Zalman HE350
This lightweight glossy box might perturb those with a need for instant gratification. After all, to get going, you have to unscrew the enclosure first, and it's also vital that you fasten the HDD in place, or it wont stay connected within the housing.
For those who don't mind the Zalman being permanent PC furniture, this may not be such a problem. The HM350 does benefit from more than just the single LED status indicator and has a cool hourglass-shaped design. Saying that, the glossy white paint job suggests it's for an acquired taste. Still, there is an eSata interface, at least which, for some, is handy to option have on-board and it's not a bad price either.
Reg Rating 70%
Price £39
More info Zalman
Zalman ZM-VE300
This impressive little unit pushes the boat out a further than its 2.5in compatriots by offering its services as an externally mounted optical drive for ISO files, as well as the standard enclosure feature. Schweet. The brushed aluminium unit is well built and keeps the drive soundly in place without the need for screws, although these can be fitted anyway for additional security.
All connecting parts detach from one side for easy fitting, an LED shows information such as which partition is being accessed and a jog wheel on the side can be used for navigation. There's even an instant backup button on the front which doubles up as a power off pin for safe and easy removal. Attention to detail. Check.
Shop around and the ZM-VE300 can be picked up for around £25, which is a steal given its quirky extras. So if you're looking for something a little less basic, that demands a quick browse of the manual, this could be the enclosure for you.
Read on for benchmarks. ®
Reg Rating 90%
Price £40
More info Zalman
Next page: Benchmark Tests
COMMENTS
Re: Why blue LEDs?
My theory on blue LEDs is that the world (as in the world outside of R&D labs) had to put up with boring red dome LEDs for decades, then green ones came along, which were mildly distracting, then yellow, orange, multicoloured and white ones, but they were all rather boring. Mankind's nature is to want what he can't have and for a very long time in the world of LEDs, that thing was the colour blue.
Finally, along came blue LEDs. They were dazzling and bright and shiny and above all very expensive. If your project or gadget had a blue LED it was cool, period. The delayed gratification that happened with blue LEDs elevated them briefly to uber-cool status. Now blue LEDs are cheap, but the coolness factor hasn't decayed enough. At least it hasn't as far as product designers are concerned. After all, they are the same people who drooled longingly at the blue LEDs in the RS catalogue while everyone else was busy thumbing their mum's Littlewoods one, and consequently every new piece of PC hardware we buy has more and more of the fucking things. I can see five right now from where I'm sitting, and that's only because six of my motherboard's eight power phases are idle right now. If I start up a 3D app, this place lights up like bloody Heathrow.
Why blue LEDs?
How can anyone who lives in a country where the emergency services use flashing blue lights find blue LEDs in anyway relaxing? Normally, seeing flashing blue lights in your peripheral vision means you should immediately look around for a way to free up the road, lest you delay some poor sod on his way to hospital... And seeing flashing blue lights suddenly appear behind you means pull over and ask the good officer politely how you can help him.
Re: Why blue LEDs?
Agreed, blue LEDs in consumer products is the work of the devil or a politician*. There is a big reason why car tail lights tend to be red and emergency lights are often blue. It's the same reason that many devices designed to be used at night tend to use red illumination. It's because red is a nice low energy photon, which is also likely the reason red LEDs came out so long ago, and won't wreak havoc with your night vision. Blue on the other hand is a high energy photon and the LEDs are usually bright enough so you don't need night vision because they illuminate the room sufficiently to see clearly. Either works but when visiting a friend out of state and crashing on the pull out sofa bed in the den I found the blue LEDed wifi router blinking away like a bloody lighthouse in the corner to be a bit distracting.
*I know, it's a distinction without a difference.
Re: ISOs and rugged
> Just install Hyper-V
I hope Microsoft doesn't actually pay you for this Genghis Khan Subliminal Marketing effort.
You should also check where in a virtualized system "security" enters the game. It's instructive.
Re: Why blue LEDs?
But these enclosures will never be seen in a server room. Similarly the hugely loud fans found in equipment in server rooms would never be tolerated in a home/office environment.
Blue LEDs are seriously irritating for people with gradually worsening short sight: blue is the first colour to lose focus. And besides that, the light emitted is horribly intense.
Blue LEDs: not even once.
