(photos: SilverStone) SilverStone Fortress FT03-MINI | US$tba | www.silverstonetek.com
one of the many reasons that draw people to Mac is its simplicity and sleek look. you got to give it to Apple for coming with gadgets that are so aesthetically pleasing. if you are a non-Mac users, the good news is, you won’t be left out of the sleek-kingdom, thanks to SilverStone Technology. while firms like Cooler Master and Thermaltake do offers cool looking cases, the Taiwan-based firm stands as one of the few that takes the minimalist route and its micro-ITX case, the Fortress FT03-MINI is one good example. the FT03-MINI is the little sibling of the original FT03, a micro ATX case, launched back in 2011. it inherits the features of the FT03, including its good look but at 50% of the FT03’s size. featuring a steel body wrapped in 2.5mm thick, sandblasted and anodized aluminum outer shells with no visible cable connectors, the FT03-MINI truly looks like a mini-Fortress. key features include vents on all four sides for enhanced ventilation, stack effect layout with 90 degree motherboard mounting, standard-length expansion cards support (10″), support one 3.5″ and two 2.5″ drives, a slot loading slim optical drive bay, 140mm Air Penetrator fan, and support mini-DTX and mini-ITX motherboard. the FT03-MINI offers two expansion slots and the front I/O offers two backward compatible USB 3.0 ports, an audio jack and a microphone jack, all accessible from its top. it measures 188.9mm x 397mm x 235.1mm (7.4″ x 15.6″ x 9.3″) and weighs in at 4.7 kg (10.4 lbs). click through for more images.