Case Arts MX01BD, Continued
The MX01BD was sent to us in a wood grain type of finish. The finish was smooth and featured a clear coat over the top. While some might equate the look of the MX01BD to something like a wallpaper finish, it is clearly a painted on process. The look of the case might be best described as unique, to match any décor. We liked the finish, but because everything is painted in this finish we would have liked to have seen a solid accent color used to break up some of the texture of the painting of the case. This would help break up the design and offer a bit more "pop" that might be lacking here.
We did find a couple of things that we didn't care for with the MX01BD's painting process, which was the fingerprint and streak on the inside of the side panel. It seems strange to us that this could go un-noticed and Case Arts could let something as major as this slip past their strict quality control.
Another issue is the fact that the case includes no fans or even a power supply. While clearly the focus of Case Arts is on the painting, it is still hard to understand why they could not at least place two of the possible four fans into the configuration for this price.
Upon closer inspection of the MX01BD we also noticed a serious scratch in motherboard tray, which could be best described as a scuff of some sort. Again, we wonder why they would let this case out the door for us to review with these obvious quality control defects. Perhaps an explanation is that this unit is a demo unit and it was not the first time that this case had been reviewed?
Well someone at Case Arts left their mark on the inside of the side panel of the MX01BD. Since it most likely is a demo case and it does not show any place where you can see it, it is not a big deal. The bottom line is that Case Arts needs to make sure that are watching for possible issues like this one during the final inspection process.
The finish of the unit is not the most incredible finish that we have ever seen. However, one must not lose sight of the cost associated with this case. Case Arts has tried to do everything possible to keep the cost down, while being able to offer customized case painting of any sort. This effort must be recognized, but it leads us to wonder if they are cutting too many corners in the effort.
The case itself is of high quality and has good airflow and cooling potential. We have been a fan of Chieftec cases for a long time, so it is no surprise we like this case and the variety offered by the Matrix front bezel. Speaking of bezels, they can't yet offer floppy drive or optical drive bezels to match the cases at this time, which is also worth noting.
From the fingerprint and smear on the inside of the side panel to the somewhat impossible task of trying to get paint into all of the holes on the back side of the bezel, we have some unanswered questions about the quality of Case Arts product. Still, Case Arts is doing what no one else has been able to do, and that is to provide custom painted cases at an affordable price. Case Arts offers a wide variety of cases that they can apply their art to, which should leave very little question on what the possibilities could be.
