There are a lot of changes in the design of the main front panel of the case. The intake fan has been equipped with a coarse dust filter.

This mesh won’t stop tiny dust speckles, but will help against bigger ones. The grid in front of the fan is obviously unnecessary – the mesh is too small for that.

This is no good for the noise and performance of the fan, so if you’ve got the tools and skills necessary you may want to remove the grid right after the purchase. Nothing can get into the fan anyway when the front panel is closed.

The single-use 3.5” bay brackets have to be torn off if you want to install a card-reader, for example.

The brackets of the 5.25” bays are now fastened with screws, which are much handier:

Unfortunately, the block of external interface connectors is still where it was:

The connectors are on the top panel of the case, hidden with a simple plastic cap. If the system case stands on the desk – quite a normal thing for system cases of this class – it won’t be convenient to use the connectors. Another drawback, the FireWire port has been replaced with an eSATA. I don’t think it’s reasonable.

Yes, eSATA is a progressive interface, but have you seen many eSATA drives selling? Well, I wouldn’t have any gripes at all if they had left the FireWire port, too. Its place is just sealed. This looks like paltry economy to me.