Sunbeam Samurai Case

Manufacturer: Sunbeam Technology
Supplied by: Sunbeam Technology
Street Price: $56

by Dean Barker (2/21/2005)

 

Introduction

Sunbeam's Samurai case attempts to bring premodded cases to the masses at a reasonable cost.  Very few companies are willing to compete in the $50 case market focusing their energies on their more lucrative midrange and high end offerings.  Sunbeam tries to fill this void by supplying something different with a little style and flash in their Sunbeam Samurai Case.  On the bench today is one of these inexpensive boxes just waiting for us to jump right into it.  Thanks go out to Sunbeam Technology for making this review possible. 

Let's start with the observed case specs.  I say "observed" as the Samurai specs listed at Sunbeam's website were DID NOT jive with the Samurai case.

Observed Specifications

• Observed Dimensions: 432 x 202 x 540mm

• Observed Weight: 8.2 kg

• Construction: Steel/Plastic

• Drive Bays: (5) 5.25”, (1) 3.5”, (4) hidden 3.5”

• Expansion slots: (7)

• M/B Type: Standard ATX and Micro ATX

• Power Supply: n/a

• Side Mounted Access Ports: USB 2.0 (x2), speaker and mic jack

• Cooling: Front 80mm fan mounting area; rear 80mm case fan mounting areas; side mounted 80mm case fan (included)

• Window: Yes

• Available Colors: Red, Blue, Black

A look around

Sunbeam kindly forwarded the Samurai over to us along with information that its MSRP is $56 to the domestic US market.  Our review unit is silver as you can see.  The Samurai is also available are red and black color schemes all with white accents.  As you can see below, the front bezel gently slopes outward like the face of a helmet ending in two pieces on each side of the base, like two cheeks, giving a smooth continuation of the armored look of a medieval helmet.  Centered in the exposed area is a large (48mm) silver ring surrounding an oversized power button.  Four blue LEDs reside within the ring to indicate power on.  To the left and right of this are a small HDD activity indicator and an equally sized reset button.  At the beginning, Sunbeam gets off on the right foot with a sharp looking design.  The first discrepancy we found with the specs as listed on the Sunbeam site was the dimensions of the case.  They cite it as being 430 x 200 x 451mm.  Unless the metric tape measure I have got hit with a shrink ray, my measurements of 540mm from case rear to the edge of the arched bezel are spot on.

  

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