Antec LANBOY Mini Tower Case

Reviews: Cases

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
Atacom
Feb. 25, 2004

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Opening the Case

What will strike you first about the 5.25" bay mounts will be tabs with indentions on the right. Although these are covered up by the front door, I don't particularly like the looks of them. In Antec's defense though, I think these are more for practicality than aesthetics. Because the skin of the case is wrapped from the top over the side, it is impossible to access one side of the drive bays for attachment purposes. This has lead to an interesting solution. One side of the bay uses drive rails, while the other uses standard screws. I was wondering why Antec did not just use drive rails for both sides. After installing the first rail, I understood why. The drive rail design is not that secure. The rail allows the drive to move around quite a lot. Securing one side of the drive with screws solves the problem. Although this system works well with CD-ROM drives, I have to wonder how well it performs with any type of rheobus or other add-in device. I really would have been happier if Antec had just taken the extra effort to create a normal drive-rail system instead of a combination of screws & rails.

Getting into this case has been made easy with the addition of thumbscrews holding the side panel secure. After removing the thumbscrews, the side panel slides off very nicely. It did not hang up or bind at any point during removal. Once inside, you will find all the stuff that a standard case should have, and some stuff that many don't. Inside you will find an array of cables, case badge, carrying strap, and bound instruction manual. That's right, I said bound instruction manual. There is no small folded piece of cheap paper here. It is actually pretty thick for a case manual, but then again, it is in quite a few languages. You will find the screws hidden in a small compartment located toward the rear of case over the PCI slots. I pity the poor fool who had to stuff those things in there, as it was a bit of a tight squeeze.

Inside the LANBOY

The LANBOY has room for up to two fans: an 80mm front fan and an 80 mm rear fan. The rear 80mm fan mounts using the standard mounting holes and screws. The front 80mm fan mounts by way of a small fluorescent cage. Although this cage is not lit, it was easily seen from outside the case. The fan is clipped into the cage which then clips into the case. This configuration was made it very easy to install fans.

One of the most obvious strengthening methods used was the basic design of the case. The top and the left side are all one piece as I mentioned previously. Unlike most cases, which can have two removable sides, this case can only be accessed from the standard right side. By combining the side and top with one piece, they have essentially removed one of the usual weak seams found on so many computers today. This added support is a very nice touch for such a light case.

Everything within the case is put together with a high attention to detail. All the edges are folded over nicely to make sure you won't rip your hands apart. The 3.5" mounting bay is secured with a latch. When slid back, the entire assembly is released for installation of a floppy drive and hard disk. To install a floppy drive or any other 3.5" bay device, you have to first remove the bay cover. I accomplished this by pressing firmly on the back. I was uncertain whether I would break it, but when the piece released itself, it flew harmlessly across the room. The drive cage does require a bit of fiddling to get it to line up and go in properly, but once in, it locks easily back into place.

For installation of 5.25" bay devices, you will first need to remove the bay covers. This is accomplished by depressing the tab to the right and then lifting out. When attempting to remove the first cover, I was uncertain as to the proper amount of force to apply. I had some serious doubts as to whether I was going to snap something off. The bays gave a distinct feeling of cheap plastic, but then again, most computers do these days... After removing the first bay, you will be greeted with a purple drive rail attached to a metal plate, which you must remove. For the sake of my sanity, I removed all the drive bay covers to expose all 4 bays. To remove the metal, which is nice and sharp, you just rock the panel back and forth until it snaps. The first one is the hardest, after that, you can get a hand in there and start taking them out. I installed two drives, a CD burner and a DVD drive. Attaching the drive rail to each device was easy enough. After installation, you simply slide the drive into the bay and secure with two screws. The drive rail alone secures the drive somewhat, but the screws are quite necessary to ensure a solid installation.

Finally, I installed the motherboard. Because this case is small, it will take some crafty maneuvering to get it in. Removal of the 3.5" cage is a must. If the bay is not removed, the hard disk drive will most likely make installing the board very difficult. Now is also a good time to mention that the chip and heatsink should already be installed. There is absolutely no way you will be able to install a chip or change the heat sink without having either the motherboard or power supply removed. Removing the power supply is no easy feat (especially with other components already installed) as it requires quite a lot of finagling to get it past all the support beams. Don't even think about getting it out with a CD drive installed...

One final noteworthy feature is the HDD lights I mentioned earlier. Normally a single wire hookup is used to mount to the motherboard and show the HD drive indicator light. Antec has decided to include 2 separate lights, thus labeled I and II. This is a nifty feature that many of the newer motherboards support. After all, if you have more than one hard drive, why should you only see the status light for one?

Also of interest to note is that the retaining screws for the PCI slots are actually located on the outside of the case underneath the screw holder. The screws were easy to access so adding and removing PCI devices was not a problem. Having them located on the exterior helps for when you drop a screw, which happens often, you won't have to hunt through the inside of your case.

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Page 1: First Impressions
Page 2: Opening the Case & Inside the LANBOY
Page 3: Quality Inspection & Conclusion

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6 User Comments

1 - Posted by A Person on February 25, 2004 - 4:10 pm

I like how the carrying straps come with it. Considering that they probably cost a dime to make I dont see why more compaines don't include them with their cases. Thats definitely something that would catch my eye when shopping for a new case.

2 - Posted by handrail on February 26, 2004 - 9:57 am

i bought a carrying strap for mine and it makes it very easy to transport. i got the thermaltake badboy seen here (http://www.thermaltake.com/accessories/xaserbag.ht...). although, if i had known, i would have gone for a case that offered the strap or the DFI lanparty mobo that also comes with a strap. of course neither of the free ones look as cool as the thermaltake one.

3 - Posted by Guest on February 26, 2004 - 3:46 pm

Awesome Case, very much recommended!

4 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on February 26, 2004 - 5:38 pm

i dont really want to pay that much for just a bunch of straps to carry my case. i'd rather just build my own.

5 - Posted by handrail on February 27, 2004 - 8:56 am

i considered making my own, but after looking at the higher quality nylon, straps, buckles and considering i would need a heavy duty industrial sewing machine to lash it all together, the price of the thermaltake one was pretty much the same as the cost of building my own, since it was made with very high quality parts.

i had some free nylon strapping that would have worked well, but it was so tough that i would have had to hand stitch it and i'm not much of a tailor.

6 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on February 27, 2004 - 8:17 pm

i made mine out of the climbing webbing at REI. i just sewed and melted them together at the right spots and attached buckles and pull-ties. made the whole thing for only about $15 and it works just as well.

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