CES 2010: Antec

Last year at CES Antec really showed off with their new Skeleton cases, power supplies and gaming cases. This year Antec has really taken things to the next level with a new line of cases, finally an update to the LanBoy case and some other really cool products. If you are a fan of Antec you are really going to like their 2010 lineup, let’s take a look!

Cases
So you had the Nine Hundred Two and Twelve Hundred gaming cases so what is next for Antec? They have a new line of cases called the Dark Fleet Series. There are currently 2 cases in this series, but let’s start with the larger one called the DF-85. The DF-85 is a large case and sure hides a lot of its features. Starting on the front of the case you have 3 5.25 external bays that actually have doors on each one. Moving down there are 3 large fans. Each fan is housed in what Antec is calling their Fleet-Release access doors. All 3 of the doors open up to allow you easily access the inside of your case. So why would you want to get into your case from the front? Well Antec has equipped this case with 4 3.5-inch hot swappable bays; Antec calls them Fleet-Swap drives. So when installing hard drives all you have to do is open the front doors and slide them right in! Also the fans on the front of the case each have removable fan filters.

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Another thing that stands out about this case is that on top you have a 2.5-inch SATA swappable bay. This is perfect for an SSD! Also towards the top of the case are 4 USB ports and audio ports. Taking a look inside you sure have a lot of room! There is also the open panel behind the CPU for easy cooler installation and many holes in the motherboard tray for easy cable management. The power supply placement is on the bottom of the case and Antec has made this case capable of supporting their larger CP Series power supply. So with a total storage capacity of 14 drives and 7 included fans you could really load up this case. No official prices yet, but Antec says you should be able to pick this case up in March or April for just over $200.

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Next up is basically a smaller version of the case called the DF-30. Instead of the 3 fans on the front you only have 2, but they are installed in the doors so you can easily get into the front of your case and they have the fan filters also. Just like the DF-85 you have 3 5.25-inch drive bays, but you also get one external 3.5-inch bay. The top 2.5-inch swappable bay is there, but you only get 2 USB ports and audio ports. Looking inside things are not as robust as the DF-85, but you still have the motherboard cutout for easy CPU cooler installation. So in total you have 11 drive bays, and 4 cooling fans. The DF-30 should cost around $20-30 less and will be available around the same time as the DF-85. Antec will be releasing a DF-35 that will have 2 of the internal hot swappable bays.

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So Antec has finally updated its LanBoy case! They are calling this new case the LanBoy Air and you can see why from the photos below. The entire case is made out of mesh! The crazy thing is that’s not even what’s so cool about this case. Normally when you buy a case your hard drives have to configured some way, your power supply needs to be mounted in a certain spot, well not with the LanBoy Air, this case is fully modular! That means you are able to place your power supply either at the top or bottom of the case, mount your optical drives facing out the front of the case, or towards the side, have your optical drives vertical or horizontal. A lot of this is made possible by what Antec is calling their Air Mount system for hard drive placement. Hard drives literally float in the air being suspended by this system. This not only allows you to place hard drives both vertically or horizontally, but makes for no hard drive noise at all! [try to find video of it in action]. Besides all of this modular action the case has 6 internal 3.5-inch bays, 3 external 5.25-inch bays and 5 cooling fans. No word yet on when this case will be available, but it will retail for $249.

CES 2010: Antec CES 2010: Antec

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