1.2 Packaging

The 101 case came in the mail via FedEx Ground shipping and the cardboard box was slightly beat up from the travel. However from the outside, it didn’t appear anything was wrong until I opened the box and took out the case.

Shipping Box

The case itself is protected by a thin plastic bag and some bubble wrap at the ends with Styrofoam packaging to finish things off. So far so good. However, upon removing the plastic wrap, I noticed that the front plastic panel took on some damage during transport. Namely, the front panel below the 5.25” drive bays and above the external USB ports had come loose. One corner of the case had also come loose during transit. Though I chalked up the damages to the FedEx shipping, I did notice that the front plastic face was loosely attached to the steel infrastructure. It looks like more glue or a better adhesive could have been used for this. More of that in a bit. As for the loose parts, this was nothing that couldn’t be fixed by a little glue but should I really have to do that? Oh well.

Foam wrapping	Case wrapped in plastic

2. The Case

The case itself is an all silver case that slightly (very slighty) reminds me of a Mac styled G4 case. Ok.. so that’s slightly far fetched but that’s really the only thing I could think of when I looked at the overall exterior of the case. The front of the case is essentially a plastic surface with four 5.25” drive bay covers. There’s a 3.5” drive cover and a door that hides the two USB ports. The USB port door is a bit flimsy and got loose after a little usage.

Front USB Port Door	Door opened revealing 2 ports

The front bezel is made of plastic which isn’t the most durable of plastic compounds that I’ve seen used. It's not horrible but it isn't an acrylic surface either. Parts of the front panel are not thoroughly attached to the internal steel frame. Thus it isn’t surprising that the lower front panel came loose during transit. The case feet are another area where things can be improved. One of the case feet also came off during shipping and I found that there wasn’t that much in adhesive being used to hold these feet in place. Make sure you have some Crazy Glue lying around in case the various pieces fall off of the steel infrastructure.

Front of the case

Case feet	One came off

The left side of the case has a premodded window design which essentially is a big “X” across the square window. The side window is fairly well manufactured and should be a delight to anyone who wants that “modded” look for their case. The right panel of the case has what looks to be a circular grill. It really does not serve much in functionality but is used decoratively.

Left side	Inside of the left window

Right side

Turning the case around to the back reveals your usual array of openings for integrated peripherals and PCI slots. There’s a large number of vent holes on the rear panel that should allow for decent air flow out of the case. You’ll notice one area below the power supply which is reserved for a 80 mm case fan which is not included. As for power supplies, this case doesn’t come with one which is a shame. I expect that from high end cases since individuals shelling out 100+ dollars will often be picky about their power supplies. However low end cases sometimes come with generic power supplies and I expected to see one with the ColorCases case but alas, I did not.

Back of the case

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