LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-Q15B Mini ITX Media Center / HTPC Case

Pros: Great case, I was concerned about fitting everything and having room to work, this case has a nice feature of a removable plate so you can easily remove the motherboard and put it back in.

Cons: Wheels are dumb and scratch surfaces.

Pros: It is made of high quality materials. This is my third Lian Li case, for good reason. The side panels come off easily.

Cons: There is no 20-pin USB connector. Instead, the front panel has two female connectors that come out the back of the case through a slot and connect to the back USB ports. Not a terrible thing considering how minimalist the case is (which is the point with a HTPC).

Pros: I have never done a mini-itx build up until this, but it was not too bad. Case is big enough to get your hands in. Took me about 2 hrs to put everything in. not to bad.

Cons: 1. USB 3.0 !!! The only two front ports are usb3.0 and there is no connector to connect it to anything. super annoying. The only way to connect them for me would be to the back of the MB, yeah that looks sexy.
2. A little hard to get to some screws.
3. Whats up with the wheels? For some reason they could not add some resin based chassis to the bottom? Do they think i am going to ride around on that thing?
4. No good place to manage the cables from PSU.
5. Maybe the sides could be opened a little easier, every time I do it, I think I will break them.

For $150 I would expect them to make the case w/o these annoyances. Especially USB 3.0 !!!!

Other Thoughts: USB 3.0

Pros: A nice, good looking case. Power supply and front case fan are as quiet as any machine is going to be with fans. Earlier review mentioned that the 20 pin USB connector was not included, so I ordered the adapter made by Sliverstone - BUT - Lian Li has changed this. The front USB connector cable now has the correct 20 pin connector on it to go right into the motherboard header.

Cons: The feet ... The case looks good sitting there, but, during the course of sliding the thing around on my desktop during assembly, I did (and you will too) scuff up my desk

Other Thoughts: A pleasure to assemble this machine, really. I did take a wire cutter to some of the extra/unused power connectors, and that helped with cable management.

Pros: - I like the size. I was looking for a diminutive case.
- Material is high quality.
- Very easy to remove the side panels. And they remove from both sides, which is nice.
- I'm using it as an HTPC

Cons: - It's tight in there! There are wires everywhere.
- one of the side panels isn't flush. but it's close enough that it doesn't bother me.
- those little "wheels" are kinda dorky. especially b/c they're not wheels.
- kind of pricey.

Pros: This is an outstanding case! It has very high quality materials, fit and finish as one would expect for a high end case. No sharp edges, and everything aligns perfectly. No warped panels.
Excellent airflow from the 120mm front fan keeps everything cool and quiet even under heavy CPU load. The lack of side vents ensures that the cool air actually gets back where you need it instead of ducking out the side. You can install a card and worry about blocking airflow.
Excellent CPU cooler clearance for a mini-ITX case gives you more cooling options than many competitors' cases.
The 2.5" HDD bracket is easily removed if you don't need to use it.

Cons: The cables for the front USB 3.0 ports do not have the 20-pin connector, as shown in the images on the Lian Li website, and no adapter is included. That's inexcusable on a high end case! NewEgg's own images accurately show the two female USB connectors that are used, so I can't fault them, though it would be nice if they carried the adapter from Lian Li. This and the overall price are the reasons I deducted an egg.
The power switch, power LED and HDD wires have separate plugs rather than using a single, standard 10 pin connector. There is no reset switch.
The combination Power/HDD LED is a little bright and can be distracting for an HTPC. You may not want to connect them. Maybe that's why they elected to use separate connectors. When rapidly switching between blue and red (power and HDD activity) the combo LED can appear purple, similar to what you might see on vintage cars that have a blue insert on their brake lights.

Other Thoughts: This was bar far the easiest mini-ITX assembly I have ever done, though you may want to connect the ODD cables before sliding the drive all the way back. Otherwise, my assembly was easier than many mATX cases.
In case you were wondering, the wheels don't roll, but they will scratch your table surface if you slide the case around.