Lian Li keeps knockin' out HTPC chassis, and after last month's eye-catching PC-V351, it's reverting to something a little more traditional with its PC-C33 and PC-C34F.
Designed to blend with AV equipment, both chassis offer a brushed-black anodised aluminium finish and feature a selection of Lian Li goodies - including anti-vibration HDD cages, multimedia I/O ports, support for micro-ATX or ATX motherboards, diamond-etched lines and a 2.4G wireless remote sensor.
The PC-C33, pictured above, features a 140mm internal fan and dual 80mm extraction fans at the rear. It measures 425mm x 168mm x 460mm and has room for four 3.5in hard drives and two 5.25in optical drives.
The bigger PC-C24F, measuring 432mm x 168mm x427mm, supports the same number of drives, but features a useful front-mounted hard-drive cage that provides hot-swappable functionality. Its cooling is provides by a 140mm intake on the left, and an 80mm exhaust at the rear.
Both the PC-C33 and PC-C34F are expected to hit retail in May, priced excluding VAT at $160 and $255, respectively. Our initial impressions, however, are mixed. The chassis offer decent functionality, and Lian Li's attention to detail never goes amiss, but both still look like desktop PCs, as opposed to something geared for the living room.
In that respect, we like what LUXA2 is doing with its sleek HTPC designs, and we reckon Lian Li could do with adding a little sex appeal to its own range.
Official press release: Lian-Li launches the PC-C33 & PC-C34F Multimedia HTPC Chassis
