Review: Antec Super Lanboy
07.12.06 - 08:43pm
A case is the shell that protects your computer from the rough real world. Computer cases come in all sorts of sizes, colors, fashions, and materials. In this particular review I will be looking over the Antec Super LanBoy. My current case happens to also be an Antec, the Performance TX server case, but this black steel behemoth shares only the name Antec with the Super Lanboy. The Super Lanboy offers a very aesthetically pleasing case design with a lot of sound absorption features incorporated into a very light design which makes for the perfect mini-tower case.
Packaging and First Impression
The Lanboy shipped to me in a flashy green and white box featuring your typical anime street fighter in a wicked stance. While I consider it a bit pre-mature to market with these characters they seem to be splattered all over computer hardware boxes so I’ll just roll with it. Upon cutting open the tape, the case slide out wrapped up in plastic with very sturdy Styrofoam brackets to keep the case in place. Once I had unwrapped the case and inspected it I found no damage from shipping and no scratches from the factory. My initial impression was one of admiration as I examined the quality of the construction. The case was constructed of thin-rolled aluminum sheets riveted together to form a sturdy platform. With both sides of the case off however the case had a very flimsy feel to it. When both sides of the case are attached they add enough structural support that the case feels very sturdy.
Once I took off both sides of the case I began to inspect the minor details of the case. The positioning of the hard drives was rather peculiar in that they were rotated 90 degrees so that they faced the sides. Each individual hard drive tray featured rubber grommets that should help cut down on vibration due to seeking and spinning hard drives. Immediately next to the hard drive cages there is a 120mm fan that pushes a decent flow of air to keep the densely packed drives cool. Those people running 10k or 15k drives or particularly hot drives will find this active cooling very helpful in keeping drive temperatures down. Above the drive cages there are two external 3.5″ slots for floppy drives and flash card readers. Continuing up you reach three 5.25″ external drive bays. The close proximity of the 5.25″ drives to the power supply could cause space conflicts if you happen to have a particularly long optical drive. I was hoping that Antec would have built in drive trays for the 5.25″ bays however I was greeted with the standard punched out slots. I usually find optical drives to be louder than even my loud Maxtor 7200RPM hard drive but since optical drives do not run 24/7 the extra sound deadening should not be necessary. One item that is really unique and helpful is the little toolbox that is hidden away next to the 3.5″ drive bays. While disguised as a huge plastic button, upon depressing the plastic a tool box will pop out. This tool box contains all the various screws, mounts, and stickers. I find this box very useful to keep a small Phillips head screwdriver along with small zip-ties and screws.
The motherboard tray contains the standard threads to accommodate both micro-ATX and ATX motherboards. The PCI/AGP/PCIe slots contained a very secure system to lock the cards in place. In addition to the normal screw holding the cards in place there was a moveable piece of metal that could slide into place and lock the cards down. This redundant system could be useful if your VGA cables were ever yanked while the computer was operating. The rear 120mm fan slot featured your standard punch-out grid and a 1200RPM 120mm fan. Directly above this fan slot is the power supply area. At the very top of the case where the power supply normally rests there is a pad of rubber to counter vibration from the top of the PSU hitting the case. Since this is a mini-ATX case I knew that there would be issues regarding actual real estate within the case but I was determined to show the versatility of the case. For those concerned about lengthy cards fitting in this case I have heard that the Nvidia 7900GTX fits with a little bit of space to spare. I haven’t got any information on whether or not an ATi x1900XTX will fit into the case but if I do find out I will update this.
The left panel of the case contains a large window for viewing the inside of the case. The right panel is a solid sheet of aluminum. Both of these panels are removable which really helps when you try to perform cable management. The front of the case is made out of a silver plastic with a door that covers the 5.25″ and 3.5″ drive bays. The bottom half of the front is dominated by a semi-transparent grill that protects the front fan. Between the fan grill and the door there is an attractive shiny plastic band with the sound ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 3 LEDs, and the power and reset buttons. The overall exterior of the case is a clean design that isn’t too flashy and maintains a stylish look to it.
Installation
The only ATX motherboard I had was my s939 motherboard so I dismantled my watercooling system and pulled out all my components from the old Antec TX case. I figured it would be quite the challenge to stash all of my gear into a mini-ATX case and I was very correct in my observation. I stripped my current desktop which included a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum motherboard, Ultra-X power supply, ATI x700 video card, Bigwater SE watercooling system, and 4 hard drives. The Jose Cuervo bottle was loaned to me so I could temporarily store my coolant, tequila is a vile drink.
I started by screwing in all the correct motherboard mounts which went very quickly. Once the mounts were down I wiggled the motherboard in and screwed it down. I then encountered my first problem with this case. When I tried loosen the screws on the sliding riser door I literally bent the surrounding aluminum due to the force necessary to loosen these screws. With some creative banging and bending I got the case bent back into shape but that was a bit un-nerving how easily it bent. Once my motherboard and video card were installed I began installing the hard drives. The special screws and grommets make for a very loose installation but with the wiggle room vibrations should be absorbed fairly well. With both the hard drives and the motherboard installed I moved on to my power supply. Thankfully the LanBoy has space for full-sized power supplies. I would highly recommend using a modular power supply as there isn’t a lot of room to stash unneeded power cables. When plugging in my motherboard the 24 pin cable proved to be quite a hassle to get it installed and not obstructing the side panel due to the inflexible nature of my sleeved cables.
Once I had settled my power requirements I began installing the Bigwater SE. On the back 120mm fan slot I installed the radiator then I installed the reservoir into the lowest 5.25″ drive bay. When installing this reservoir it became obvious that modular power supplies are a requirement for this case. If there had been a few additional power cables stashed in the 5.25″ bays then it would be impossible to install more than one more 5.25″ drive. Luckily the water pump for this system was exactly as tall as the area for the 3.5″ external drives so I bent the aluminum a bit and slide the pump in. Once all the pieces for the system were in place I began performing some basic cable management operations. The wires connecting the front panel to the motherboard were conveniently routed in through a small hole in the motherboard tray. The wires for the 120mm radiator fan and 80mm RAM fan were sneakily routed behind the power supply. The water pump was wired through the drive cages and all the hard drives were feed from a cable pushed down from the power supply to the backside of the cages. This case is a goldmine for cable management tricks, if I didn’t have EIDE hard drives then I could have made this system much cleaner. While this isn’t necessary you will have a much cleaner case and much better airflow. These basic techniques are also essential for competing in case mod competitions at Lans in which I am sure the LanBoy would excel.
Observations
For a standard installation this case is the perfect platform to work with. There is enough space in here to stash your ATX motherboard, full sized power supply, some optical and hard drives, and plenty of space for full length expansion cards. Even with all this there were a few things that are problematic or could become problems. My biggest problem is in the arrangement of the hard drives. My power supply has sleeved cables which are not very flexible. This becomes a problem when I go to plug-in my hard drives. For the EIDE drives I ended up using a 2-1 cable splitter that had standard molex connectors and thin wires to bend into place. My sata drive however is unusable with the side panel on.
The amount of attention paid to sound absorption was intense. The rubber grommets on the hard drives and the rubber footies do a great job on cutting down on chassis vibration. The stock 120mm fans are relatively quiet but the flashy blue LED can be a bit distracting if you sleep in the same room as this case. When I was moving the case around the very light weight aluminum still felt solid with the panels on but the overall weight of the system surprised me. With half a liter of coolant, 4 hard drives, a hefty power supply, and my motherboard and water block the entire system had to be under 30 pounds. When compared to just my old steel case weighing over 30 pounds this was very astonishing.
The case also shipped with a very handy carrying strap to help make the case even easier to transport. While I wasn’t going to a Lanparty, I did strap the case up and then walk around a bit to test it. Just imagine lugging around a 30 pound briefcase, that is about what it was like. While it isn’t exactly natural to haul around a computer case, it didn’t feel too awkward moving it around. It was considerably easier to handle than a case without the straps. I must say with this carrying strap I would almost be convinced to go to a Lanparty just to try it out and say I did it.
Once the system was up and running for a while I began to admire the beauty of the case. I love simplicity and the brushed aluminum sides and solid silver front looked very clean with the blue light accenting the front. Normally I am not a fan of LEDs since most people put hundreds into a case but the fan on the LanBoy looks very stylish. When looking back at my old TX case it just looks ugly when compared to the slick and stylish LanBoy.
Conclusion
Reviewing this case has been quite the adventure. Besides a few hiccups in the installation it has been a very good case for both the beginner and the experienced case modder. Given the right materials this could be modified to hide every cable and make for a very beautiful interior and exterior. The very light weight design can be seen as a two edged sword. The thin material makes for great weight reductions but the soft metal can be easily bent. I don’t think I can stress this enough, even a slight kick against the side panels can cause a dent.
For the price of the case you get a lot of great features with only a few minor problems. I think the only serious problem lies with the hard drive enclosure and the data cables. Overall a great design and a solid case with great thermal and sound properties. I would highly recommend this case if you are in the market for a small ATX case with great looks and great functionality. Current prices are floating around 80USD but remember this comes with no power supply. That wraps this up, another great product from Antec.
I agree, that case is schweet. One of my comps uses it. I love the hard drive track and use of 120mm fans the most.
This case is extremely similar to the Antec Sonata II case that I own. Extremely quiet with tons of room, etc, etc.
I had the same problem with the hard drives until I figured out a nifty little trick. Unscrew your drive(s) from the tray(s), rotate 180 degrees and then screw back into the tray. This very effectively points all of the connectors to the BACK side of the case, hiding them from view. There are holes in the back of the case which are conveniently close to most PATA and SATA headers. Simply feed your cables through these holes (power cables included) and you will have no problem reaching the connectors or putting the panel back on the case. With a handful of zip ties and an hour of your time, you can clean up the cabling inside this case so that it’s virtually invisible.
If you’re looking for a similar case without the flimsy side panels, check out the Sonata II by Antec. VERY durable construction and extremely quiet.
Oh such sweet irony. When I had finished writing this last night I thought of the same idea. I’ll be bringing my system down again on Friday and I will have to test this and see how the hard drives fit. I’d imagine there would be a good 2-3 inches of clearance since the hard drive cages aren’t exactly centered on the case. I’d really like to review the Sonata II and the P180 as I have heard and seen great results. These new cases are so much more versatile than my old Antec server case.
Where can I send you a few pictures? I use a Sonata II as my test machine. The only thing that sucks is having to shut down to plug in new drives…
I’ve never trusted hot-swap drives so I have always shut down my machine to do any little bit of work. It isn’t that I’m worried about the hard drive data but I am more worried about how the rest of my system will handle the sudden disconnect in the power sub system.