An idea that springs to mind for some older hardware and cases is to mod up a basic computer to live in my garage to give me basic web access out there for when I'm working on bikes and cases and want to look something up.
From a practicality perspective I would need:
A good dust filter system. It can get pretty dirty in the garage.
It would have to be cheap, in case of the worst. So I would run Ubuntu for the fact it's free and I'm only looking for web access and probably an MP3 player.
I have an old 17" Sony CRT I'm not using at the moment, so it will be perfect for the screen.
I would want the case small as I wouldn't want to take up a lot of work bench space for a PC. The CRT will be the limiting factor in saving bench space, so it may be a PC that the monitor can sit on top of.
One of the old keyboards I have still has the plastic keyboard cover to stop dust getting it. It's one of those big old heavy IBM keyboards you could never kill, so perfect for what I want.
At least one easily accessible USB port would be a must for transferring file I might download via my flash drive and to be able to plug my camera in to upload photos.
From a looks perspective I would want:
It should look like part of the garage environment, so maybe a tool box mod, or something else that looks like maybe test equipment.
Keyboard and mouse to go on a custom slide out tray from under the workbench that is big enough to use, yet be out of the way when working on other things.
Overall this would be a case built towards functionality over appearance to ensure a longer service life in a tougher environment over the average PC.