P182 Special Edition - One of the best cases gets better
by Joshua Buss on April 12, 2007 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Exterior
There is really no point in skirting around the P182 SE's most fantastic selling point. Both side panels and the front door are coated in an incredibly well polished stainless steel finish.
The finish is so clean in fact, we found it hard to really take a good picture of the case. Faced with this challenge, we figured it might be best to just take a few pictures of exactly what we saw when photographing the unit.
Just as the original P180 and all of its siblings, the P182 SE does not have much at all on the front side when the door is closed. "Antec" is embossed in the top right corner, but other than that only the ports and a lock for the panel are visible.
The case comes with two USB ports, a FireWire port, headphone and microphone jacks, as well as power and reset buttons all accessible on the front of the case. When the door is closed, the power and reset buttons are covered -- a good way to keep prying hands away from your system.
Getting back to the finish and its reflectivity though, the side panel in particular could almost be suitable as a replacement for most bathroom mirrors.
As soon as the door is opened, however, we are greeted with the familiar sight of a matte black plastic finish encompassing the power and reset buttons. The door is magnetically latched and it takes just the right amount of effort to open it up. It also hinges back all the way to the side of the case for users who would prefer to have it always open. Like its predecessors, the P182 SE allows for four 5.25" drives, one 3.5" drive, and gives easy access to both 120mm fan filters for cleaning.
One of the bigger additions to the P182 over the P180 is the inclusion of externally accessible switches for the top two fans on the back at the top of the case. This of course makes its way into the special edition as well, which is quite an improvement over having to take off the side panel and find the switch for each tri-cool fan. The soft rubber water tubing ports make their appearance on the back too, for an easier installation of external water cooling kits.
There is really no point in skirting around the P182 SE's most fantastic selling point. Both side panels and the front door are coated in an incredibly well polished stainless steel finish.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The finish is so clean in fact, we found it hard to really take a good picture of the case. Faced with this challenge, we figured it might be best to just take a few pictures of exactly what we saw when photographing the unit.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Just as the original P180 and all of its siblings, the P182 SE does not have much at all on the front side when the door is closed. "Antec" is embossed in the top right corner, but other than that only the ports and a lock for the panel are visible.
The case comes with two USB ports, a FireWire port, headphone and microphone jacks, as well as power and reset buttons all accessible on the front of the case. When the door is closed, the power and reset buttons are covered -- a good way to keep prying hands away from your system.
Getting back to the finish and its reflectivity though, the side panel in particular could almost be suitable as a replacement for most bathroom mirrors.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
As soon as the door is opened, however, we are greeted with the familiar sight of a matte black plastic finish encompassing the power and reset buttons. The door is magnetically latched and it takes just the right amount of effort to open it up. It also hinges back all the way to the side of the case for users who would prefer to have it always open. Like its predecessors, the P182 SE allows for four 5.25" drives, one 3.5" drive, and gives easy access to both 120mm fan filters for cleaning.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
One of the bigger additions to the P182 over the P180 is the inclusion of externally accessible switches for the top two fans on the back at the top of the case. This of course makes its way into the special edition as well, which is quite an improvement over having to take off the side panel and find the switch for each tri-cool fan. The soft rubber water tubing ports make their appearance on the back too, for an easier installation of external water cooling kits.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
63 Comments
View All Comments
soydios - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Page 2: "...easy access to both 12" fan filters for easy cleaning" should read "access to both 120mm fan filters."JoshuaBuss - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
thanks.. fixedWelshtrog - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Yes it looks very nice but I for one will not be buying as I consider that Antec have only done half a job in this case by failing to invert the motherboard after fitting the PSU atthe bottom of the case, also no removeable MoBo carrierCorbaTheGeek - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
I didn't see the brand and model number of the power supply used in the article.CorbaTheGeek - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Sorry. Just found it. Zalman ZM460-APS PSU.Richey02hg - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Is there a way to check ahead of time if your power supply has long enough cords? Of course this being if you haven't bought the PSU yet. I do not see anything on newegg that says how long PSU cords are or how long you need to have. Or have all the big PSU companies adjusted and made their cords longer over time?InuYasha - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
oh god, i can just see my finger prints all over it and i'll never wipe them offsjholmesbrown - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
A little off topic, but could anyone point me to the mATX roundup mentioned in the article?I'm building a SFF PC for my cousin, and would like to see Anand's take on several MB models.
A search for various 'mATX' 'roundup' 'micro ATX' etc. terms didn't reveal any articles, especially since the review indicated the roundup was fairly recent.
Thanks in advance.
JoshuaBuss - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
http://anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=29...">http://anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=29...chicagofilms - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Just a heads up, the new P180 cases are modified and have all the same features as the P182.I just got my P180b yesterday from Newegg. $129 w/$30 rebate
It is essentially the same case, with a black finish. The inside is not black though but he standard steel finish. It has the raised mobo so I routed my cables behind it, the same tri-cool fans with the switches on the outside, and the holes for water cooling.
It's a pretty great deal since you are essentially getting a P182 (without the mirror finish) for $99.