Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350

Compact home-theater case has some limitations

THE $239.95 ANTEC MICRO FUSION 350 REMOTE is an attractive home-theater-PC case with some design gotchas that give us pause.

Measuring 4.5x15.1x16.1 inches, the sturdy, compact case accepts only MicroATX motherboards. We wish Antec had left
a wider perimeter around the board-mounting chamber—wedging our test mainboard into place was tight. Also, the single hard drive bay, a removable cage, is buried deep in the front of the case. We had to remove the front-panel LCD—a delicate operation—to access it.

Interior cable routing is tricky, too. There's minimal space for apart from piling it atop the motherboard. The included
350-watt power supply uses standard—not removable—leads, and stowing the unused ones takes what little space there is.

More crtidally, the case limits your expansion-card options. The slim profile
mandates only "true" low-profile cards with
low-profile mounting brackets, greatly limiting your choice of graphics
card and TV tuner. Fortunately, the lid is high enough to accommodate a normal
CPU cooler—a stock Intel heat sink fits comfortably.

The case's home-theater fit-and-finish does shine The aluminum bezel looks comfortably dressed in a crowd of home-theater components (though this case is too deep for most media racks).



Your DVD drive hides behind a flip door, and we like the customizable LCD, which shows media-file playback info and more via included software. The bundled remote, however, feels like a throw-in: small in hand and generic-looking, no match for
the most basic dedicated Media Center remote.
While we like this case's compact size and exterior styling, it should be cheaper—and
better designed inside. —John A. Burch

Computer Shopper January 2009

www.antec.com