News Lian Li launches the PC-Q15 mini-ITX case

Lian Li has looked to the automotive industry for its latest mini-ITX case design.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2012/03/20/lian-li-pc-q15-launch/1

 

Nice, some of Lian Li's other new cases look interesting as well:

PC-Q25 - mini-ITX NAS case, 8 HD's (inc. 5 hot-swap), standard ATX PSU


PC-TU200 - mini-ITX LAN case with handle on top and "ruggedised" corners, takes 300mm GPU's


PC-100 - E-ATX with a rotated m/b

 

Well, my opinion on the new Lian Li cases :
PC-Q02 - a bit more ventilated PC-Q07. Whatever.
PC-Q03 - fat brother of PC-Q02. Whatever.
PC-Q05 - case for one specific board. Whatever.
PC-Q09FN - a higher version of PC-Q09F with a SFX PSU instead of the TFX or whatever they used in the older version. Good, now you can finally get a silent PSU for this small case, unlike PC-Q09F.
PC-Q12 - maybe someone will like it, for me it is in whatever category too.
PC-Q15 - someone at Lian Li got drunk together with his boss. Fan intake - what the hell ? "Wheels" - what the hell ? Remove the divider section at front, make a full hole for the front fan, put the feets on bottom instead of the side - and you got a pretty nice case. But this ?
PC-Q16 - can't see much, so for now - whatever.
PC-Q18 - PC-Q08 with better side panels (no million screws as i see), but the hard drive rack is not removable. Why oh why ? 16cm is not enough for Seasonic X and unlike PC-Q08 you can't solve it by removing the HDD rack.
PC-V700 - looks like ventilated version of PC-A05 with just one 5.25" bay. Nice, if you need such case.

My suggestion to Lian Li ? Stop using rivets for your hard drive trays, especially in the ITX cases! Use screws, so if someone wants bigger flexibility like me, then he should have the option. For example PC-Q25 is an awesome looking case, but because of the HDD rack, i can't use it. I don't need 5 hard drive bays, i got one SSD like many of those building small ITX systems. And SSD hardly needs more than velcro .

 

The first thing I thought when I saw that case was: "I could ride that around!"

Then I discovered that those aren't actually wheels; that gave me a sad face.

 

At least the case will be stationary like it is supposed to.
I don't see this as a bad thing.

 

It looks more like a square wagon gone wrong at the front, which is ugly to me.

 

I have a small correction :

"While we can't help but feel a little disappointed that the wheels don't work"

Should read:

"While we can't help but feel a little disappointed that the wheels don't work yet"

This is bit-tech after all, Im sure someone has a spare wheel chair motor lying around!

 

I can't be the only one who looks at this and automatically thinks of a double-decker bus...

 

The wheels don't work?
Then why bother protruding them into the case taking up room?

I have been on the hunt for small cases lately, and wow, manufacturers really are missing the ball on this segment. This is just another example, though it is better in some ways.

And yeah it does look like a double-decker bus, that was my first impression as well.

 

why do itx cases need full size CD ROM and bajillion of HDD

 

Exactly what I was thinking with my comment of them missing the ball.

I don't even use dvd-roms very often anymore, so I use an external USB when I need it. My file server has a single 2TB drive, my dev box has a single 1tb drive, and my desktop has twin SSD's. I don't need 8 internal bays plus 3 externals... My Antec 300 looks absolutely silly with only 2 SSD's in the drive bays.

I get it that many people do use lots of drives, but they are becoming fewer and fewer and they do need some cases, but there is no reason for every case to cater to that anymore. We have massive drives and many are using SSD's at this point. The average person simply doesn't need tons of bays.

 

Single to Brighton please!