Casebuy A.l.-01-BK-AD-ME Mesh

Mr. Hsiao, the General Manager of Casebuy has very generously donated a case to be reviewed by the Driverheaven Staff. This is a pre-release review but the case is set to be released this month (June 2005) and we were told this was a retail package.

Packaging:

The A.l. (Advanced Level) case came with a simple package design but who cares? Marketing/Advertising doesn’t make it good, that’s something everyone should remember when they go shopping.

The case comes in your basic plastic bag with the usual Styrofoam “armor.” Since there aren’t any windows there isn’t anything else covering or re-enforcing the case.

Normally it’s discussed what is inside the box, but this time let’s talk about what’s not in the box first. No documentation whatsoever (which did cause a problem), and no power supply (which is usually a good thing because cheap power supplies are evil).

What is included is a mediocre bag of screws and standoffs taped inside the case with the rest of the connectors along with two 120mm case fans (the one in front has blue LEDs). An oddity I noticed was already mounted standoffs.

Features/Specifications:

No specifications were found inside the box nor on the website, I e-mailed Mr. Hsiao asking about specifications and he promptly e-mailed me back with them along with this PDF.

Specification:
Case Diamensions:450mm D x 200mm W x 430mm H (W/Panel)
Drive Bays: 5.25”x4 / 3.5”x2 / H.D.Dx4
Main Board size :FullSize ATX, Micro ATX
Power Supply :ATX PS2
Slots 7
Cooling system :Front 12cm x 1 or 8cm x 4
Rear 2 x 8cm or 12cm x 1
Material:SGCC or SECC
Thickness:0.6 or 0.5mm
Packing size :2.35Cuft / 0.06cbm
Net/Gross Weight
(W/O PSU) For 0.6mm N.W6.30kgs / G.W7.30kgs
Container loaded : (20”/40”/40”HQ) 430pcs / 890pcs / 1020pcs

If you don’t want to read through all that I’ll simplify it for you. It’s the mid-tower size; it supports either one 120mm fan or two 80mm fans in the front and rear. The case itself is really light weight at around 14 pounds but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. A lot of cheap steel cases are around .8mm thick, this case at its thickest is .6mm, so handle with extra care.

The case features a mesh design on its front, side, and top. It’s possible the case features the A.l. Smart Blade case fan. I say possibly because I don’t know for sure, the fan doesn’t look like the one described below by Casebuy and as I said earlier, I received no documentation. I e-mailed Lionel to ask if the fan will come with the retail case and he said
“A.l. Smart Blade fan still depend on distributor need it or not.”
Translation: “Don’t bet on it.”

The case has one audio port, one microphone port, two USB (probably USB 1.1) ports, and one firewire port on the side of the case.

Next: Aesthetics