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Mountain Mods U2-UFO Case
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Author:
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Mikki
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Type:
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Review |
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Subject:
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U2-UFO Original Top Case
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Article Date:
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March 4, 2005 |
Packaging and First Impressions
The U2-UFO is wrapped in cellophane, enclosed in a heavy duty plastic bag and boxed up with foam corners and
peanuts. The case arrived in perfect condition, despite the fact that the box looked like it had taken a few
bumps along the way.
After hiring a van to get it home and removing a few doors in my house to get it inside, I was finally able to
pull it out of the box and have a good look at it. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but the first thing that
came to my mind was "humongous". The case measures 18x18x18 inches, but it looks more like 40x40x40. The U2-UFO
is as tall as my ATC-201, but is almost 2 ½ times wider.
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The First Look
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After getting over the size of it, the next thing that struck me was how sexy it is. The black finish is superb, and
very…black. The entire case is black, inside and out, and very deep. The color made me think of Kate Beckinsale's
hair in the film "Underworld", it's that sexy.
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The Second Look
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The case comes with a lot of thumbscrews…45 to be exact. All these jutting pieces of hardware aren't very noticeable
largely due to the screws being black. The only other bits of hardware that stick out are the rivets holding the
windows on, and they are black also.
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The Third Look
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The power and reset buttons are two of the four items on this case which aren't black. They are silver and dome-shaped,
and offer a very classy appearance. The power and HDD LED's are silver as well, but they stick out and don't match the
buttons. It doesn't look bad, but I personally think it would be very nice if the LED's were dome-shaped as well.
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The buttons and LEDs
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What you get with the U2-UFO are a set of castor wheels and a bag of minimum hardware, including standoffs and some screws. What
I'd like to note is what you don't get. You don't get 5.25 media bay covers and you don't get a speaker. Hardware isn't an issue,
I suspect that most folks will have a drawer full of hardware. I'll talk about the bay covers later, but that's not really an issue
either. Does anyone still use the speaker? Those of us who want to hear those beeps during POST do, but again, it's certainly
not an issue. You don't get fans or grills either. Personally I don't mind this as I'd rather choose my own anyway, but this
is something which is expected nowadays.
What is an issue is the lack of a front USB panel. How much of an issue this is depends on the person. I use the front panel to
download photos from my camera, and although I don't do it very often it is something I need. Fortunately I use a multi-function
panel which has USB ports built into it, and I expect most enthusiasts who would buy this case would use something similar. Mr.
Rising informed me that, given enough feedback on this issue, the U2-UFO may come with a USB panel in the future. Considering
that customer suggestions have directed the additions of the motherboard tray, second PSU option and 3 panel design, it's certainly
feasible that this may happen.
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