LIAN LI PC-B25F Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Beautiful and solid. And beautiful. Clean design on the outside, brilliant blue LED ring. The interior was obviously designed by an engineer -- very functional. Cables are routed and organized with east, and the PSU mounts with a simple cross-bar and rubber pad. Latches hold in expansion/PCI cards and covers. Nearly everything is tool-free.

Cons: Exterior is easily scratched. I had it sitting next to a printer, and did not move either much..still ended up with light surface scratches in the (anodized?) black surface. Not deep enough to show silver metal though, not a big deal. Also a pain in the neck to move...what what do you expect? It's a big, solid, aluminum box. The weight almost counts as an advantage.

Other Thoughts: If you are on the fence because of the high price, go for it -- you absolutely get what you pay for with this case. I had some buyers remorse when I first ordered after seeing the lower prices of other cases. That quickly subsided when the case arrived, and I began looking at it.

Pros: Roomy mid-tower case. Plenty of space with everything installed.

Understated elegance. Brushed aluminum looks fabulous. Would have looked even nicer in silver instead of black, but them's the breaks.

Generous number of fans. Good airflow. Intakes (including the PSU air intake grill at the bottom) have removable, washable filters. They've put thought into making it easy to clean.

Cons: Even on sale, this is on the expensive side.

Front USB ports are 2.0. They do sell a 3.0 replacement panel that you can install, but that adds to the cost.

Only three exterior bays.

Other Thoughts: Chose this for my first build, so I'm comparing this to the Platonic ideal of a computer case. Take this for what it's worth.

I struggled with cable management. I might have done so with any case (since, first build) but more cutouts might have been helpful. The cutouts also are not rubberized, but the metal is not at all sharp so that wasn't a problem.

Pros: I bought these as an alternative to the chore of constantly having to connect my phone or laptop o our entertainment system every time we wanted to play music on decent speakers. Now we can simply play directly from our PC. The bass is loud and the bass knob is nice to have for adjusting depending on what were listening to at the time.

I positioned the subwoofer aimed at the wall and I can fill our living space with bass.

The satellites have crisp highs and decent range for 35W each. At 50% power on the volume knob my wife finally got nervous during my test and told me that was enough. ;)

More than enough power to fill our 900 sq/ft downtown (meaning loud) apartment.

No giant power brick or 3-prong plug. Unboxing was excellent. Terrific packaging design.

Cons: Proprietary connectors so not scalable.

Other Thoughts: Perfect for anyone looking for an all-in-one PC speaker solution on a budget with not much space to work with.

Pros: This case is absolutely amazing. The aesthetics are great, its very quiet, and the all-aluminum construction makes it very lightweight.

Cons: It doesn't have a side window and there isn't a whole lot of room between the motherboard tray and the right side panel, so cable management is a bit tricky.

Pros: Beautiful - light ring is refined, not gaudy
Aluminum - feel, sturdiness
Size - roomy interior
Price - Affordable Lian Li

Cons: Beautiful - Light is obnoxious when watching movies
Aluminum - Heavy
Size - bulky exterior
Price - Expensive case in general

Other Thoughts: I put a 'dimmer switch' on the light ring (an unused fan controller), fixed that issue.
If you have room and don't often have to transport your PC, it's great. If you're buying this for college (like me) and have to move it home to campus twice a year, assembled, up and down flights of stairs, start working out. Still totally worth it.
Price isn't terrible if you want quality. I'm generally pretty thrifty, but do not regret this case in any way.

Pros: I ordered this case only today. My principal reason for this is to relate "my" experience with Lian Li to offer a different perspective based on actual, recent personal experience with the Lian Li customer support person I dealt with.
A. I received on of the 6 Lian Li cases I have ordered over the past 4 plus years damaged.
B. I found the website via the Newegg link as always (one phenominal Newgg website features I beg my own company to adopt.
C. Based on one experience with the 2nd case I ordered I sent an e-mail in plain English and included three photos of the damaged areas external and internal with my brief description of the interior damage.
D. I received all of the replacment parts within 3 business days at Lian Li's expense totally.
E. A peronal note was included thanking me for my business and apologizing for my trouble.
F. I was amazed and in awe.
I wish all companies were half as decent.

Cons: None. Grat products for fair industry based pricing.

Other Thoughts: Customer Service is so very bad in most companies that when I am lucky enough to find one or read of one these days I run to them and if they are actually for real I have to constantly remind myslf that their prices are not going to be as "LOW" as others. We all have to be willing to pay for product and service quality and just boycott all of the terrible ones. Won't be hard to find em!

Pros: High Quality materials (completely aluminum)
Purchased elsewhere and had the classic Lian-Li wheels attached at the retailer.
Very clean look after attaching the optical drive bay covers.

Cons: - Not enough room behind motherboard tray
- Not enough room for cables to pass through MB tray
- One MB stand off not properly threaded
- Front and top of the case pop off too easily
- Fan filters were warped from the factory. Negates benefits since there's no seal what-so-ever.
- expansion slot latches actually make it harder to get components into the case.
- Negative Pressure configuration promotes dust buildup inside the case.

*** The power button gets stuck underneath the bezel. Tried to tighten it, but that made it worse. I had it half tightened for a while so it still functioned. Spent MONTHS trying to get a hold of a Lian-Li tech support agent for a replacement. Later, the switch broke altogether. Finally got a hold of an agent and they sent me....... the USB/eSATA/AUDIO connections. I contacted them again and they sent the package to the wrong house. I contacted them a third time and they sent me the button caps, not the buttons!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Other Thoughts: I know Lian-Li is normally renowned for their high quality, but I haven't had the opportunity to enjoy it. The other problems with the case are forgivable, but this company lacks any real customer service! It's bad enough that you have to contact Taiwan (via internet explorer only), but having the wrong parts sent to you twice is just pathetic.

Also, they do not sell the power/reset buttons on their site for this case. Only the old black plastic buttons. So, unless you can convince them to send you the right part, you're pretty much out of luck.

This is the first and LAST lian-li case I will ever buy.

Pros: Quality materials and construction. Excellent cooling yet fairly quiet. Nice tool free design. I like the LED lit Power and reset buttons. An experienced PC builder said that Lian Li makes some of the nicest cases and I would not argue with that claim. The higher prices are the only reason I would not use them for all my computers.

Cons: One of the top 140mm fans was making a mild rattling noise but it was not too annoying unless up close. I am guessing that this is uncommon and will not affect most customers. It would have been nice to have built in speed controls for the case fans since full speed is not always required. A simple three speed switch like the ones on my Antec would have been inexpensive and a big plus. The right side panel has thumbscrews in the back so it seems like it should come off for easy access during setup but I could not get mine off even with a significant amount of force. Installation of all the hardware was still possible but more difficult without the panel removed.

Other Thoughts: I noticed that the nicer Lian Li cases never seemed to go on sale but that's probably because I never bought one. It figures that within months of my purchase, this case finally drops in price. Worth the $199 but a bargain at $169. I just wish the shipping was a little lower. On the box is a full color image of what is inside so it would be best to be around when the item is delivered.

Pros: Aluminium - light, durable, attractive, (also con, see below)
Tool-less
Quiet design
Uses 140mm fans (also a con)
Filters on all intakes

Cons: - Not enough room behind motherboard tray. Hard to route large cables especially with acoustic dampening applied.
- Aluminium is known to hum. Fixed with dampening.
- 140 fans are hit and miss. Will be great when fan makers figure out that we don't want 120mm mounting holes on 140mm fans and we need fans that can be mounted vertically and horizontally. Currently using Noctua fans (a bit disappointing in 140mm) though thermalright TY-140 would be a better choice if you can figure out how to mount it.
- Negative pressure design. What's the point of filters if the air comes in from other places?!
- PCI clamp almost made it impossible to install a GTX 570 due to its length.
- Lian-Li has practically ZERO PRODUCT SUPPORT!!! This is the main reason for the loss of two stars. The power button (or the bracket) isn't correctly aligned and gets stuck if tightened. Cannot find a replacement online and there's no apparent way to contact Lian-li for a new one.

Other Thoughts: I like the case. It's pretty and it's decent to work it (far easier than an Antec P180), but there are flaws. Lian-Li's lack of support is absolutely inexcusable.

Pros: Plenty of fans for cooling. Case has good air flow.
There's a lot of room to work with.
Very easy to clean dust inside with a swiffer.
Looks great and feels sturdy.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: It's pricey but this is a case that will last years and years. Only thing that's not futureproof is the lack of USB 3.0 ports on the front panel, but there are easy ways around this.