|
VIZO Technology Corp, a company based out of
Taiwan, is one that primarily focuses on unique PC peripherals and
accessories offered worldwide. Some of their products are indeed
unique and I'll be showing one of two received from them for review here
today. Their Master Panel is not your average front bay extension
panel. No, there's no USB, Firewire or memory card slots on this one.
The Master Panel is actually a one-of-a-kind product that will allow
convenient access to any hard drive or optical drive, whether it sports an
IDE, SATA or even an E-SATA interface. With this panel installed, there is no need to
open up your case and connect a drive to your motherboard for access or
resort to external enclosures.
Let's have a closer look...
Packaging & Contents
|
**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
Both products arrived from Taiwan and I was
immediately impressed by the choice of packaging. The Master Panel
comes with some installation screws, a detailed manual and even a quality
braided SATA cable for external connections.
Design
|
**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
The VIZO Master Panel is honestly one of the
most appealing panels I've seen. The
front panel sports a quality gloss black finish that will certainly impress.
My only gripe is the plastic chrome on/off button. As I have stated
numerous times, chrome buttons like this are usually a sign of a poor
quality product and does make any product look cheap. However, despite
this design choice, the Master Panel certainly does not fall in this
category.
**click to enlarge**
The circuit board itself has three SATA
connectors. Yes, the Master Panel acts as an IDE to SATA converter
similar to one we
showed you a few years ago when SATA drives first hit the market.
This means that if you take advantage of all three internal connectors, you
only have to run low-profile SATA cables that will reduce cable clutter inside the
case. The only other connector is for power and you can use a spare 4-pin
(floppy) PSU connector for powering the panel.
Specifications
- For 5.25” bay
- Compatible with SATA port and E-SATA port
- Compatible with ATA/ATAPI port
- Max. speed 1.5GBPS of serial ATA I , 3.0GBPS of Serial ATA II
- Avoid tangled mass of cables and wires in your PC
LED Indicator
- Support WIN 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
- Support MAC OS 9.X/X or above
- Colors availble : Black, Gray, Pearl White
- Model No. : MTP-101-BK, MTP-101-GR, MTP-101-WH
|
