HTPC Chassis survey

[Meraki]

Greetings everybody.

My name is Mark, I represent Meraki Design (www.meraki-design.com) we are currently developing a line of HTPC chassis due to be released later this year. You can see the preliminary designs on the website under the catalog page.

I am posting to ask if you would kindly take a minute to fill out this short survey.

HTPC Product Survey

Comments/questions are welcome and I will do my best to answer 🙂

Kind regards,

Mark

[Mike Garcen]

Before anyone asks, yes Mark did ask us ahead of time to post this, and no this is not a sponsored post. Feel free to lend your feedback on some potential HTPC chassis if you want to 🙂 Personally I always loved when manufacturers listened to the consumers, so..yeah 🙂

[Meraki]

Thanks Mike, and everybody who has filled it out so far.

To answer some of the more common questions.

The unit includes all of the extras listed on the product page:

Samsung SH-B123A 12x BD/DVD combo drive
300W TFX power supply
Philips IR receiver (built in) and remote
Front LED display behind the center acrylic panel (white light)

The main body construction is steel, the front plate is aluminium(aluminum) with acrylic accents.

 

Thanks again for all the submissions, the current specs are not set in stone and still being refined, that’s the purpose of this survey after all 🙂

Mark

 

[babgvant]

I like what I saw on the site (especially the OLED display option:)).  As you get closer to final spec’s some higher res photos would be great.

[PAPutzback]

I submitted a survey and did not receive a confirmation. I only saw the one case, is there one that can take more than 1 full height cards? 

[Meraki]

If you didn’t get a confirmation it might not have come through.

The first model only has one card slot at the moment but it is subject to change. The reasoning for this was because with an mATX motherboard, it was only possible to occupy the top card slot(and most mini-ITX board only have 1x PCIe), when changing the bottom card slot for 2 holes closer to the PSU it was possible to install an mATX mobo with 2x dual tuners (internally mounted USB) and a full height graphics card. Which we felt was the smartest allocation of space.

The next model will most likely have more card slots and accommodate a full size EPS/ATX power supply.

Thanks again for all the entries 🙂

[swoon]

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing these designs come to fruition. We always love seeing new and innovative designs in HTPC cases.

[Meraki]

Here are the results for anybody interested –View my report!

Also for anybody who didn’t get to fill it out yet the link is in my signature 🙂

Update on the case:

Front USB2.0 will likely become USB3.0
Front OLED display will likely become a non-standard option.
Dust filters are likely to be included and we are hoping to increase the fan size to reduce noise.

Here is a higher res render of the front panel to show the different materials.

 

[swoon]

 

Thanks for posting the picture – it looks like it would fit into my living room well.

Here’s the message I get when trying to view your report:

 

This Page is Not Accessible to the Public

You do not have permission to view this report.

 

[Meraki]

Oops, thanks for that. Should be fixed now! 

[swoon]

Thanks for sharing the interesting information.

[kenyee]

Looks very slick 🙂

Would be interested to see how quiet this is and how much you can put into it…(drives, cards)…would like to be able to put in an extra ethernet card since microatx boards only seem to have a single ethernet port…

 

[AFguy]

For me a sleek design and cooling are the things I look at first.  I want my case to blend in with the rest of my room.  If it stands out to everyone then I don’t want it.  Cooling is also important as I don’t need my components to over heat.  This usually isn’t an issue but you don’t want to ignore it either.  Nice to see a manufacturer listening to consumers!

[paratwa]

A matte black case is important to me. I hate reflective surfaces that also show fingerprints.

A front Esata port would be nice. 

But most of all, it has to be both quiet and cool!

[Author]

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