AOpen XC Cube AV Edition Review - PAGE 3

Appearance

There is something immediately striking about the EA65; the LED panel up front and the row of multimedia buttons are not typical of things found on the front of a PC. In contrast with the glossy iPod-white look of the EZ65, the EA65 is flat black. The front panel is regular black plastic, none of the faux glossy/metal look that some cases attempt and it would fit in with other CE components in the living room. The casing is of good finish, and again it is a flat black finish unlike the glossy exterior of the EZ65. The shape is prototypical SFF which is not a bad thing, it just does not strike any new ground.

Despite the similarities in size and shape of between the EA65 and EZ65, the EA65 has a distinctively more rounded look in comparison. The optical drive door is stealthed but the door itself has a rounded sort of look instead of lying flush against the front bezel. Each of the three sections on the front of the bezel, the optical drive component, the LED with the multimedia buttons and the stealthed front panel connectors are all distinctly contoured giving the EA65 a look that is comparable to one of those bookshelf HiFi systems. The HiFi look is The HiFi look is accentuated even more by the LED display which outputs the time when the power is off. The time is read from the BIOS so that a secondary seperately is not necessary.

One of my gripes with strange component placement remains - optical out is placed in the stealthed front panel. I do not think that people who are utilizing this feature will be doing so on an irregular basis meaning that the stealthed door would remain open at all times which kind of defeats the purpose of stealthing it in the first place. Move permanent connectivity functions to the back or do not bother stealthing the front panel at all.