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Cooler Master CM Media 281 Mid-Tower/Desktop/HTPC Case
Conclusion
The case needs a quick revision, and then it'll be easy to recommend! The bezel needs to be changed to something a little more sturdy. The layout's fine, even the optical drive cage is understandable, but it just can't be plastic. It would look great if it had the same steel mesh that the Centurion series has. Since it's black, the case doesn't really need the masking or the drop-down panels. What does need some masking is the fan vents. They're not good-looking. They also don't provide any kind of noise-isolation. And they're definitely not going to help keep dust out of the case. The ability to switch it from a mid-tower to a desktop case is fine, but I doubt anyone's going to change it back and forth. Like Megatron. Why turn into a blaster at all? Someone has to carry you around, then there's the whole "shrinkage". It could perceivably come in handy, and it's a nice implementation of an old design, so I'm not going to fault it on that. But for an HTPC, it is a little thick. The real strength is the quality of the media kit of the CM Media 280 variant. It's great; much better than the media kits I've used with other cases. Another sticking point: the price. It costs a little more than a hundred dollars, without the media kit (CM Media 281). For the same amount of cash, Cooler Master has nicer cases. With the media kit (CM Media 280), it's not much cheaper than other home theater PC cases, and most are in a different class in both construction and finish. I look forward to seeing what Cooler Master does in the future regarding HTPCs, desktop/mid-tower hybrids, and media kits, but this case is a false start. If other HTPCs are Transformers, then this is a GoBot. Pros Very good media kit Full-ATX case Can hold many drives Cons Cheap fake-aluminum bezel Slightly over-priced
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions Page 3: Inside the Case Page 4: Quality Check Page 5: Conclusion 
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