Conclusion:
From the moment I removed the plastic from this case I have been pleased. The machine work on the extruded side panel vents is a thing of beauty. Dropping the power supply down and making it one of the feet keeps the case to a respectable height and makes this case match and blend well with high end audio gear.
Assembling a system in this case was simple with all the room you would need. All I want to do now is add a handful of 500+ GB hard drives in a RAID array to record everything imaginable, and there is plenty of room inside to install a few Terabytes at that.
I like the fact that
Zalman has included all the bells and whistles that sometimes go as options or are not available at all. With the little time I have spent with the Media Bay software I am so far impressed. Media Center did not detect my ancient Leadtek XP 2000 Expert TV tuner/capture card, but the Zalman software had no issues.
A quick
PriceGrabber search doesn't show any retailers currently carrying the HD135, but looking elsewhere shows that Directron.com offers it for $299.95 (US). This might seem a little steep compared to other offerings out there, but you get what you pay for with this case.
I cannot find anything I do not like about this case; it looks great, cools excellently, and has plenty of room. Given all of these positives and the absolutely excellent engineering that went into it, I award the Zalman HD135 HTPC Case the "Highly Recommended" Award.
Pros:
» Exceptional workmanship
» Bells and whistles included
» Runs very cool
» Simple yet elegant
Cons:
» Price
Special thanks to
Zalman for providing the Zalman HD135 HTPC Case to Bigbruin.com for review!
