Ncase discontinues its excellent M1 small form factor PC chassis after eight years

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? One of the better small form factor cases on the market has been discontinued. Ncase, makers of the M1 SFF chassis, recently posted a notice on its website stating they’ve decided not to order another batch of M1 Classic cases. As such, the product has effectively reached its end of life after an eight year run.

The M1 was conceived way back in 2012 by two HardOCP forum members. User Wahaha360 liked SilverStone's SG03 SFF chassis, but wanted something made entirely of aluminum. With no solution on the market, the user reached out to Necere who helped design the dream chassis.

Remarkably, they were able to see the project through completion, which included a successful Indiegogo campaign as well as manufacturing by Lian Li. The entire process has been archived over in the Hard Forum should you want to follow the story.

In its farewell message, Ncase said evolving component requirements and shifts in the market have made the M1 a less compelling option in recent times. Indeed, video cards are way larger these days than they used to be, and with space already at a premium, compatibility suffered.

Notably, this isn’t the end of Ncase, but rather an opportunity for something new. The team said they do have new products in development, but they aren’t yet ready to commit to production or provide a time estimate. For now, the Ncase website will remain live for informational purposes.

Image credit: aurel

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https://www.techspot.com/news/91756-ncase-discontinues-excellent-m1-small-form-factor-pc.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Ncase said evolving component requirements and shifts in the market have made the M1 a less compelling option in recent times

They could have just said Coolermaster N200R which does basically the same thing, only a tad bigger but less than half the price and no waiting times.

It's sad because I understand why people would want the premium, built to order qualities of the Ncase M1 but given the state of the world it's probably not feasible to keep around a product that's now likely underperforming while being able to afford R&D and refactoring for a newer product, that's the kind of thing smaller companies would probably need a kickstarter for under normal circumstances instead of the current trade nightmares we have.

 

[dangh]

With meshlicious as new and better option this one is not offering enough to validate the expense. Got meshlicious few days ago and it is absolutely great small case. Kudos to ncase to clear the path though!