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Design & Features
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A
lot of thought was put into the design of this small chassis and is why it
impressed me quite a bit the second I took it out of the box. Despite
its small footprint, the LanBox sports a fully modular design that will make
installation a breeze for many. There are thumbscrews everywhere that
hold mostly all detachable sections in place. Let's have a close look at its
design and features...
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We
start with the front, which is made entire of aluminum and has a quality
brushed finish. The rear will allow you to mount a standard PSU and
sports two 60mm exhaust fans and a total of four expansion slots.
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If
you purchase the Deluxe (BWS) version, it comes with acrylic windows on both
sides of the chassis. But they do take it a step further by adding
some nice acrylic ventilation grills right into each side window. This
will aid in dissipating the heat from components, primarily the CPU and video card.
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A
closer look at the rear exhaust fans. There are two quality 60mm fans
that are rated to run at 1800rpm each. The specs don't state the dBA
of each, but that's something we will test and comment on in the performance
section of this article. Also, despite its small form factor, there
are four expansion slots that will allow you to take full advantage of most
MicroATX boards on the market.
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Speaking of fans, there is actually one other fan located in the front of
the chassis. Unlike the rear fans, this is a large illuminated 90mm
intake fan that is rated to run at a low 1500rpm. The fact that it is
illuminated is a nice touch because the light shines through the aluminum
honeycomb-style vent grill on the bottom front of the chassis.
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A
nice shot showing the view from the back to front of case. This will
give you an idea of how much room you have to work with. Notice the
vertical 3.5" bay on the front right of the case. You can install a
floppy or a hard drive here if you wish, or use the detachable hard drive
cage shown in the picture above this one.
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The
Lanbox sports some stealth drive bay covers for your optical drives.
The covers, like the whole front of the chassis, are also made of brushed
aluminum and do help in keeping its design clean. Do they work well? I'll elaborate on this a bit later.
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On
the left front, you'll find your I/O extension ports. There are audio,
USB and one Firewire port. On the right front, you'll find your power
and HD activity LEDs. The power LED is blue and the one for the drive
is red. Here is where you will also find your power and reset buttons.
Unfortunately, this is the only thing that truly disappointed me in terms of
its design. These super cheap/flimsy buttons are not made of aluminum.
They are cheesy chrome plated plastic buttons that honestly don't fit this
case very well. If they went this far with quality, why in the world
would you skimp on something as minor as the buttons? Just doesn't
make sense to me at all. This seriously irritates me and is why I only
consider two other companies as the choice for overall quality.
That hasn't changed nor do I think it will.
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Finally, we have a look at the carry handle. If you purchase the
deluxe case, it will feature it, and I must say it is quite impressive.
No cheap plastic here. It is made entirely of very thick aluminum.
Not sure why they didn't make it black, but it is still appealing, sporting
a granite-type finish.
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