Ok... let's get one thing out of the way. I like my space. There... I said it. I'm a space whore! ;) Mid/ Full towers are pretty much all that grace my garage. However... with that in mind, I've always had a morbid curiosity with SFF cases. Years ago, Shuttle, came out with some cases I've loved since their inception for their clean lines, build quality, and desire to innovate on cooling and cable management. The one thing I could not stand... I was locked into a motherboard, and my heatsinks were immediately limited due to height issues. So... the much beloved units were relegated to light duty tasks (read: child entertainment) and I never thought seriously about putting one in to service as my primary rig.
Well... times have changed. SFF builds have taken off, and the market has responded to users wanting to build small but powerful machines. I've been watching the market for something that evoked that "Shuttle" feeling in me. I've seen some that "came close"... but nothing really tripped my trigger. Then I had the chance to review, and be introduced to, this case. No ass kissing here. I liked this case the minute I pulled the wrapping off of it!! I unpacked it and studied it like a desperate college freshman "studies" at a dorm mixer!
The box is so info laden, you need a handle to carry it home! ;)
The packing box is a refreshingly straight forward box with the info on the outside. It does not rely on "marketing hype" type to get the user to pick it up. It's informative, not cluttered, clean and eay to read... and these old eyes need that! lots of contrast. The box can house either the b-Envi or the b-Envi-nw. Easy way to remember the models, "nw" is equivalent to "no window". The box touts the main points of the case:
- Micro ATX compatible case
- "58-in-1" card reader
- Touch Sensitive control buttons
- 2.5" IDE removable HDD Enclosure (SATA card sold separately)
Ok, now I am impressed. Not only is this case looking good on the outside, but it already has some stuff that I would have had to purchase separately! Card readers have started becoming standard on computers as of late with the proliferation of flash based cameras, MP3 players and the cross over to media PC's"... but it is still a nice touch in a bare case! Also, these peeps are throwing in a 2.5" hard drive chassis! It can be covered by a front bezel that folds up, making the space it resides in disguised. It is removable (pushes into a dock bay and interfaces with a USB port) and allows you to set the capacity by putting however large a drive you want to put in there! Think data backup, but without the desktop cable clutter! And you can pull the drive easily, and store it somewhere separately from your machine (to protect your stuff in the event of a lightening strike or a PSU that freaks out... don't laugh, I've seen it!!). HP has something similar with their media center PC's, but it is a fair bit more expensive. To boot... Bgears includes an interface for either 2.5" SATA or 2.5" IDE drives.
To keep the lines clean, Bgears went with touch sensitive buttons on the front. Illuminated touch sensitive buttons... Mmmmmm.... no tacky switches, nothing to press down on.... simply rest your finger on the surface. Nice! And you can lock the front panel buttons just in case you want to keep from accidentally touching the unit and triggering a shutdown.
It's light. Yeah... aluminum is that way... YAY! Not flimsy
A removable motherboard tray?!??! Sweet!
Primary hard drive bays are off to the right side and on the 2nd story. I see locations for cable routing pre cut through the frame... Lots of things that tell me this case was well thought out. | 
