige) computers. My favourite computer was this green acer released sometime in the mid 90s. The black didn't catch on until 2001/2 as everyone is saying, but that was mostly just cases. It was still hard to get black monitors and CD-ROM drives etc at that time. I held out with my nice beige case until 2007 (quite late) by which time beige was all but extinct.
Black is really the way to go, and it's a shame it never caught on sooner. The big problem with beige and grey was the yellowing.

Around 1999, I remember reading about the Nikao Submarine case. I wanted one terribly bad, but was never able to find one for sale.

http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/pcre … oSubmarine.html
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/11170/het-bouwen-v … -submarine.html

Those pages are just about all I can find about that case now. There's almost nothing else out there about it. However, at the time I remember reading a few reviews of the case. The biggest concerns were that it was made entirely of plastic, and was thus an electrical and thermal insulator. It also had issues with poor system cooling.

I didn't care. I still wanted one. I still regret never being able to find one of those. They were very cool cases at the time.

Nowadays, I'm a big fan of the Antec 300 case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811129042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811129066

With the advent of USB 3.0, I'm afraid that this excellent case will soon be discontinued. Such a shame...

Of course, I felt the same way about the Antec SLK2600.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811129117

I wish I had a spare SLK2600 for another legacy build. Oh well...

By the way, if you really liked those funky clear acrylic PC cases, you can still buy them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811148001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811148012
http://www.xoxide.com/acryliccases.html

You can also still get white desktop cases too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811121011

IBM Intellistations have always been black since they started in 1997.

Dunno when black became mainstream... bought my aluminium case in 2001 and still got it.

I think equipment colours cycle - TVs/Hi-Fi equipment in black was normal then everything went silver and now mostly back to black again!