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Beantech Igloo 11 Aluminum Case The front bezel cover is tinted in a UV reactive yellow that is transparent with the exception of the section over the drive bays which is opaque. This obscuring of the bays gives the Igloo a clean look without the need for aluminum drive bay covers. This acrylic door has a push latch on the right side allowing it to swing out easily. With the door open, we have an unobstructed view of this brushed aluminum beauty. A standard four and two drive bay set up greets us. The power and reset button are on the right side with the power and HDD activity lamp wedged in between. The lower section shows a fan grilling that has been machined as part of the bezel. Something interesting was the side mounted USB and Firewire ports you see below. Personally, I like the side mounted numbers as they are easier to reach. It did seem odd not to find any audio jacks here though. The bezel is held in place at each corner by push fit plastic tabs. With this removed, you can see a tooless fan filter. Access to the filter for cleaning takes all of 30 seconds to include removing the bezel. Just below the green PCB of the USB ports, there is a small knob. It has H, M and L beside it; this stands for high, medium and low as you would have guessed. The two front intake fans are tied into this rheo so you can adjust the intake fans' speed to suit your need. The 5.25" bay covers are held in place by two thumb screws each. One is on the front left as you can see below and the other behind the right side panel. The left side of the Igloo 11 includes an oversized window that is mounted to the outside of the panel. Most case windows are installed on the interior of the side panel but Beantech's mounting makes for a psychedelic picture frame feel around the view of the components inside. Moving to the rear we find a pretty standard set up. The 80mm exhaust fan grill is part of the case's rear wall, keeping the lines clean. You can also see below that there is a generous use of thumb screws to keep things as tool free as possible. A small spot slit is visible at the midpoint of the rear of the left side panel. This is a mounting point for an included ring to lock the panels in place to keep sticky fingers out. |
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by R. Dean Barker.
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