Thursday, January 20, 2005

Small Form Factor Cases...

--{1 Transmission}--{2 Device Casing}




It got me thinking after yesterday's post about the Mac Mini and how it's unique look and casing is part of the attraction to Apple's latest attempt at using style to promote it's products.

I did some major searching for PC versions with some basic criteria:

1. Encasement must be small - at least comparable to the Mac Mini's size.
2. Must meet or exceed the somewhat bland specs of the Mac Mini (1.25 Mhz / 256 ram spec)
3. Must have some presence of the "cool factor." Whether this be cosmetic looks or neat features.
4. Must be Intel or AMD processor - quality is a factor still, even at this size.

I was able to find a few great sites. (Check out the Resources Tether below)

One thing I noticed is that Mac Mini has been shaped to have a lower profile while still being square. Typically, PC small form factors (SSF) have been very cubical. This really only has a bearing on upgradability and in some SSF cases, upgrading is limited or completely not available.

The Antec Aria case seems to be one of the better SSF cases i've found. Shuttle XPC according to www.gamepc.com has a commanding 87% market share on SSF cases. Antec seems to have exploited the shortfalls noted in the Shuttle XPC designs, and for that reason, I like it above the rest.

Worth noting is the MiniITX site - I did a lot of browsing there. I was very disappointed though because of one major point - the chips for the mini ITX are made by VIA. Who is that you ask? VIA bought Cyrix chips, some really low rent and poorly made chips back in the day. Maybe mid 90's or so. I used to own one of these bad boys, and it fizzled on me shortly after I bought it. That has led me to add the 4th requirement, which I think is important due to quality reasons.

In conclusion, I'm still in search of SSF cases that mimic the low profile look of the Mac Mini AND support Intel / AMD chipsets. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to post!

-Knabber

[Resources]
GamePC review of Antec Aria case
MiniITX - Really small motherboards, cases, and cool case mods