A Box Shaped Thing
Originally, the box for the ZX Spectrum Next was not a large concern. Whether this was to be a very basic plain cardboard box, or something slightly more evolved (but not by much), it would have been functional but perhaps not entirely in line with the Sinclair boxes that came before it.

It’s a box, there’s a PSU inside!
The next unknown quantity is the manual. This is a difficult one as the manual has not been written yet, so we’re going to have to all come to a decision on its dimensions which also needs to factor in the expected page count, and anticipated page weight.
- Compared to the original ZX81 manual
- A nice big blank thing for box sizing purposes
A thing of beauty is rendered down to a boring block of plastic
- A regular corrugated card box
- Just not something you look at and get a warm feeling from
- A square of cardboard to keep the case and PSU box in check
- Nothing special, just components sandwiched together
Thoughts were fed back as the presentation lacked any special ingredients. It looked cheap but in terms of price, it certainly wasn’t cheap. It was worrying at this point that given the budget, was this all we could hope to achieve?
- It’s box shaped
- It has sleekness to it, and rounded corners (although those would have to go later)
- It holds things in place nicely
- Foam inserts looked a bit too rough and “cheap”
- The card inserts just had a nicer, cleaner look to them
- Showing off the new more detailed SLA model
- The manual fitting underneath Additional cutouts were required to fit the Next properly

And that concludes the physical design aspects of the box! Well mostly 🙂