What a pleasant surprise! The case is nicely manufactured (and a carbon-copy of one from Rosewill) and looks good. It is solid both inside and out. The 350W power supply, which is a bit slight in thw wattage department holds on for an all-in-one micro board, e7300 Intel chip, Blu-Ray drive and 3 hard drives. I found I could even squeeze in a fourth if the mobo had more than 4 sata ports! The power supply is very specific to this case, so if it goes out in the future, you will have a problem.
There is an ingenious slide-in cage for the optical drive and two hard drives that makes it easy despite the small space to get the rest of the PC put together first. Then a little power and data cable planning and it all fits together. A slight design improvement might have been the addition of two drive spots under the cage instead of the one - I think there's just enough space. I had to fit the third hard drive upside-down on the case lid with screws in the center-rear vent holes - that's where I would have put the fourth too.
There's a 3-speed fan on the side for ventilation and it works well but it does bear the brunt of case cooling. The short-stalked manual switch is a bit hard to use after you close the case up so figure out what speed you want before you tuck your PC away after it's built.
The case would make it hard to use a graphics card and it would have to be half-height so plan accordingly. Mobos with on-board graphics are perfect, they use less power and these days you can get GeForce 9000s on them. Just don't expect to build a gaming PC with this case.
Excellent case with only a minor flaw, (What's this?) This is one of the most intelligently designed cases I've owned. I needed a small form factor case that fits nice on a desk with a monitor on top. Most of these small cases don't fit that bill. The 350 watt power supply gives the board nice overhead. No other case had a power supply close to this at the time. The slide out unit for mounting DVD, hard drive, etc. Makes putting this computer together a dream.
The only two things that bothered me and lowered my rating are the manual case fan included. I upgraded to a fan controlled by the motherboard. The other is the same complaint many have made. The front bezel is off kilter compared to the mounted peripherals. I also tried to adjust the DVD without success. Neither of these would prevent me from buying this case again. It really is an excellent case overall.
Probably best SSF case available, (What's this?) Very quiet and good connectivity on front panel. Hard drives will definitely get warm to hot in this case.
Nice case, (What's this?) The lift out cage that houses the hard drive and the 2 external bays makes it easy to install the peripherals. Keep in mind, being a smaller case plugging some of the jumpers and other items is bit tight. But that's why, they make needle nose pliers. The outside finish is nice, but does show finger prints.
Great desktop case, (What's this?) This is the second time I've built a system in a Minuet case. Even though I was completely happy with the first one, I did a lot of online shopping to see if there was another case (possibly a bit cheaper) that I might want to try this time instead. There wasn't. For my requirements, this case is perfect. I wanted a generic system for the office, with a good processor, plenty of memory, and a big hard drive. The onboard video is good enough, so I don't need any expansion cards at all. Therefore, potential concerns about space inside the case, cooling capacity, and power supply wattage are non-issues for me. What I do care about is having a case that is well-made, looks nice, and doesn't take up much space on my desk.
For me, using the computer case as a monitor stand makes sense for three reasons: 1. You don't need to buy a separate monitor stand, or make one out of a couple reams of office paper or some random box, to avoid having to look downhill at your monitor all day. 2. The front panel is right in front of you.
Average HTPC Case, (What's this?) I have custom built 4 different PC's using cases from other Manufacturers. This was the case the I chose for my first HTPC build. Its smaller size makes it suitable for an HTPC. However, it is still as long as a traditional case, so I have to be careful with how I position in in my Home Theater Cabinet. The power supply is adequate for my needs, but the air flow in the case could use some work. I ended up mounting an additional 80mm fan on top of the case to blow air down into the case and onto the CPU. That helps keep my chip temps around 104F when playing blu-rays or surfing the web. Game playing takes the temps up to the 145F range. (I'm using the stock cooler and Fan on a Core i3 2100.) Like others, I have a small gap around my Blu-ray drive and the front bezel, but it's not noticeable when the case is in the cabinet. I only rated it 3 stars because of the poor air flow and it doesn't handle a SSD drive very well at all. Most of the SSD adapters I looked at would not work with the case. I finally had to go with the Icy Dock to get it to work. I wouldn't want to mount 2 HDDs in this case. Fortunately, I'm using NAS for my media drive. It's a good case, but if I build another HTPC, I will look at alternatives.
Perfect case for HTPC, (What's this?) First of all, really fast (4 days for free) shipping from amazon.com.
It's a beautiful and sturdy slim case that I have been hoping for. I can never say no to 80 plus PSU. Just spent about 1 hour to move all he parts from my old case into this baby.
Very nice Micro ATX case, (What's this?) This case was perfect for my needs. I wanted a case to house one hard disc, one optical drive, one memory card reader, and I wanted access to at least one USB port on the front. Perfect. When you are building a computer in a small, Micro ATX case, it is cramped. That is to be expected. The finish is beautiful. The case looks, feels, and is very sturdy and well built. But like many other people who have written reviews about this case, I am not completely satisfied with the way my optical drive and card reader fit in the case. Both sit about one sixteenth of an inch behind the front bezel. Try as I might, I cannot get the cage to move any further forward to make the accessories flush with the front of the case. Likewise with the mounting tabs for the hard disc. I had to get out my pliers and bend the tabs about one sixteenth of an inch to make them align with the holes in the disc. I am hoping that only one 80-mm fan is enough to keep the internals of the computer cool. I trust that Antec has done their homework and designed this unit to cool efficiently with only one fan.
another awesome antec case, (What's this?) I needed a small footprint pc to be in an open area of my house. This case fit the need because of size and the feet for it to stand up vertically. The case itself is made of strong and sturdy materials much like my htpc (nsk2480). I have an old (& loud) coolermaster cpu fan but this case is very quiet. Fitting the mobo was painless and installing the hdd/dvd drive were easy because of removable mounts. The other plus I liked was the front activity light. Even when powered on the light doesnt show lit (only when there's activity). When I turn off the lights to watch a movie there's no blue light distracting my viewing. So my only drawback to this case was the power supply cabling. Even though the case is small the cabling seems too long and has little organization to maximize on airflow.
Good and cheap, I bought this case for my HTPC build, and so far it has been pretty good.
It looks great on my desk, and the LEDs in the front aren't too obtrusive, in fact one of them turns off after boot up. The 'piano black' chassis color and the silver front give it a classy looks. The only downside to that is it is hard to find matching DVD/Bluray player.
The unit is perfect for my build, as I have an mATX mobo, 1 hard drive, 1 DVD player, and an internal IR receiver that I fit in the 2.5" bay slot. You could include more hard drives for sure, as there is space, but I am not sure how you would securely do that.
Over all, I am glad I purchased this product. I was looking for a low cost case that had the look of an HTPC wihtout all the fancy nobs on the front. Only 2 USB ports, sound jacks, and an eSATA port which is exactly what I needed.
The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because the instruction manual is very uninformative, and the power button on the front feels a little flimsy when you press it.
Hope this helps.
- Low Profile, small form factor.Motherboard Supported up to Form Factor - mATX.Enclosure Color - Black.Chassis Type - Mini Case.- 80mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control. This elegant mini-desktop boasts impressive performance and a remarkably svelte profile, perfect for system builders looking for a smaller chassis. Its slender footprint and included bracket allow it to fit vertically or horizontally into the tightest spaces. With a reliable high efficiency 80PLUS certified 350 Watt power supply and front USB, eSATA and audio ports, the Minuet 350 delivers the ideal blend of performance and convenience.
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