Date: September 10th, 2003.
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: CASE4U
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PRODUCT COMPOSITION

For the price of US$30-$40, you will receive...

An accessory bag complete with all the screws. connectors, case feet and wiring harnesses. No instruction were included.

The EOS case, though small, isn't tiny like some of the mini-itx cases on the market today. The thin profile along with the reduction in height would make a nice edition to a small workstation. The only thing I could see improved is the color and the weight. Although it thankfully doesn't adopt the bland beige color scheme of yesteryear, it's steel and relatively heavy.

PRODUCT FEATURES & PICTORIAL

What features are packed into this small package?

The case comes equipped with a front door to access your optical and floppy drives. As you can see, to make the case slimmer, CASE4U vertically oriented the 5 1/4" optical drive bay. To some that might seem to be a good idea, but it does have a significant disadvantage. The only optical drive that you will be able to use is a slot load CD/DVD-ROM or CDRW. I would find it rather comical to see someone use a normal drive and have to hold the CD until the very last second so it will stay in the drive other than falling out or jamming the tray.

*Editor's Note: It has been brought to my attention that the vertical CD problem might have been isolated with the optical drives I was using during the review. Even though there is some type of CD retention at the bottom, I was still having problems with the CDs tipping out of their holders. That is why I put this warning in the review. Make sure your optical can be used vertically without facing the problems I did during the review.*

A power and reset button is installed in the front door for easy access, but oddly I could not find any HDD activity LED.

The power LED is installed into the front sphere where it will glow bright blue when the power is on and the computer is running.

A nice addition are the easily accessible USB ports and microphone/headphone jacks.