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Review: ENlight LP791 LCD PC chassis

by Steve Kerrison on 10 August 2006, 09:00

Tags: ENlight

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Final thoughts, HEXUS.awards and HEXUS.right2reply


Let's make our conclusion for this product as simple as possible. If you've always wanted to build a PC into a monitor, this chassis is for you.

Firstly, what the ENlight LP791 got going for it? Its support for micro-ATX motherboards means there's excellent scope for placing a powerful system behind that LCD. It takes a full-size optical drive (at a push) and a single 3.5" hard drive, too, making it easy to source components for and better still, easy to upgrade. The integrated USB 2.0 hub and card reader are lovely little additions reducing desk clutter. The footprint of the unit is small by virtue of most of the equipment hiding directly behind the LCD screen.

What detracts from the LCD PC's appeal is its appearance somewhat. We'd like something that looks a little more... expensive. A bit less of the tacky plastic, please. There's also a large bezel around the reasonably nice 19" LCD screen, which gets worse when a touch-screen is involved. It's a little bit noisy too, but that depends in part on what you decide to build into it.

The negatives are definitely fewer than the positives. What's important is that ENlight has engineered a compact chassis, that wouldn't look out of place in an office, or in certain rooms around the home, and that's relatively easy to install a system into.

If you want the touch-screen issue, be wary that we experienced issues with accuracy on the far right of the screen, but that aside, it worked fine.

All in all, despite initial skepticism (ah, the jaded life of the tech. journo), once we got our hands dirty, ENlight's LP791 proved itself to be a very nice, innovative chassis. It's by no means for everyone, but if you're in the market for a solution like this, we reckon the LP791 will do a damn good job, provided the price proves to be alright.

HEXUS Awards

In light of ENlight's clever approach to the SFF PC, we give the LP791 an award for innovation.

HEXUS Awards :: Classic: Innovation

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HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this article

External.links

ENlight UK - home page (Tel: 0870 027 1290)

Authorised distributors
Microtronica - home page
Enta Technologies - home page
Northamber - home page

HEXUS Where2Buy

For public sector
Viglen - home page
Stone Computers - home page
Pars Technology - home page
NS Optimum - home page

For business or any other sector
Evesham Technologies - home page
A2Z Computers - home page
Grace Electronics - home page

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If Enlight's representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.




HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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Speaking of noise, the stock CPU heatsink was the noisiest part of the system. However, it wouldn't be possible to fit anything bigger into the case because of its height (or lack of). While not louder than any standard system, that noise is emanating from directly in front of you, rather than under the desk, so it's more apparent and audible.

I have faced a similar problem on a SFF PC I built. I found that a Zalman CNPS7700 is low enough profile to fit, and is much quieter than an AMD stock cooler. Zalman have also announced a higher performing low profile heatsink, though I have not seen it on sale anywhere.
Just in case someone wants to “digg it!”

http://digg.com/hardware/ENlight_LP791_LCD_PC_chassis
Got a price on this? I have an urge to create a fancy winamp control panel and have it running torrents and IRC bots in the background. Can you turn the screen off and leave the PC on?