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Antec One Mid-Tower Chassis Review

With much excitement we could not wait to remove the packaging to get our hands on this Entry level Tower. With the tower stripped bare of its foam coffin we were finally able to see what all the talk has been about for ourselves. The “One” follows in the footsteps of the iconic Twelve Hundred and offers a gaming style chassis with an attractive looking mesh bezel down the front of the tower. The all-black high quality finish with its clean lines extends down the whole front panel to the base where the sharp edged design gives the tower an aggressive look. Further design touches can be found around the tower which accentuates the iconic Antec, angular aesthetics.

The Antec logo is relatively understated pressed into the metal chassis below the front face. With this statement denoting the base of the tower, Antec have further looked to their gaming series for inspiration. The large mesh vent draws your eye towards the port bays located at the top of the front face framed by two solid bezels that run up the height of the tower.

Looking at the aforementioned port bays found on the top of the front face, we can see that a no nonsense design has been employed. The offer of two USB 3.0 ports is a sure sign that this is a premium case. Lesser branded cases tend to opt for the older USB 2.0 protocols and limit the type of system you can build. The pure fact that Antec have offered the faster technology protocol shows that they are trying to offer the things a system builder is looking for in a stock case.

The layout of the port bay has also been well designed, offering an almost mirror image of the ports with a Good degree of spacing between each of the inputs. The centre of the panel holds a pair of jack ports for audio input and Headphone output functionalities. This front panel spans the width of the case and offers plenty of room for large USB devices such as wide profile Flash Drives as well as the chunky headphone adapters found on some professional audio equipment. Again these have been well thought through to allow easy access when plugging and unplugging from the ports.

In addition to the front ports Antec have opted to locate the power buttons all within the same chassis mount for improved accessibility. These buttons offer the standard start up and restart functionality found on most cases and fit in with the aesthetics of the Antec Range.

With the case designed as an entry level tower there are few unique features on the outside of the chassis. Moving down the side of the case you can see the continuation of the angular design that is reminiscent of the aesthetics found on the front of the Antec Eleven Hundred.

With discrete flares to create “Bowed” side panels, the “One” offer’s both stylish design and a unique look that offers functional benefits we will come onto later. Following the clean lines of the front styling, the top of the chassis is minimalistic with a low profile 120mm exhaust fan adding a slight undulation towards the rear of the case.

Again the rear of the case has been painted with the same brush, offering a no frills, high quality finish that is designed to do one thing and do it well. As found on previous Antec models the component cut-outs and expansion ports are well sited with plenty of room to spare. With a conventional PSU layout and 7 expansion slots it seems that the outside of the “One” offer’s a premium Design case in a market full of imperfections.

Much like its larger derivatives, the Antec “One” offers removable dust filters that that are washable to make cleaning and general maintenance easier to perform.

The underside of the tower offers further simplistic design with low profile rubber feet offering simple ground clearance as well as vibration absorption and noise reduction. Not much can be said here other than the reiteration of the quality found in the manufacturing of the case. Even small elements such as the feet appear to be well made with firm grips and an even footing for the case to stand on.

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