New Technology Reviews!.: chassis

Review: Acer Aspire 5742G

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="90" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20152/WLT152.rev3.acer_1-200-200.jpg" width="120" /> Acer aims to balance price with performance and the Aspire series has been its mainstay for many years. With the Aspire 5742G, Acer has put everything you need in a starter laptop and wrapped it up in a great-looking package. Right out of the box the Aspire has enough processing power to handle everything you want in a starter laptop, but on top of that it's also a pleasure to look at. The textured finish on both the lid and internal chassis feels comfortable and won't pick up the grubby fingerprints that curse more reflective designs. The keyboard doesn't feel quite as sturdy as some (we noticed an obvious flex in the keyboard during typing), but the keys are well spaced and easy to type on. The Aspire 5742G sports Acer's favoured keyboard where keys appear to float above the chassis. This looks great, but you'll find it quickly traps debris underneath the keys. Whilst not as comfortable as either the Sony or the Packard Bell, this style is certainly good enough for bashing out longer documents. There is also a full-sized numeric keypad, although no dedicated hotkeys. The touchpad is also comfortable to use. The Acer is built around Intel's Core i3 processor, which provides plenty of power, and is backed up by the 4096MB of memory. But what really sets the Aspire 5742G apart is the 1024MB of video memory provided by the dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics card. As you can see from our benchmark tests, this laptop will be fine running the current crop of gaming titles and will easily handle photo and HD video editing. Similarly, the massive 620GB of hard drive storage will provide plenty of space for all the family's data. Benchmarks Battery life: 278 minutes MobileMark 2007: 228 3DMark 2003: 11,991 Vibrant screen The 15.5-inch screen provides a great level of detail and colour vibrancy. The screen is bright and watching movies or playing games is an impressive experience. The HDMI, VGA and three USB 2.0 ports mean you can also hook it up to your HD TV for big-screen viewing. <img alt="Acer aspire 5742g" class="aligncenter" height="167" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20152/WLT152.rev3.buildacer_1-420-90.jpg" width="252" /> We achieved a very respectable 278 minutes from the battery during our benchmark tests and the chassis is sturdy enough to take a few bumps and knocks should you decide to take it on the road. We liked the Acer Aspire 5742G. The higher asking price is a bit painful to swallow, but we feel it justifies this with the dedicated graphics card, large storage space and great battery life. It's likely to future-proof better than some of the other laptops and would make for a worthwhile purchase.

Review: Acer Aspire 5742G

Acer aims to balance price with performance and the Aspire series has been its mainstay for many years. With the Aspire 5742G, Acer has put ...

Video: Nokia N9 video preview

Video: Nokia N9 video preview

We all knew it was coming - the first MeeGo-powered smartphone from Nokia, emerging in the shape of the N9. We spent some time with the Noki...

Buying Guide: 6 of the best PC chassis for your gaming PC

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.towers3_2comp-200-200.jpg"> When building a gaming rig your components are paramount, and any PC builder will know that looking after them means investing in a decent case. Making the wrong choice can lead to bad performance, serious headaches and forking out extra cash, so make sure you consider the potential pitfalls. The first pitfall is space. Buying a case without thinking about the types of kit you're going to be housing is tantamount to a peanut allergy sufferer buying a bag of Revels. Buying a dedicated gaming case should give you enough room for gargantuan graphics cards such as the AMD <a href="">Radeon 5970</A> or the <a href="">GTX 480</A>, but if you're planning to overclock, then extra room will be needed for larger fans, or even water-cooling systems. In case design, thermal dynamics are just as important as aerodynamics are to F1 car design. Heat has to be dissipated as quickly and easily as possible. Check how many fans there are on the case, and whether there are ventilation holes to allow heat to dissipate from the case naturally. The endless march of technology, and the spiralling amount of data we store, can also be a pitfall for PC enthusiasts, and making the wrong case choice can cause problems in the future. At the very least you should make sure your case has enough room for extra drives. If all that isn't enough to think about, there are a few more features that can turn a bog-standard box into a champion chassis. Look for front USB ports, eSATA, and speed control – so you can turn down the deafening fans while you're watching a film. If noise is an issue generally, look out for rubber-sealed parts that reduce vibration. Also, look out for cases that give you the ability to hot-swap HDDs, which can be handy. If all that's got your head spinning, fear not, because we've rated six of the best cases to make life easier for you. Let's sort the wheat from the chassis… Antec DF-85 - £130 Manufacturer: Antec Web: <a href="http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/">www.antec.com </A> <img alt="Antec df-85" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.antec_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> Subtle isn't a word in the DF-85's vocabulary, and at chassis school it presumably only learned the words 'exterminate' and 'bestia.' This is a serious-looking gaming case, and won't be to everyone's taste. It's cavernous, with tonnes of room for long graphics cards. Expansion won't be a problem. The DF-85 has room for terabytes of data too – there are nine hard-drive bays, with extra room for two 2.5-inch SSDs. Unfortunately, 3.5-inch installation is a bit of a pain, and you need to screw in your drives to the mountings, accessed by secret doors on the front of the case. This will nullify vibrations, but if you're regularly fiddling with your set up, this will get tiresome. What's more, you'll need to keep the large bag of screws around just in case. However, the SSDs can be inserted into a port on the top of the case, which is handy. There's a panel for hiding your cables, but there isn't much room, and the wires started getting in the way as soon as we mounted the motherboard. The cooling is fantastic; two 140mm and two 120mm fans occupy the top and rear of the case, with three 120mm fans on the front, which come with a variable control. Verdict: 82% Lian Li PC-V354 - £133 Manufacturer: Lian-Li Web: <a href="http://www.lian-li.com/v2/index.html">www.lian-li.com </A> <img alt="Lian li pc-v354" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.lianli_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> Lian-Li has released the PC-V354 for space-conscious gamers. This mini-tower fits Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX and Mini-DTX motherboards, but not the full-form ATX size. However, for a Micro-ATX case, it's still pretty large, and there's plenty of room to make a decent gaming PC, thanks to the ability to hold cards up to 350mm long, and store terabytes of data. Access to the PC-V354's innards comes via eight tiny screws, so tinkerers should stay clear of this one. Once your PC is assembled, you'll want the case to stay closed for a long time. Once the screws are out, you'll find room for seven 3.5-inch hard discs, and one optical drive. Cooling comes from three 120mm fans, which are vital in a case of this size, where heat can build up very quickly. A nice touch is the fan control on the back. Since Micro-ATX cases are often used for watching films and other living-room entertainment, this is a welcome feature, as is the vibration-dampening hard-disk cage inside the case. The presence of an SD card slot on the front gives away its family-friendly credentials, but gamers shouldn't dismiss the V354, as there's no reason this case can't be a formidable games rig. Verdict: 75% Corsair Graphite 600T - £130 Manufacturer: Corsair Web: <a href="http://www.corsair.com/">www.corsair.com </A> <img alt="Corsair graphite 600t" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.corsair_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> If the Doctor travelled the universe in a PC case, he'd chose the 600T. This Tardis-like chassis has space for the biggest graphics cards and the largest fans. Cooling is taken seriously, too. There are two 200mm fans – one on the top and one at the front – plus a 120mm exhaust fan on the back. Each comes with a removable dust grill. The plastic feels similar to a corporate Dell PC, which is a bit disappointing. However, it's lightweight, and we didn't have to reach for the plasters to stem the flow from our bleeding fingers while handling the case. The optical drive bays are tool-free, so there's no need to fiddle around when you start swapping components. Not only this, but the HDD bays are split into two cages, which are completely removable, so if you buy a long graphics card you can whip out one of these to make the space available. The speed dial controls up to four fans, and is located on the front panel, along with four USB ports and one USB 3.0 port. The 600T has also nailed cable management. Feed the cables from your components through the holes on the back panel, then reintroduce them near their intended destination, leaving you with a mess-free case. Verdict: 90% Akasa Infiniti Zor - £86 Manufacturer: Akasa Web: <a href="http://www.akasa.co.uk/">www.akasa.co.uk </A> <img alt="Akasa infiniti zor" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.infinity_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> The finger slices from the sharp, unpainted innards of the Akasa Infiniti Zor sum up the rough-and-ready nature of this case. The outside is black, flat and unassuming, and inside it looks like someone's stripped it out for decorating and sanded down the walls. The back is dotted with unmarked screw holes, for which Akasa supplies a map to explain the myriad motherboard fixtures. The Infiniti Zor makes you work to get your PC set up. Attaching drives means screwing together a bracket before attaching it to the case. There's room for six 3.5-inch hard drives, and up to 11 optical drives, but SSD owners are less well-catered for. Cooling is also limited, with two front-mounted 120mm fans and a single 120mm exhaust fan to the rear. This pales in comparison to some of our bigger chassis, and is more suited to moderately powerful PCs built on a budget. The biggest bugbear however, is the total lack of extra features. Forget fan speeds and external disc mounts. Akasa hasn't even added front USB ports, so you'd be forever reaching around the back to just to access your USB ports. We have no idea why this case costs so much. Avoid. Verdict: 50% Thermaltake V6 BlacX Edition - £56 Manufacturer: Thermaltake Web: <a href="http://uk.thermaltake.eu/">www.thermaltake.com </A> <img alt="Thermaltake v6 blacx edition" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.v6_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> The Thermaltake V6 BlacX is fiendishly small for a gaming case. Within seconds of fitting the motherboard, the cables were causing problems, as was the back plate, which we had to completely remove to accommodate the motherboard's ports. Build quality is also questionable. This is particularly evident on the drive bays, which have an overcomplicated system for installing the drives. It's tool-free, so you won't be needing your screwdriver, but we can't promise you won't need a hammer shortly afterwards. One trick up the V6 BlacX's sleeve is the top-mounted port for hot-swapping 3.5-inch hard drives. This is a neat feature, and is very easy to use, although its placement and implementation leave a lot to be desired. Having a 3.5-inch hard drive sticking out the top of your PC is far from attractive. There are two fans fitted to the case – one 200mm fan mounted on the top, and another 120mm next to it, on the back plate. This sort of cooling set-up isn't going to dissipate enough heat to cool the biggest rigs, but if your PC tastes are a little more frugal, the £56 price tag makes this one worth a look. Verdict: 65% CoolerMaster HAF 912 PLUS - £69 Manufacturer: Coolermaster Web: <a href="http://www.coolermaster.com/">www.coolermaster.com</A> <img alt="CoolerMaster haf 912 plus" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_roundup.coolermaster_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> The CoolerMaster maintains a slightly less futuristic look than the Antec, but there's no denying the similarities of their styling. As you might expect, CoolerMaster has come up with a great case with plenty of storage, and while there aren't as many fans as in the Antec, the two monstrous 200mm ones on the front and top are certainly effective at shifting heat. While this is by no means the biggest case in our test, there's plenty of room for hard drives, with seven bays in all. You can remove one of the hard-drive cages to make way for a long graphics card, should the need arise. Hard drives require a little bit of assembly using noise-dampening plastic strips, but it's nothing too taxing. Inside, the CoolerMaster has some effective cable management, although room behind the motherboard is limited, and you can't easily remove the second panel for better access like you can on most of our other cases. You'll find two USB ports and an eSATA on the front panel. We were impressed with the CoolerMaster chassis. It's one of the cheapest cases in our test, and if you're looking for quality, but your needs are modest, you could do far worse than this one. Verdict: 89%

Buying Guide: 6 of the best PC chassis for your gaming PC

When building a gaming rig your components are paramount, and any PC builder will know that looking after them means investing in a decent ...

Colossus adds new Venom and Window chassis

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/upgrades-and-peripherals/cases-and-cooling/cases/images/venom-case-200-200.jpg"> PC tower chassis maker BitFenix is introducing two new variants to its Colossus line of PC towers, Colossus Venom and Colossus Window. It's a response to the emails they received after demoing a Colossus with green lighting at Gamescon 2010. "After releasing Colossus, BitFenix fans from around the world offered their own personal suggestions on some new and interesting modifications for the full tower, and Colossus Venom and Colossus Window are the results of that feedback," says David Jarlestedt, BitFenix Product Manager. The Venom lets users switch between red and evil green lighting for the tower, while keeping all the traditional Colossus features, including a pair of SuperSpeed 3.0 USB ports, a storage compartment, and the company's proprietary SofTouch coating. Watch It Work The other new tower is the Colossus Window. This doesn't have the LEDs on the side, replacing it instead with a window panel that lets users see their hardware in the chassis glowing red, blue or green – the last being the Venom Window edition – thanks to a pair of colour-matched LED fans. There's a simplified control panel and four USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks and an eSATA port. The Venom retails for 139 Euros, the Windows for 159 Euros (c.£133). Although there's no guarantee that the new styling will increase your score, you will intimidate and impress your opponents.

Colossus adds new Venom and Window chassis

PC tower chassis maker BitFenix is introducing two new variants to its Colossus line of PC towers, Colossus Venom and Colossus Window. It...