| #693 - Cooler Master X Craft USB |
|
|
| Written by Zach Jeffers | |||||||
| Sunday, 09 July 2006 | |||||||
Page 3 of 5 A Closer Look:: Out of its plastic sleeve, we find a gorgeous shinny black Cooler Master X Craft USB enclosure. The overall dimensions of the enclosure, without cables and other accessories, are 225mm (L) x 120mm (W) x 38mm (H) with a total weight, without hard drive, of 438g. The exterior of the X Craft is a, very shinny black, metal casing. As you can see in the picture below, the paint on the metal case has been polished to a mirror finish! 
The included X Craft Stand Plate has an ‘L’ shaped channel down the top length. This slides in easily to either side of the X Craft to then hold it up vertically to take up a smaller foot print as well as help with cooling. The base of the plate has two strips of rubber that grip very well to any surface. During my testing, I had no problems with the X Craft becoming unstable, even when plugging and unplugging USB cords, power cords, etc. 
 Looking at the front of the X Craft enclosure, you see that CM has decided to use a circular meshing that runs down the front and completely down the length of the of the enclosure’s underside. You can also see that front contains three large openings on the left hand side for ventilation. On the bottom you can see there is a hexagonal pattern of large openings that also help with cooling. You can also make out four small rubber feet that keep the enclosure stationary and also enable you to stack this product on top of other X Craft enclosures. With the included USB hub in the back, this becomes very easy.
At the back of the enclosure, you will find, from left to right, a USB 2.0 port that connects to your system, a pair of standard USB 2.0 ports that work off of an internal USB hub, power jack and lastly power switch. You will also see along the bottom of the back, near the center, is a small rectangular button. This unlocks the enclosure and the back end of the enclosure slides out about one centimeter. This then enables you to pull off the black metal casing. |
|||||||
