AOpen EX65 SFF PC Review - It Lifts and Separates!
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An item of special interest was the chassis on which the hard drive, floppy, and optical drive are housed. Unlike in other SFFs we've worked with, which keep the optical and floppy chassis stationary, with nothing more than a (usually troublesome) pull-away hard drive chassis, the chassis on the XCube separates from the top, making it a breeze to install the optical, floppy and hard drive, in addition making it easier to reach the IDE ports buried under that chassis.
Additionally, the hard drive chassis slides off independently of the optical/floppy chassis, making it easily accessible without having to move the optical drive. What makes it so easy is the curved track design of the clips, which enables the drive to come out comfortably, without needing to be yanked, or unlocked. (The drive is held in place by a small thumbscrew which secures it to the primary chassis.)
In short, working within this system is surprisingly comfortable for an SFF. Both the case and board layout make for clean, easy access to the system components. After all was said and done, this is how our system looked:
Crammed? Sure, but surprisingly comfortable to work with, thanks in large part to the pull-out chassis.
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