Antec Lanboy Case Review

Cases by jmke @ 2003-03-31

In the past Antec cases were known for its sturdy structure and great features, but they werent the smallest ones around & surely not the lighest either. They still remain first class in the midi/maxi towers, but now they also have a new product up their sleeve for the LANparty folk. Aptly named the "Antec Lanboy", ultra-light and packed with nifty features. We test its portability, easy of use and of course the performance.

Introduction


To the LAN-Mobile!

Today I present you with a new product release. It was available before in the U.S. But only recently did it become available for the European market. Sporting a 350Watt - 220V PSU.

Now that I mentioned what differs with the US version I can start showing you why this case might be your next purchase.

This is what Antec has to say about their product:

You don't game the night away alone - that's not your style. And when you get together with the gang to battle it out, you want a case that won't weight you down. That's why this super light aluminium case is just for you. With easy-tote carrying strap, blue LED-illuminated power supply, and windowed side panel, it's just what you've been looking for. It's definitely the Power of You


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They dare you to test it yourself and so I did. I carried the case to the 3rd floor of my building with one hand while taking the stairs, something you won't see me doing with my Coolermaster midi-tower :)

What do you get for your ~€125 ?

  • Aluminium mini tower case with windowed side panel
  • 350 SmartBlue ATX12V power supply with internal illumination
  • 2 front USB ports
  • 8 Drive bays
  • 4 x 5.25" and 2 x 3.5" external bays
  • 2 x 3.5" internal bays
  • Up to 2 x 80mm Fans (1 Front - 1 Rear)
  • Motherboards: Standard ATX (12" x 9.6")
  • AQ3 - Antec Quality 3-year parts & labour warranty!

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    Let's check out its features...

    • Features


    This case is packed with features and tries to be an out-of-the-box complete solution. To start of & for you to show off it has a nice window build into the side panel, protected by a plastic wrap.

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    The aim of Antec was to build a light case. Wherever possible they used plastic instead of metal or aluminium. The side-window is being held into its place by these things:

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    The 5.25" drives are hidden by a plastic door that comes in the exact same colour as the rest of the case. Which is overall pretty nice. Not boring beige nor too flashy aluminium.

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    A detailed close-up of the status-LED area, showing you also the 2 USB ports that can be brought to the front of the case for easy-of-use.

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    You have to open the door, every time, to boot/reset your system. This could have been better

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    There is no locking mechanism present on the front door, so I don't see the advantage of hiding the power/reset button. While at the back of the case you can attach a YALE slot to prevent people removing the side panel from your case.

    If you open the door you can remove the plastic drive-covers very easily

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    Each panel comes with a plastic drive-rail, that you have to attach on one side of your CD(rw)/DVD(rw)-drive. But when you decide to relocate the drives, or remove one, then you're stuck with the plastic rail, as there is no dedicated place in the case to securely attach the spare ones. It would have been better if they had provided one at the bottom (under the drive racks) like you see in the Chieftec towers.

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    Lets open this case now...

    Internals

    For a case that is aimed at easy of use by people who visit LANs, not providing thumbscrews was a bad idea:

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    You get a manual, a case badge and last not least a nylon strap to help you carry the case.

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    Attaching the straps takes only 1-3 minutes and they are of good quality. The handle feels good in your hands and carrying it around doesn't differ much from a normal briefcase.

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    I'm almost ready to install my test system in there.. but wait. Where are the screws?

    When you take a look at the backside of the case you encounter a small compartment next to the PCI slots

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    Opening it up reveals the missing pieces...

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    Now that I have all the necessary material I'm ready to install my motherboard...

    Installing your Gear


    The rear side panel (that's the one behind you motherboard) is not removable, same story for the motherboard-tray. You still have enough room to manoeuvre around though

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    You can easily install your floppy/hard drives thanks to the removable rack:

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    10 minutes later I'm all set to power up the system:

  • Abit KR7A
  • XP1700+ tested at 1466Mhz/1.7v and 2000Mhz/1.98v

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    350Watt will be enough for almost anybody that uses the LANboy for its meant purpose. If you want to install 5 Hard drives and 5 PCI cards this case might not be for you :)

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    Adding a CCFL, rounded cables, neon paint or other popular modding items to this case will really make use of the window in that side panel!

    The PSU comes with a nice blue LED and transparent fans:

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    • Performance and Conclusion

    Weight

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    More then 3 kilo's lighter then a metal midi case! It delivers what it promises.

  • Review of the gMONO and Coolermaster can be found here

    Performance

    The room temperature during testing remained constant at 19°C, I then started measuring temperatures for the following setup case-wise:

  • No case, motherboard laying flat on its box, no fans anywhere except for the CPU fan.
  • Installed in the LANboy without fans.
  • Installed in the LANboy with 2x 80mm fans (Fans used AFB0812SH-F00, producing a CFM of 46.1 at 40dBA).

    And system-wise:

  • Running the XP1700+ TbredB at 1466Mhz using 1.7v vcore.
  • Running the XP1700+ TbredB at 2000Mhz using 1.98v vcore.

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    The superior airflow with 2 case fans installed is shown when the CPU is under load. While disabling the case fans results in an increase of ~5°C for the CPU and 4°C for the motherboard. Not bad at all.

    Pushing almost 2v vcore through any CPU is stressing the limits of air cooling, having a bad airflow in your case can make difference between stability and constant crashes, lets see how she handles it

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    Although with the fans running the graph shows the case temp higher, CPU under load is still on par. Disabling the case fans will bring the CPU close to 50°C. *Danger Will Robinson Danger*

    Conclusion

    First of all I would like to thank PointerX for providing me with this fine case, he even delivered it at my doorstep! Contact him if you are interested in this case (offer for .be people only though).

    Although it lacks some features and I can see ways on how to improve this case, I was pleased by the quality of the product. The LANboy is a decent case, pretty sturdy even with only the thin Aluminium, enough place for storage devices, good portability thanks to the straps and the airflow is pretty decent, even when no case fans are installed.

    Good points:
  • Very very light
  • High quality window in side panel
  • removable floppy/hd rack
  • drive rails for easily installing CD/DVD drives
  • good airflow
  • nice finishing
  • Low price for a midi-case with 350Watt PSU

    Could have been better points:
  • no removable motherboard tray
  • right side panel can not be removed either
  • no thumbscrews
  • spare drive rails cannot be "stored" in the case
  • security not fully implemented

    Suggestions for improvements:
  • How about a small storage space for a screwdriver?
  • Status LED for LAN brought to the front
  • power/reset button moved under the door, so you no longer need to open it to power the system
  • Audio connections brought to the front for easy of use (on LAN parties you tend to use a headphone, so being able to connect it to front of your case is a plus!)
  • While on the subject of audio, maybe incorporate a volume control wheel (this is pretty subjective remark, I use a Hifi-system at home for my sound-out, I adjust the sound level with the volume control of the Hifi, never in the application or OS, so when using a headphone you have to revert to your OS's Mixer panel. Different games bring different sound levels, having the ability to change the volume with a small volume wheel on your case would be an extra selling point for me)

    Extra?

    Now we wouldn't have a site named MADshrimps (mad as in CRAZY for those who wonder ;) ) without doing something in the line of...

    • Extra Blurb

    Extra:

    Extra: ·adjective accessory, added, additional, ancillary, auxiliary, excess, further, left-over, more, other, reserve, spare, superfluous, supernumerary, supplementary, surplus, temporary, unneeded, unused, unwanted.


    Take a look at a 3Mb mofie using -> Xvid Codec

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    Thanks for reading/watching!

    Comments and questions can be dropped here @ the forums (no registration required)


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