|
The Antec Lanboy Air computer case, which is designed for modularity, and theoretically a whole new style of cooling and keeping clean, is definitely a case for enthusiasts and hobbyists. The ~$200 price tag kicks it right out of the casual or budget range quickly.
The rig I'm installing today is:
EVGA X58FTW3
i7 930@3.8
CM Hyper 212+
6GB OCZ Reaper
EVGA 1GB 460 SLI @763
Crucial 64GB Sata3 SSD
500GB Samsung 7200RPM storage.
+ Show Spoiler +
Spoiler contains a pic of the guts.
This post is not for discussion of my rig, I'm a hobbyist with a bit of a disability, and shiny toys is just what I do for fun. I don't consider myself an enthusiast, because I don't go insane seeing how close to exploding I can get my rig. I just play games, occasionally FRAPs some stuff, and generally muck around on it.
Anyways, on to the weird concepts behind the Lanboy Air.
The Lanboy Air is almost entirely modular, to install things your way. The outside is entirely mesh, and all 5 stock fans pull air in. There's room to install up to 10 more fans, with the theory being that with all the fans pushing in, positive pressure will keep dust from actually settling inside. We'll see about that, I suppose.
UPDATE: This actually seems to work, it gathers less dust than the old case.
As far as cooling, the case has received mixed reviews, but since I don't go in for pushing my PC to the max outside of gaming related usage, I won't be reviewing the cooling ability of the case. I plan to install 2-3 additional fans. (Haven't done this yet.)
Another interesting feature is the "Air mount" system for 3.5in drives. Essentially these are HDD mounts attached to bungie cords that hook onto the frame of the case to cut down on vibration. According to pretty much every professional review I've found, it's a good idea to have 2 small zip ties on hand per 3.5in drive to prevent them sliding on the bungies.
Difficulty of Build:
A little excessive. I expect a case-case transplant to take longer than a full build, but I spent a solid 3 hours moving my stuff from an Antec 900. A lot of the things that look like great concepts are implemented about as poorly as possible. The screws that come with it felt like a grab bag, there weren't really enough of any of them, including the ones for mounting drives. They didn't include nearly enough for all the drives the case claims to hold, at least.
If you want to utilize most of the potential for gimmicky fun stuff, expect a nightmare hodge podge of non-standard fasteners. I ended up building to a "standard" configuration that it came laid out for, and it was still a needlessly complex process.
Cable management isn't an OCD thing for me, as long as airflow isn't restricted, I don't care if I can see them. That's probably fortunate, seeing as I have no idea whatsoever how you would possibly hide everything. (Well, it is a mesh case, but still...)
UPDATE: Installing an SSD was a little interesting, but the bushings and screws lined up, although some Sata cables might have a bit of trouble reaching the mounting position. Took literally 5 minutes.
Installing additional fans is also not too bad, the screws are non standard, and look like small wood screws, and I wouldn't want to have to swap them out often, since the plastic they go into would probably wear down quickly, but also easy.
Cool Stuff:
You really can customize all the advertised things, if you have plenty of free time and no small children or pets to eat the tiny non-standard screws. My CPU is currently idling about 2C cooler than it did in my Antec 900. (Results may vary, my old wiring was the result of too many hurried modifications.)
It really looks awesome, if you're into the look. The Transformers comparison is really apt (although it's a Decepticon, and it kicked my ass for 3 hours.) The handles felt sturdy, and I couldn't hear anything rattling around when I moved it.
Issues Found:
The mentioned screw issues. Also, swapping the motherboard tray to below the PSU for better cable management looks like a nightmare, involving 2 different types of non-standard screws.
The mesh on the sides feels a little less sturdy than I would expect out of an Antec product, especially at this price.
The manual is online, rather than in the box. Granted, most people willing to spend $200 on a case have another internet capable device, but for that much, a few sheets of paper won't bankrupt them.
The bungies definitely require something to hold the drive mounts to them, to keep them from sliding forward and backwards.
Overall, the case feels like an early internal demo, rather than a finished product. With the price tag, I expect the screws to be a little more uniform, a full set of screws, slightly sturdier mesh sides, and a little more thought into cable routing. Oh, and maybe having the front panel grounded at the factory, too. That was vaguely silly.
Overall, I give the case a 7/10. For all it's faults, it's surprisingly quiet and cool. Insanely quieter than my 900 was, and cooler at that. The build difficulty would also be improved by not trying to rush while my son was asleep, and having a grounded working location that's an appropriate height to sit or stand all the way, instead of a kitchen table.
Update July 6 2011
Using RTV Silicone to mount fans at the bottom of the side panel underneath the two mid ones lets you force air to SLI Video cards really well, I've got my 2 squirrel cage cooler EVGA 460's at 800Mhz without temp issues because I can force feed the cards so much air.
The case may be average for normal configurations, but for SLI, it's awesome.
 
|
dude, that thing looks like a transformer...kind of.
|
United States6862 Posts
being made entirely of mesh seems really unnecessary and in some cases actually makes for worse airflow and cooling. i guess an upside of that is it'll be really light to carry around.
|
Agree with mahnini. It's better to have a cold air intake flowing through into a hot air out-take. Otherwise you just have air flowing around the case with inefficient cooling. Having said that the build looks sweet and it's going to be an awesome set up when it gets completed
Best of luck 
|
Australia7069 Posts
I'm not quite sure what you mean by modular. i can see the mesh, but its not like you could move the motherboard tray to the front and the drive bays to the back...could you? Seems kind of extreme to just stop dust, and the mesh wont stop much sound so its potentially going to be louder than a regular case. Nice looking build tho
|
being made entirely of mesh seems really unnecessary and in some cases actually makes for worse airflow and cooling. i guess an upside of that is it'll be really light to carry around.
Actually, due to strength concerns with the design, the tube frame is steel instead of aluminum, so it's close to normal mid tower weight at ~20lb empty, I believe.
As for the cooling, like I said, I've seen mixed reviews. I don't expect it to outperform my Antec 900, but like I said, since I don't smoke my CPU, I doubt it will be an issue. I've also seen a build with almost completely internal water cooling on one review to maintain the look.
+ Show Spoiler +
I'm not quite sure what you mean by modular. i can see the mesh, but its not like you could move the motherboard tray to the front and the drive bays to the back...could you? Seems kind of extreme to just stop dust, and the mesh wont stop much sound so its potentially going to be louder than a regular case. Nice looking build tho
Noise does get mentioned a bit in reviews where the build added extra fans. The modularity isn't complete, but you can move the mobo down and the PSU to the top, mount drives in different directions for easier cable management, and re-arrange any set of drive bays. Since I have a toddler, I actually plan to mount my optical drive sideways so that I have to open the front side to get to it, to keep him away from it. It's definitely at least half gimmick, but it looks fun and shiny, and those are my two top concerns with new computer toys.
My wife is an IT geek of the "enjoys hand cleaning friend's registries when they get infected" type, so if its in the budget, I get new toys to help fill my disability enforced free time. (I don't have any college, so work I could get would lose me the insurance I got when the Army medically retired me, and we wouldn't be able to afford my meds, so I'm a stay at home dad.)
|
On March 24 2011 01:03 JingleHell wrote:
My wife is an IT geek of the "enjoys hand cleaning friend's registries when they get infected" type, so if its in the budget, I get new toys to help fill my disability enforced free time. (I don't have any college, so work I could get would lose me the insurance I got when the Army medically retired me, and we wouldn't be able to afford my meds, so I'm a stay at home dad.)
Mind=Blown.
GG with the rig. Looks sweet wish I had the cash for it though T_T!!
|
When I first saw this case awhile back, the first thing that came in mind was lego/mega blocks.
How is the cable management for the lanboy?
|
Wooo, now I just need to get the camera from my wife and put up a pic of my build.
|
Picture added in the spoiler, review finished.
|
Enjoyed the review and reading about it. I've only sold one of those cases where I work in the past 5 months. Doesn't seem to be too popular, which sucks cause it's a fantastic idea for a case.
The lanboy air is super cool, but it has to be one of the least aesthetically pleasing cases to look at. It's unfortunate. D:
|
On March 27 2011 05:04 Raeleigh wrote:
Enjoyed the review and reading about it. I've only sold one of those cases where I work in the past 5 months. Doesn't seem to be too popular, which sucks cause it's a fantastic idea for a case.
The lanboy air is super cool, but it has to be one of the least aesthetically pleasing cases to look at. It's unfortunate. D:
Meh, if you like the '80s transformer look, it's awesome. I think what's really crushing sales for it is the unorthodox cooling, which, ironically, is one of the things that works perfectly fine. The idea of mounting your drives on rubber bands may also scare the pants off people, for understandable reasons.
And of course, at $200, it's an expensive experiment to find out if it actually works, which for noise and cooling, it blows an Antec 900 out of the water. Especially with a hyper212+ on the CPU, set to pull the air coming off the back intake fan.
|
haha, if you wanted airflow, you should have gotten the antec skeleton! haha, and just have a giant fan on the outside blowing straight at it.
i recently put together a watercooling rig with a i7 and two 275 gtx on a single loop in a 800d. that was quite some work.. you ought to try watercooling ur gfx cards sometime. definitely worth reducing the temps and sounds that the new gtx's create at 100% load.
|
On March 27 2011 16:25 AyeH wrote:
haha, if you wanted airflow, you should have gotten the antec skeleton! haha, and just have a giant fan on the outside blowing straight at it.
i recently put together a watercooling rig with a i7 and two 275 gtx on a single loop in a 800d. that was quite some work.. you ought to try watercooling ur gfx cards sometime. definitely worth reducing the temps and sounds that the new gtx's create at 100% load.
Read the whole blog post. I have a toddler. Antec Skeleton is NOT designed for being in the same living quarters as household pets or small children.
As far as plumbing goes, I don't need it, and I'm superstitious about water inside my computer case.
|
Your airflow is kinda messed up. You have your psu and bottom 460 fighting for cool air. Doesn't your case allow psu to intake air from the bottom?
And I'm hoping the fan on your, i think it's a hyper 212+, is pulling air and not pushing.
Also your cable management could use a bit of work.
|
My PC is sitting on carpet, with no ability to fit some sort of mat in the nook I cram it into next to my desk to keep my toddler from playing with buttons or dumping a glass of water in it. (Yes, this case is slightly silly under the circumstances. Thus some precautions.)
The fan on the hyper 212 is pulling air off the fan in the back. The case fans are all intakes.
My cable management is as decent as my PSU combined with that case will really allow. I'm not modular, there's no room at the top of the motherboard tray to pull cables behind it to the top, and my choices on which cables ran where were slightly limited by my number of available molex after using adapters for PCIE power.
|
Updated OP After installing an additional fan and an SSD.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/ViisE.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1421/antec_lanboy_air_044.jpg)
