Lian-Li Prices PC Cases That Look Like Desks
Lian Li has priced its Desk Chassis, which are expensive.
Lian Li has, after a rather long wait, officially announced its two enclosures, which come in the form of desks. These desk chassis will be known as the DK-01X and the DK-02X, and they will be able to house one and two systems, respectively.
Internally, both the cases have identical hardware support, with the exception, of course, that the larger DK-02X can house a second Mini-ITX installation. Both the systems will house up to HPTX size motherboards along with the longest of graphics cards up to 400 mm in length, as well as GPU coolers up to 180 mm tall and PSUs up to 280 mm – Plenty of room for your high-end rig or workstation. To top off your rig, the desks also have cut-outs for monitor mounts, which can then leave you with a desk that is completely clear of anything if you keep your keyboard and mouse on the extension. There is also room for many hard drives and SSDs.
Front I/O is handled by the standard pair of HD audio jacks as well as not two, but four USB 3.0 ports. While there are not many motherboards out with headers for four USB 3.0 ports, if you're spending this kind of money on a chassis/desk, certainly it won't be much trouble to get a matching motherboard. Both chassis also have a cut-out for a slim optical drive.
Both the desks have a base height of 805 mm, though they can be raised up to 835 mm for extra comfort. On the side they have optional utility storage, where you can place things such as a keyboard in a metal pouch and hang your headphones on the hangers.
Pricing for the units is rather steep, though, with the DK-01X carrying an MSRP of $989 and the DK-02X costing $1189.
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that said, these are rather ugly... and I wish the height would be more adjustable
So what? Ugly is ugly.
Reminds me of the Pawn Stars episode where this guy came in, claimed he was an artist. He had made some demonic sculptures out of gold and painted them black. So they looked like cheap black painted demon statues. Yes they were made of gold and weren't cheap to make, but so what?
EDIT: OK after going to their website I do like these a bit better. While the 01 is too small for me the 02 would be fine at nearly 48". However, the major issue I have is with the legs. Why oh why do those cheap round legs rather than some stout looking rectangular ones that would match the top better? The video is pretty cool on the website. Overall, a nice effort, just falls a bit short for me due to the supports.
My thoughts exactly for the smaller of the two. If they wanted desk size, they should have made it thinner and use PCIe extenders so cards are horizontal.
When opening a Lian-Li case, you get a sense of emptiness and start to think, is this case worth the amount you've paid for?
I was about to built a ITX system using a Lian-Li, but I went with a BitFenix Prodigy instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112372&cm_re=lian-li_itx-_-11-112-372-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345016&cm_re=bitfenix_prodigy-_-11-345-016-_-Product
No doubt they'll sell some because some people have money to burn. But even for an enthusiast case this is into the realm of silly.
as far as price, for a fully aluminum desk which is machined and has some handy features this is not unbelievably high. lian li typically uses almost all aluminum in many of its cases which is why they typically cost more. i just got rid of my first lian li case (a v2000b-IIplus) and i dont think there was more than 5% of the case which was not solid aluminum and everything was held together with screws not rivets which meant lots of customization options.
lian li does a pretty stand up job. they might not have all the bells and whistles other manufacturers include but they have it where it counts.
@LP
for safety. if they didnt and you cracked the glass you could get seriously cut.