I had an SG08 - didn't think much of it at all! Way to cramped to build in (I currently have the <£30 Coolermaster 120 which is far better), too heavy (the PSU weighs a ton), and has such bad HD mountings that if you use a 3.5" drive it shakes the entire case). The SG05b, I admit, is great, but yes, very limited when you consider that you can only use <9" GPUs.
So another one of the "mini" cases that will have as large a footprint as most other cases on your desk? Not impressed. I wish someone would make a case similar to the Lian Li PC-Q7/11 with no space for large HDDs but a full size PSU in the bottom so that a tower cooler can be used. Unfortunately allmost all small cases are just half height towers that look hideous. Who needs space for six HDDs in his ITX tower when most boards will only have 4 connectors?
A full tower-cooler isn't fitting on mini ITX boards, due to the CPU-socket being so close to the PCIe usually. It only fits if you don't use a GPU, but in that case you don't need anything larger then a picoPSU anyways. EDIT: Here's a base I came up with a year back, when I was thinking about a better mITX case, that can hold a full ATX PSU, a tower-cooler and a 11" GPU. As you see, it isn't actually possible to get any smaller then this, and it's just as big as the design of the NCASE M1.
I needed space for 6 HDD in my itx case because it is my server. I have Lian Li PC Q08 which I think is still a little bit smaller than this one. My zotac motherboard does have 6 sata port. Even then I can still have option of adding sata card on pci-e and getting a 4x 2.5 cage for the optical bay so it has a lot of room to grow yet.
This isn't "near as big and heavy as an ATX case." It's 12.6 liters. ATX cases start at, what, 40L? That's twice the size. Have a look at the actual dimensions. It has a smaller footprint than an SG05. The PC-Q08 is 21L, this is 12.6L. Not even close, really.
You miss the point subtec in regards to it's size. What people are talking about is the footprint this case will have on the desk, and the height is of no interest here. It's why other cases like the LianLi Q08 or the Bitfenix Prodigy aren't considered miniITX by most people. miniITX should be all about small and power-efficient, and if you want a SFF-powermachine, then you should opt for µATX, which is why I linked the Sugo SG09. I got rid of my miniITX-system after some 9 month and went with a µATX as you can't really build a powerful system into a box the size of a Sugo 05 and expect it to be silent. I tried with watercooling ofc and all that, but temps and noise were nowhere near as acceptable as I'd hoped for. miniITX cries for a picoPSU or an onboard-PSU, and a system without a dedicated GPU. These things are ment for HTPCs or office workstations, not gaming-rigs. Thin miniITX-boards like the intel DQ77KB or the now released Gigabyte H77TN with their onboard PSUs and reduced height are nailing the point of miniITX really. My HTPC is an old Zotac IONITX A-E with integrated PSU, and it draws only 30W under load while watching a BluRay.... and it does this totally silent, as there's only a single 120mm fan @ 800RPM in the 20x20x8cm box. So back to the NCASE M1. It's looking nice, and having LianLi manufacturing it sure is a nice thing, but it's footprint on the desk still is not that much smaller then a µATX-system (SST TJ-08 for example) and has worse cooling and less options for HDDs and ODDs. My current rig might be way bigger for example, but it doesn't take away any space on my desk actually, as it is placed behind my screen, basically invisible and inaudible.
Most of the difference goes to VAT. Versus the "we show our prices without sales tax" pricing in US. And to the "we don't pay sales/use taxes for orders from out-of-state purchases in our yearly tax form" mass tax evasion going on in USA.
Rather tempted to get back into ITX after seeing this, my H80 is keeping my 860 nice and cool at 4.2Ghz, so I think upgrade time will definitely involve ITX with a new CPU.
