There are a lot of benefits to having a large tower to house your system. For one thing, you can stuff a lot of hardware in large cases, and it's unlikely that you'll ever run out of room. On the flipside, large towers are cumbersome, and often times very heavy. This doesn't matter if your case resides under your desk, but if you travel a lot, this becomes a problem. Where would you go that it would require lugging a PC around? LAN parties of course.
The increasing popularity of the Small Form Factor PCs can partly be attributed to the popularity of LAN parties, but also because desk space is also a concern. The problem with these PCs though is generally; you're limited in terms of upgrade capabilities. Also, expansion is something that won't be easy as you'll only have room for one hard drive (maybe two in some cases), and one optical drive.
Finally, for LAN goers, aesthetics are also important. Other than having some mad fragging skills, and a screaming PC, a nice case is another item that is of importance for bragging rights.
Antec's claim to fame is their case enclosures, and they've been making quality cases for quite some time. They have mini/mid towers that addresses the issues noted above, but the problem with weight still existed. The Lanboy is Antec's answer to those in search of the ultimate LAN party case.
Specifications
Aluminum mini tower case
Windowed side panel
SmartBlue 350, 350Watt ATX12V power supply with internal illumination
2 Front mounted USB ports
8 Drive Bays:
External: 4 x 5.25", 2x 3.5"
Internal: 2 x 3.5"
Cooling capacity: up to 2 x 80mm fans
1 rear (optional)
1 front (optional)
Motherboards up to Standard ATX
Free case-carrying strap
The case arrived without much damage to the shipping box. The marketing slogan is "Pick it Up", which I suppose dictates that it's light and easy to carry, though I wouldn't hold it in one hand and run around with pigtails. Ok, now with that poor attempt at humour out of the way, let's take a look at the case itself.
External Features
In terms of aesthetics, the Antec Lanboy looks like a mini version of every other Antec case. There isn't really anything wrong with this, but I would like to see an overhaul in Antec's design for future cases.
The Lanboy is a mini tower case, all aluminum in design. Having worked with Cooler Master and Lian Li, the Lanboy's aluminum isn't of the same thickness as the other two. Basically, I wouldn't use the Lanboy as an ottoman, but it should be sturdy enough for traveling.
For those of you who have not modded their optical drives, the Lanboy features a door to cover them up. The door doesn't lock, though to be honest, a lock in the front won't really discourage anyone who really wanted to get into your PC. The front door also covers the floppy drive, as well as the power and reset buttons. Now, I know that hiding things like buttons and drives is great for aesthetics, but it doesn't make sense to me to open the door to turn on the PC. Yes, I'm picky, so sue me.
The case also features a pair of USB connections. I wouldn't plug a mouse or keyboard in there, since that'll look ugly, but for USB flash drives or if you need a quick USB connection for whatever, it'll come in handy.
There are four external 5.25" bays available for expansion. I don't think most people would need more than this. In a typical scenario, I can see users putting in a DVD drive, a CD burner, a fan controller, and if you're a Sound Blaster Platinum user, you still have one available bay to add the Live! Drive. You also have two external 3.5" bays, so you can impress people with your floppy/Zip drive combo.
The faceplates to the external bays pop off with a pushdown. This is a nice touch, as you won't have to push them out from the inside, though seeing how you'll be doing this while assembling a PC I guess it's not that important. Antec also tucked the drive rails on the metal plate behind the plastic faceplate so you'll always know where they are.
The front bezel of the Lanboy is not pressed flush with the actual front of the case. The space allows for airflow to pass through the bottom, as well as through the front vents. One criticism I have about their intake cooling is the omission of an air filter. This isn't a big deal, but it will mean you'll have to take a can of compressed air to the interior ever so often.
The windowed side panel is very nice. It has the industrial bolted look, which I prefer over windows with rubber mouldings. The only thing that takes away from the window is the ugly stabilizer bar that runs across the inside of the case.
The side panel is removable via thumbscrews, which is a real convenience. There's also a security latch where you can put a small padlock to prevent people from opening up your case and stealing your stuff. Given the size of the Lanboy, I think it'd be easier for a thief to just pick it up and leave, but some security is better than none.
Moving to the rear, you have seven slots available for expansion. For those of you with six PCI slots on your motherboard, your bases should be covered. The slots are also numbered, so I guess this could be handy if you like to document what cards you put in which slot.
