First of all, I just wanted to say that I've learned a lot from reading the many posts at Clunk and thought that it's about time that I contribute a little to the community. This is my first
post here so if anything goes wrong I apologize in advance! Also, I'm a yank, so I apologize for butchering the English language as well.
This may be an exclusive review actually! I don't think I've ever seen a review in English for the Abee M4 case and for a good reason. It's only available in Japan unfortunately.
Cases are of course personal preference as you all know and I was looking for something simple yet large enough to fit the ever increasing heatsink and video card sizes. I wanted something that supported E-
ATX motherboards but I wasn't a fan of the gigantic Silverstone, Coolermaster, and Lian-Li cases (not that those case companies are bad, I just didn't see anything that fit my needs) I didn't want a crazy case with windows, handles etc. Also, at present, I'm not planning to water cool my computer.
At first I balked at the price, but seeing as I was using a PC Power and Cooling mid-tower for the past 9 years I figured that $400 USD wasn't so bad for another 9 years.
The M4 Enclosure is an extended
ATX form factor case, however it is quite compact as you will see soon. Ok, enough of my blabbering
.
Packaging:
The packaging is very compact and comes in an elegant (if a cardboard box can be called that) box.
Protection is provided by four styraphome wedges that attach to each corner of the case. Seeing as it survived several airplane baggage handlers and a trip in a New York taxi cab, I would say that although sparse this protection is quite adequate.
Accessories:
All the accessories are provided in another cardboard box that slides next to the case.
There are plenty of thumbscrews and standard screws. If you are wondering what those gigantic thumbscrews are for, they allow you to fit hard drives into the 5.25" bays and they can also be used to hang hard drives from the top support bar (underneath the double row of circles)
Abee also provides you with a tool to align the rubber feet, an Allen Wrench and a bag of plastic rings to protect the case from the metal screw tips.
I don't know how well the supplied Abee fans perform as I replaced them with Noctua NF-P12 120mm fans.
Build Quality:
The skeleton of the case, although it may look fragile, is extremely sturdy. The almost mirror like finish of the interior and removable motherboard tray looks fantastic aesthetically and it's great if you happen to be working in low light.
The front 120mm intake fan has a filter mount.
The side, top, and front panels are all anodized black aluminum on both sides. I believe they are all 2mm thick, I'll double check that and
post again if it is incorrect. The side and top panels do have a little flex, as they cover a large surface area, but it is not flimsy. Unlike my PC Power and Cooling case, I doubt I will be able to stand or sit on it.
There is also a side panel mount for a 120mm fan that is positioned near the
CPU.
Here are some side by side shots of the M4 E-
ATX and the PC Power and Cooling
ATX:
The interior is roomy enough to work in if you have large hands and the edges and corners were not sharp. The best feature of this case is the hard drive cage. It's held in place by two thumbscrews and two plastic clips at the back. The drive cage makes installation of hard drives a breeze. From the pictures I've seen, it can hold up to 7 drives.
Installation:
I didn't come across any problems while installing the components. When I finally closed the case everything slipped into place precisely. It doesn't feature any toolless designs aside from the thumbscrews.
Here same detailing photos:
Conclusion:
This case is fantastic in terms of design and build quality, the only problem I have is that the black finish picks up dust and finger prints easily.
I hope that covered most of it. This is my first time reviewing a case so I hope I didn't leave anything out! Thanks for looking
Abee AS Enclosure M4 Extended ATX Case Review
Linear Mode
