Mini-Box.com is a rather interesting company. For one, they focus solely on miniature computing components and systems, with mini-ITX being the largest form factor they support. This Fremont, California based company is also interesting because they serve as the main retail outlet for many of their own designs.
As a long time fan of mini-ITX, I have built up numerous systems, and Mini-Box.com has been at the heart of just about all of them, since I have chosen two of their cases and three of their power supplies over the years. In this review I'll be taking a look at a new case they have to offer, the M350 universal mini-ITX enclosure, shown in the promotional image below.
Before taking a look at the sample provided for review, let's look at some published information on this compact housing, as taken from the
official product page on the Mini-Box.com website.
The M350 is Industry's smallest universal enclosure (192 x 210 x 62mm , 2.5L) capable of housing mini-ITX boards ranging from tiny Atoms to fully featured desktop or mobile CPUs. The M30 permits fanless operation (natural air convection via hundreds of tiny holes) for TDP < 10 watts and CPU-only fan for TDP <= 65watts.
Equipped with hidden (but not shielded) USB docking station for WIFI / 3G / Bluetooth or simply USB flash booting, the M350 is the only enclosure that provides such innovative USB, radio friendly, expansion methods. For internal miniPCI cards or modules, and high gain SMA antenna option is provided on the back of the case.
Features and Specifications:
» Smallest, universal mini-ITX enclosure
» Fanless, natural convection design
» Fits Intel stock CPU heatsink
» Hidden area for USB / WIFI / Storage
» Smart front power button
» Vesa, DIN-Rail, Wall Mount options
» SMA antenna hole
» Up to two 2.5" drives (includes one HDD bracket included - additional mounting bracket available)
» Size: 192 x 210 x 62mm
» Volume: 2.5L
» Area for custom OEM logo
» Superior RFI shielding capabilities
» ROHS compliant
Considering that a mini-ITX motherboard measures 170mm X 170mm, we can see that the M350 is just a bit larger in terms of the depth and width. And at just 62mm tall, it is obviously rather slim. I had never seen a cases volume referenced in terms of Liters, and I of course had to check the math to see if it really was that small... Right on the money at 2.5L.
