COMPUTEX — Our initial description of Thermaltake’s Level 10 may not have been the most flattering. While it does look a little like a school lunch tray, the BMW-designed PC enclosure has more in common with a sports car engine cover or some sort of sci-fi skyscraper. And at Computex last week, Thermaltake let us open it up to see how components actually fit inside.
The motherboard, power supply, and optical drive covers all rotate outward on hinges, with most of the cabling running at the back. That gives a surprisingly clean look to the Level 10’s guts even with a working PC mounted inside. As neat as they look, however, the covers feel a tad flimsy, and we had trouble getting the optical drive cover back on after taking it off.
Hard drives mount in special little trays with rounded hoods, and they clip into the side of the case. (See the image gallery below for shots of the mounting mechanism.) A light comes on at the front of the 3.5" bay when a drive is plugged in. The design should make hot-swapping relatively straightforward, although here, too, the prototype didn’t let us—or the Thermaltake rep—put things back together particularly easily.
Thermaltake plans to start shipping the Level 10 in late August or early September. Availability will follow "by October." Without a power supply, this puppy should set you back a cool $699.
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