Lian Li shares prototype Mini-ITX chassis with hinged access panel

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,306   +193
Staff member

hinged mini-itx case lian li mini itx

Premium case make Lian li recently posted photos and specifications of a prototype Mini-ITX chassis known as the PC-Q33 in an effort to gauge feedback. The chassis is unique in that it features a hinged top / front panel that drops down to give complete access to the hardware within.

In addition to the obvious convenience that a hinged design affords, the PC-Q33 also features support for 120mm radiators for those with watercooling ambitions and has enough room for a standard-sized ATX power supply.

hinged mini-itx case lian li mini itx

There’s even room for three 2.5-inch drives and two 3.5-inch drives although there’s no space for a 5.25-inch optical drive. The latter shouldn’t be a huge concern, however, as virtually anything you’ll want to install is now available online as a digital download. In the rare instance you need a legacy optical drive, external USB drives are always an option.

Inside, there’s also space for video cards up to 220mm long, PSUs up to 200mm in length and CPU coolers up to 180mm tall. Connectivity options include two USB 3.0 ports and HD audio up front. There’s only room for a single cooling fan in the aforementioned 120mm size. Lian Li didn’t rule out the possibility of a removable dust filter for the PSU, either.

hinged mini-itx case lian li mini itx

There isn’t a ton of feedback thus far but with any luck, the company will deem it worth of entering production. Prototypes are shown in Lian Li’s typical bare brushed aluminum and anodized black which means buyers could get the color of their choice if it’s ever made.

What are your thoughts on the PC-Q33? What other features would you like to see and how much would you be willing to pay for a Mini-ITX of this caliber?

Permalink to story.

 
Before my Prodigy case (which I'm supposed to put a work log up one day), I would have killed to have such a feature, though the design of the PC-Q08 even heavily modified would not have played nice.
 
I think I'll stick with standard cases and optical drives. I'm not really ready to have a case manufacturer herd me toward "Amazon Instant Video", or any other such ripoff.

Speaking of cases, why doesn't somebody make one in the shape of a Redbox Kiosk? Now that would be kitschy for a home theater PC.
 
Ooooo, and it comes with an "Iron Egg Guarantee"! One can only pause to wonder why with such powerful backing, they didn't choose the plural and call the warranty, "Iron Eggs"....;)
 
I don't like the giant power supply approach to computer cases. Since I don't game why not a case with Thin Mini-ITX in mind. Still I don't want something so small it is a toy. I have seen some cases that are thin but they look too wide and don't have access for a laptop DVD drive. Cant you put the heat pipe on top or use a narrow CPU cooler?

The thing is what really takes up most of the room is the wires and the power supply. Thin Mini-ITX removes a lot of the wires. They use an external power brick up to about 200w (Max Surge). Then they have a SATA Power plug on the motherboard that you can attach to SATA drives and it could have 3 power plugs on it. Typically that could be Hard Drive, SSD, DVD. Throw in a nice thin laptop DVD and then add a 120mm fan on low speed. Could make it a thinner custom fan. I could see also an application with no optical drive and just use an external USB3 Drive with a stand.

Cooler Master is suppose to be coming out with a new case, CM Elite 110, that is about half the depth of the CM Elite 130 and looks square. However it could be even smaller if they didn't use the internal Power supply. Sure there are a bunch of gamers that want a giant 2 foot long video card, but a lot of people are not interested in that. They just want a PC that they can hook up to a HDTV, surf the net, use some e-mail and watch Kitty Cats.
 
The case design is very nice. but I think you need to add a slot for at least one optical drive. :)
I would lovely to have one if there is.
 
Back