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This elegant mini-desktop boasts impressive performance and a remarkably svelte profile, perfect for system builders looking for a smaller chassis. Its slender footprint and included bracket allow it to fit vertically or horizontally into the tightest spaces. With a reliable high efficiency 80PLUS certified 350 Watt power supply and front USB, eSATA and audio ports, the Minuet 350 delivers the ideal blend of performance and convenience.
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Prior to this I've only built one PC from scratch. This time I wanted something smaller than the mini-tower I previously used. I also wanted something quiet.
This unit is shiny, and it's hard to discern in the photos the colors. This (or at least mine) has a dull silver front surrounded by a chromed-plastic bezel and a glossy piano-black case.
There is no doubt that the interior is cramped when installing items, but that's to be expected in a case this size.
There is a very small misalignment between the DVD/CD player and the front, which I've seen mentioned in other reviews. This is very minor, and while I was initially annoyed when building the PC, in use I just don't notice it.
I do wish the case had a firewire port in the front for transferring movies from our camcorder to the PC. There's a port in the back though, and the inconvenience is minor.
The case and power supply fans are really pretty quiet. Of course, this is all relative to what one individual believes quiet is. Each will have their own opinion. All I can say is that with the unit sitting on the floor next to me (I use the stands and have it vertical), I really can't hear it over the ambient noise in the house. I have the included case fan set to low (it has a little switch for low, med and hi), which seems to provide more than adequate cooling. In the future I may purchase a different fan with a speed sensor and connect it to the motherboard to take advantage of some automatic fan settings.
I thought I had a defective DVD player for a bit since the unit sounded like a jet preparing for takeoff when the player would spin-up. It turns out that moving the mounting feet (only used when mounting the case vertically) around greatly affect the vibration of the case.Read more ›
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This is the second time I've built a system in a Minuet case. Even though I was completely happy with the first one, I did a lot of online shopping to see if there was another case (possibly a bit cheaper) that I might want to try this time instead. There wasn't. For my requirements, this case is perfect. I wanted a generic system for the office, with a good processor, plenty of memory, and a big hard drive. The onboard video is good enough, so I don't need any expansion cards at all. Therefore, potential concerns about space inside the case, cooling capacity, and power supply wattage are non-issues for me. What I do care about is having a case that is well-made, looks nice, and doesn't take up much space on my desk.
For me, using the computer case as a monitor stand makes sense for three reasons: 1. You don't need to buy a separate monitor stand, or make one out of a couple reams of office paper or some random box, to avoid having to look downhill at your monitor all day. 2. The front panel is right in front of you. Even though I don't use the optical drive or front usb ports very often, when I do it's nice to have them right there, instead of having to reach under my desk or off to the side. 3. Since the computer occupies the same footprint as the monitor, it doesn't take up as much desk space as even a mini-tower would. And I'd rather have my computer on the desk than on the floor, where it will gather more dust and might be accidentally kicked or pushed by myself or the cleaning people.
So, having a strong preference for this type of case, what were my choices? They seemed to fall into three groups: 1.Read more ›
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I was skeptical about this case before it arrived, thinking because of the price it might not even suit my needs. I had a small space for an HTPC that the 5" and 6" high cases wouldn't fit so my alternatives were few.
What a pleasant surprise! The case is nicely manufactured (and a carbon-copy of one from Rosewill) and looks good. It is solid both inside and out. The 350W power supply, which is a bit slight in thw wattage department holds on for an all-in-one micro board, e7300 Intel chip, Blu-Ray drive and 3 hard drives. I found I could even squeeze in a fourth if the mobo had more than 4 sata ports! The power supply is very specific to this case, so if it goes out in the future, you will have a problem.
There is an ingenious slide-in cage for the optical drive and two hard drives that makes it easy despite the small space to get the rest of the PC put together first. Then a little power and data cable planning and it all fits together. A slight design improvement might have been the addition of two drive spots under the cage instead of the one - I think there's just enough space. I had to fit the third hard drive upside-down on the case lid with screws in the center-rear vent holes - that's where I would have put the fourth too.
There's a 3-speed fan on the side for ventilation and it works well but it does bear the brunt of case cooling. The short-stalked manual switch is a bit hard to use after you close the case up so figure out what speed you want before you tuck your PC away after it's built.
The case would make it hard to use a graphics card and it would have to be half-height so plan accordingly. Mobos with on-board graphics are perfect, they use less power and these days you can get GeForce 9000s on them.Read more ›
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