You expect aluminium enclosures to be light but I have to admit I was surprised by the overall weight of this case. When the delivery guy carried the box down the drive and handed it over, I took it off him and almost threw it in the air; this case is light even for an aluminium enclosure. The box is full colour which is nice too see and gives you an instant impression that your money hasn't been wasted. Inside the case is protectively wrapped in a clear plastic bag, as well as supported in polystyrene, and thanks to the weight of it you won't have any trouble getting it out.

Once removed from the wrapping you are presented with what is in my opinion a very controversial styled case; some are going to be instantly impressed with the aluminium and chrome look whilst others will instantly dislike the overall appearance. I personally was of two minds about it when seeing it on the web, but up close I found it to be very appealing and very fashionable.

At the very top front we find an innovative display and control panel which house left to right, Firewire port, 2x USB (USB 2.0), Reset, Temperature, Mic in, Speakers/Headphones, Power and HDD LED's and finally the large Power button. Now the innovative part; this circular panel can be rotated upwards 45 degree's, the idea being that if the case is on the floor you can get easier access as well as the obvious visual benefits. If you have your case on your desk then you can leave it horizontal in line with the case. I personally prefer the look of it aimed up 45 degree's even though I have my case at just below desk height. As I mentioned, this panel has a Temperature display, for the two included flat temperature probes. Display can be given in either Celsius or Fahrenheit with a small push button switch inside the case, and the display switches between the two probes every three seconds. Both probes have a 55 degree warning level where upon the display will flash. Below are the 5 ¼ inch bays, the top two of which have stealthed covers for your optical drives, and they work very well indeed. The nice thing about these bay covers is that unlike most, they accommodate not only your usual eject button, but also a play/ffwd button and have a clear strip for your drives LED.

Below the top two bays you are left with normal bay covers. On the first of the two 3 ½ inch bays we can see that the top one is also a stealth bay, designed to hide your floppy/LS120/similar drive.

Moving down to the lower half of the front we have 3 distinct 'cut outs' or slots in a vertical fashion, again looking stylish with a chrome interior and black mesh background. Obviously the front intakes, they look very smart with the three blue LED's that shine down with a soft blue light under power. At the very bottom we have the Antec logo impressed into the plastic. Yes, it's a plastic front I'm afraid although you would be hard pushed to notice this on visual inspection.