Entered CNET Catalog: 06/14/2006
SKU: 0761345151023
Manufacturer: Antec Inc.
Manufacturer description
The elegant mini-desktop case has been upgraded to support the latest Intel and AMD CPUs, with improved cooling to protect your components. Minuet 300's slender footprint and mounting bracket allow it to fit vertically or horizontally into the tightest spaces. Designed to accommodate the wide range of full-performance micro ATX components available today, Minuet 300 delivers the perfect blend of performance and convenience.Product summary
The good: Removable drive cage simplifies system building; attractive glossy black exterior.
The bad: Building your own SFF media center isn't as cost-effective as buying a Mac Mini Core Duo.
The bottom line: Apple's Mac Mini Core Duo has effectively killed the small-form-factor, do-it-yourself market, which makes it hard to argue for the Antec Minuet 300, despite its cool features and slick design. If you can find a specific reason to help you justify building a SFF PC yourself, however, the Minuet 300 will serve you well.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 06/16/2006
For $599, you can get the basic 1.67GHz Mac Mini Core Duo. We priced out the parts for building an equivalent system from scratch with the Minuet 300 (including a dual-core AMD processor and Windows Media Center 2005) and arrived at a figure of $750. Since you can't beat Apple on price (wow, that sounds weird), the only type of homemade PC that makes sense to build with the Antec Minuet 300--and any case like it--is either a media server with a larger hard drive than the Mac Mini's current 120GB maximum or a more pedestrian system that's extremely less powerful and, hopefully, less expensive. None of these market realities is the Minuet 300's fault, but unless you simply enjoy building PCs or have a specialized need this case can meet, Apple has made building your own nongaming SFF PC impractical.
We call the Minuet 300 a nongaming SFF case because it's so narrow it can accept only low-profile expansion cards. These cards, also known as half-height cards, are fine for adding expansion ports and other non-performance-oriented upgrades, but you won't find a high-performance graphics card that's not a full-size PCI Express card. That's not necessarily a huge loss, however, because the bundled 300-watt power supply probably couldn't put out enough juice to power an entire PC using a higher-end 3D. What the Minuet 300 does have going for it is sleek looks and a removable drive cage. Being able to remove the cage makes it easier to install the optical drive and the hard drive (there's one bay for each plus a second, front-accessible 3.5-inch bay for, say, a media card reader). We particularly appreciate this feature on an SFF case where space is tight; it also makes installing the motherboard and other hardware and routing the cables a breeze.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1out of 1 user reviews
Reviewer pays more attention to Mac Mini than this case!
Pros: Reviewer pays more attention to Mac Mini than this case!
Cons: Reviewer pays more attention to Mac Mini than this case!
