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Antec LANBOY Mini-Tower Case |
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Extra Bits, Usage, Conclusions
The front door simply pulls open, rather than being the push-release seen elsewhere. It's not lockable, which is no big deal, but to my mind this is the wrong direction for case-front doors to open. If you are working on the PC, either with it standing up or particularly lying down on a desk, you have to reach around the door to get to the power or reset switches. If the door opened the other way, it would rest open on the desk and the buttons would be easier to access.
Behind this door are the drive bays. The 5.25" bay covers can be immediately removed from the front of the case using the side tabs. Note the purple drive rail. Antec have gone for a single-sided rail system in this case, again because one side panel of the case is not removable for access to screw the drives in. Some people like drive rails and some don't - I'm not too fussed either way. They're a little tiresome if you're constantly swapping devices between cases with different drive rails, as there doesn't seem to be any kind of standard for them. The 3.5" bay covers are not so easily removed, requiring a push from the inside. RF shields are present behind all drive bays but can be fairly easily removed - slide the lower drive cage out for easier access to the 3.5" ones.
Also behind this door we find the power and reset buttons - both large enough for easy use, but recessed into a lip to avoid accidentally hitting them. They're behind the door anyway, which makes them less likely to be knocked. No pen or paperclip is required to hit the reset button, which is good. Four LEDs are present, for Power, HDD activity and two others simply marked I and II. You could hook these up to your network card, SCSI or RAID adapter, direct to a HDD's activity LED or something similar. At a LAN party it's probably not a bad idea to be able to see when your network card is busy and you could perform a mod similar to this if your card doesn't have an LED out connector.
With the door closed you can still access the front-mounted USB ports, which use a provided cable to connect to your motherboard.
Other Bits:
Apart from the small bag of screws, Antec also provide a case badge, shown above with the two thumbscrews which held the side panel in place. Most people will replace this with a badge displaying their own affiliation or preference. The included manual is fairly simple but quite good, with exploded diagrams in more languages than you can shake a stick at.
Perhaps the most interesting inclusion with this case is the carry strap. This is made from nylon with a rubber handle and seems pretty strong. It's a real bonus for the LAN-party attendee, making it easy to carry the case with one hand. If you have an LCD screen and a decent-sized backpack, you could presumably move all your PC bits from car to desk in one trip.
The strap is adjustable and easy to use - open the two side connectors, put the straps on the ground, put the case on the straps, do up the side connectors and off you go. You'd probably want to put the strap the other way around from the picture, so the plastic connectors won't be up against the window when you're lugging it around. It's not a shoulder strap but that's ok, having a PC bouncing off your hip is awkward. I was concerned that the straps might slip off an end of the case, but you can adjust them fairly tightly and they end up being held in place somewhat by the rubber feet on the bottom of the case. Overall quite a nice little extra from Antec, very handy.
Usage:
Installing components into the LANBOY was fairly simple. All the connectors are clearly labelled and everything lined up nicely. Being a minitower it can be a tight squeeze for large motherboards, particularly if, like me, you're in the habit of assembling motherboard, CPU and CPU cooler outside the case and then installing the lot in one go.
ABIT's NF7-S v2.0, like many motherboards, has the RAM slots at the top-right corner. If you use a long 5.25" device in the lower two drive bays you may find they touch the memory or other motherboard components. This is one reason to be careful about installing 5.25 devices in any case, but especially so in a minitower. More than one person has snapped capacitors and other components off the top-right corner of their motherboard when shoving a cd-burner into their case! This isn't a problem specific to the LANBOY - if you buy a minitower there are always going to be some space compromises.
One thing about this case: it's quiet! I set it up with the NF7-S, an AthlonXP 2400+, a Spire Falconrock II CPU cooler from LowNoisePC, a PowerColour Radeon 9800 Pro from Altech and an IBM 75GXP hard drive. By far the loudest thing was the hard drive. It's quite a strange feeling to have a fire-breathing PC playing Desert Combat or similar, with it almost completely silent. Adding more cooling fans (or a video card with a helicopter engine onboard) will add noise, but with the near silent PSU and solid construction of this case you're on a good footing for a quiet PC.
Of course, it looks pretty good in action too. The red glow is from the ABIT's onboard LEDs, while the blue glow is from the LED fans in the power supply:
 
Conclusions:
Antec have done well with the LANBOY. They continue to impress with their products and this is no exception. This is a very attractive case which manages to combine excellent build quality, light weight, low noise and provides for plenty of cooling. The extra features round it out nicely, with the carry strap a brilliant bit of forethought.
It's also light on the wallet - PlusCorp have it listed for $181 AUD including the 350W PSU and side-window as reviewed. This puts it well below the price of comparable Lian-Li cases even without the PSU thrown in. Recommended!
Dealers wishing to carry this product should contact Altech Computers, Antec's distributor. Thanks to them for the loan of this review unit!
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