THE AOPEN BG95 DESKTOP COMPUTER
CASE
 The
AOpen BG95 Baby AT form-factor, desktop computer case offers full expandability
and good quality for building computers with Baby AT motherboards.
 Bent
metal. The case is made from 1 mm steel. The cover
easily slides on from the back and is secured at the back with three screws.
Front
Panel. The attractive, well-designed front panel is fastened
to the metal chassis with four screws and is fairly easy to remove. It
has well-positioned keylock and power, turbo, and reset switches. Power,
turbo, and hard disk LEDs are included. The speaker is inserted
in a molded expansion card guide assembly which is conveniently already
snapped into the front of the metal chassis. A muffin fan can
also be mounted in the guide. The plastic is quality stuff.
Drive
bays. The case has five drive bays: two exposed 3 1/2" bays
and three exposed 5 1/4" bays. The two 3 1/2" bays are
in a removable cage which is secured with two screws. This makes
it a snap to install and service, all-at-once, a hard disk and a floppy
drive. All of the exposed bays come with with snap-on dust covers. Drives
are easily installed without rails.
Expansion
board slots. The case has eight slots. All of the slots are
covered with annoying knockouts which must be given a good whack and some
bending to remove. The hardware includes two reusable slot covers.
Power
supplies. The case can be ordered with 200 or 250 Watt PS/2
power supplies. The 200 Watt supply is sufficient for
most computers. It runs very quietly.
Hardware. The
hardware is complete and well-packaged. There is even a zip-tie to bundle
the cables going from the motherboard to the front panel. All of the
motherboard stand-offs are screw-down brass; no plastic. There are
two stick-on rubber feet to put on the bottom of the front of the motherboard
so it won't short against the chassis if it is flexed downward--a nice touch. Four
rubber chassis feet are included which are easily and securely fastened with
plastic pins instead of less reliable adhesive backing. There
are chassis knock-outs for Baby AT motherboard serial, parallel, and game
connectors (I always remove these connectors from the card edge mounts which
come with most motherboard cable sets and mount them to the chassis). I
would like to see knockouts for a PS/2 mouse and USB connectors. One annoyance
which is present in all of the AOpen cases I have used, is the four-pin connector
for the front panel hard disk LED. I really don't understand why Acer
uses a four-pin connector when only two of them are wired for the LED. The
connector works fine if you are using an AOpen motherboard; to connect it
to most other motherboards, one must cut the connector longitudinally in
half--I use diagonal cutters.
Packing. Acer
does an excellent job of packing their cases, This case normally comes
wrapped in plastic in the "small box." The packing consists
of two thick, well-made, Styrofoam restrainers which are not easily broken
when carefully lifting a computer, made with the case, and easing it into
the box. The box is well-made and will survive most shipping conditions. An
optional "large box" or all-in-one carton is available. It
has room for a keyboard, mouse, software, and accessories.
Documentation. Like
all AOpen cases, this case includes a nicely-done, exploded diagram and assembly
instructions.
Dimensions. 16.69"(D)x16.65"(W)x6.06"(H).
Larry |
