I'd stick with a metal case and enclose that in something more decorative such as the coffee table idea. For most of whose electrical engineering training is limited to changing the batteries in the flashlight, static charge can be a difficult thing to relate to unless you've been struck by lightning. Identifying a ground path is not always trivial. How will you "ground" yourself when servicing the computer? You can't touch the metal case. A metal case also provides sheilding. Charge will migrate to the outside of a metal shell. Not so with wood. -- Paul Overby xpoverby at ATTBroadband.com