Advantages: Quiet, Construction, Sensible Layout
Disadvantages: Weight, Price

...There have to be more exciting things in life to write about than a PC case. Reviews on cars, washing machines, camcorders - all of them are useful to the prospective purchaser and so it is ( I hope) with PC cases, although the audience is likely considerably smaller. Consequently, I'll stick to a reasonably technical review, the aim being to provide you with a concise and informative view on a lump of metal that you could easily spend upwards of £70 on. Antec have clearly found their niche. They make a few things, but they make them very well indeed. PC cases and Power Supplies is pretty much all you'll find from them. And they tend towards the expensive end of the middle market. The Sonata midi-tower is one of the growing "lifestyle" cases from Antec, aimed at providing you with a sleek, stylish looking PC that fits all the bits you... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, reliable, lightscribing at a low price
Disadvantages: lightscribing is not as fast as some more expensive units

...This liteon DVD-RW/Lightsribe is one of the best for the price. It writes to both dvd + and - and also dual layer discs. What makes it special is that it is as fast at these "burning" tasks as more specialised drives, with less features. So despite having the capability to tackle almost all modern formats of disc, it loses none of the speed capabilites that you might expect. Also a welcome plus is the ability to change the front fascia. A choice of white and black ensures that it looks good in almost any PC and it is supplied with screws and the popular and easy to use "nero" burning ROM software so installation is quite quick. Mine looks like it was pre-designed specially for my case (antec sonata 2) as it fits flush and colour matches the case perfectly. Overall it makes for an uncostly way to improve your computers useability... Read review

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Advantages: Good case, roomy, easy to install components, included PSU and fan of high quality.
Disadvantages: Rubber stoppers on the bottom fall off often (this is a very minor niggle though)

...I bought one of these for building my first computer about a month ago. It was extremely easy to fit all the parts inside it and I had my PC up and running inside of a few hours. It is not clearly displayed in the picture, but the top half of the front of the case opens up to reveal the slots for your CD rom drive, floppy drive, etc. Both this door on the front and the side panel have locks on with a key provided. There is a 500W power supply provided with the case. (check you are getting this with it before you buy) This is more than enough to cope with anything you might want to power inside the case (high end graphics cards, extra fans etc.) and is supposedly 80%+ efficient. If you want to find out more about the included power supply then search around for "Antec 500W earthwatts PSU". It's very easy to slot and screw in all... Read review

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Advantages: Almost silent
Disadvantages: Need second fan

...Whilst not computer geeks, me and my brother have gained the ability to knock up our own PC, simply to save money. We needed a case to house it in however, and after reading many professional reviews settled on the Antec Sonata. Appearance Perhaps one of its strongest points - its stunning. The piano black surfaces and the piercing blue lights look brilliant. The sides have air holes shaped as the word 'Antec' - another cool touch. The only negative on the looks is that the front panel is plastic. Whilst it’s functional, it lets the case down somewhat. Silence s'il vous plait The unique selling point of the case is that its meant to be as damn-near to silent as possible. It almost succeeds. It has several features that contribute to this. The first is the silent 380W PSU. This is a unique version of Antec’s 380W PSU that is available... Read review

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Advantages: Looks, Cooling, Build Quality, Design
Disadvantages: Price, Size, Noise

...very warm to the touch). So with those key points in mind, I bought one. It arrived, much like the Sonata I'd bought previously, in a sturdy cardboard box that was covered with glossy, high-resolution, colour images of the contents. They take a great deal of pride in their merchandise, those folks at Antec. Being from the Lifestyle range and coming in the same high-gloss "piano black" finish as the Sonata, I wasn't too surprised at the amount of internal packaging either. Lots of sturdy polystyrene and a lovely white cloth bag wrapped it up and protected it from scratches to the delicate paint job. There's even a polishing cloth supplied to get the best from the high-shine paint! Being a desktop case, the construction is slightly different to the Sonata. This time it's the top panel that slides neatly off, after removing the thumb... Read review

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Advantages: Quiet, solid, good cooling
Disadvantages: Big, heavy, expensive

...things to talk about, is Antec themselves. I've had an Antec case previously, and I want to stand up and say just how great their customer service is. I've had my previous case, an Antec Sonata, for a couple of years now, and initially when I bought it I lost some of the rubber grommets needed to put the case together. A quick email to Antec, and replacements were sent to me free of charge. Remember that broken fan? A free replacement has just arrived in the post from Antec. I could have kept the old PC afterall. Summary ----------------- A tricky to put together case with good cooling performance, that's relatively quiet. A big minus is the complexity, and the fcat it comes with out a PSU. Make sure you buy an Antec PSU, since a) it'll be quiet and b) have cables that are long enough to reach to the top of this case. Recommended, if you... Read review

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Advantages: Lots of Gimics (advantage???)
Disadvantages: costly to assemble (new components)

...of the motherboard into my case (ANTEC SONATA). So... the need for pci Sound Card is a must, unless you are running this board outside of any case. I have found too many flaws and faults with the hard drive compatibility on this motherboard and this has put me off selling this motherboard on... Processor compatibility is for intel 775 and this runs perfectly, at an average of 25-30 degrees. No problems at all with the processor in this motherboard, but again, and expensive addition to have to buy. Memory I used was PNY 2 x 512Mb and I found no problem with this in this board. Graphics Card is PCI express, which, should boast 16x speed (2x more than average AGP) but my first card didn't last over 6 months in this board and would not advise this board for anyone wishing a machine which is to last the distance (3 yr shelf life?). There is so much I can say... Read review

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Advantages: Compatible with newer 24pin motherboards and EPS12v Server boards, High wattage, Silent fan operation
Disadvantages: Needs adapter to use with 20pin motherboards,

...Upon upgrading my computer to an athlon MP system, i thought it would be a good idea to change my power supply for something a bit more powerful. When i looked up the specifications for this power supply at antec`s website, there was nothing i could fault. Looking into it further, i found that i would need a 24pin to 20pin adapter to use this on my motherboard. The handy thing is that although this isnt an ATX2.0 power supply, the 24pin pinout for the EPS12v ATX connector is 100% identical to the ATX2.0 24pin pinout. Another reason why i decided on this powersupply (so when i upgrade to dual opterons - this powersupply will be ample and will already provide the correct connectors). You can always tell the quality of a power supply by its weight, and these ones are heavy! Comparing it to my old Q-tec 400w power supply you would think... Read review

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Advantages: Innovation with a Decent Price Tag
Disadvantages: Nothing

...The Antec P180 has been around for a long while now, and with the launch of the Antec 900 aimed specifically at gamers, Im here to suggest that you might want to re-think that purchase. The interior of the P180 is truly innovative, with the power supply unit located at the bottom of the case instead of the top, it has it's own 120mm fan, which is around 38mm thick, to suck cool air from the front of the case, over the hard drives (too cool them) and then pushes the hot air from the PSU out through the rear without it heating up the case. It also has another 2, yes 2 120mm fans fitted as standard (most cases come with one 80mm), but antec have been generous, and being multi-level fans with speed control they've been super generous. One of these 120mm fans acts as an exhaust for hot air in the roof, to loose that heat also... Read review

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Advantages: Well built, looks nice, works well
Disadvantages: Instructions a bit vague, cheaper options out there

...Modern PCs are getting warmer inside. Faster processors and graphics cards all mean a lot more heat being generated. To add insult to injury, hard drives are also getting faster and hotter. The bad news is, hard drives don't much like being too hot. If you want to ensure your data remains safe and sound, you may want to consider some extra cooling just for your hard drive(s). Enter the Antec HD Cooler. Installation The Antec HD Cooler consists of a well made aluminium jacket which holds the drive and a front panel which contains two fans and a temperature display. The package also consists of a pair of thermal probes, one for the drive and one for the case, some screws and 4 pieces of thermal tape. A switch lets you select between Celsius and Fahrenheit display modes. I'd recommend you set this before fitting the drive unless you have... Read review

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