Antec Mini P180 Very stylish MicroATX enclosure.

Author: Jouni 'Jipa' Vasama Published: 26.03.2008 Manufacturer: Antec Product Group: Computer case In English Suomeksi

External views

At quick glance the Mini looks very similar to the earlier P180-cases. The front of the case is hidden behind a door similar to the earlier cases and it opens 270 degrees. There is an exhaust vent on the back of the roof, which is also similar to the other P180-cases.

The door is of the same gun metal black as the rest of the case, and there's again the small Antec-text on the top corner. As a new design feature Antec has added some vents to the right side of the door. Now these are purely cosmetical new thing, and I'm not sure what to think about them. Seems like Antec thought the P182 door to be too boring and wanted to add some details to the door of the Mini, but I still don't see what they're aiming with these. If an user thinks the P182 is too boring looking, then most likely the small vents of the Mini are not going to draw his attention either. On the other hand people who liked the minimalistic design of the P180-series so far may dislike these new holes.

Update: 31.03.2008 Antec's response

"The vents/holes in the front door of the Mini P180 are specially designed to increase the airflow that can enter the case. This was done since the Mini P180 has less area around the door compared to the P180/P182."

The same new theme already seen in the front panel also continues to the roof. The huge fan is hidden under a mesh and there are arrow-ish holes in the actual roof panel. The original P180-design featured a fan scoop on the roof, which already split opinions, so the new version just continues the tradition. Some have already called the new design go-faster-arrows, but personally I have nothing against these. The roof may also double as a good place to put external hard disks that on their own have no sufficient cooling.

The front panels have very much in common, both have two dust filters hidden behind small doors, front panel connections on the right edge and power and reset buttons behind the door. The new P180 Mini has three 5,25" drive bays where as the larger P182 and P180 models both have four and a separate external 3,5" bay. Some users have criticized Antec for locating the power button so that the door has to be opened, but personally I don't see that as a downside.

The doors that hide the dust filters (door opened and filter removed in the image) are unfortunately still as restrictive as they have been ever since the P180 model. Instead the mesh behind the dust filter has been made less restrictive and it now features narrower metal strips in between the holes. Small difference, but in the search of as quiet case as possible, everything counts.

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