Closer Look: Exterior

In recent years, more and more hardware manufacturers have discovered the importance of not only making the product look visually appealing, but also the box it comes in. Antec knows this and the Performance One P183 is no exception. It arrived safely encased in an attractive, well-designed box with plenty of graphics and shelf appeal.

Out of the box, the exterior styling changes I mentioned in the introduction are immediately obvious. The new vents add a certain aesthetic appeal to the Antec P183, and also allow air to move through the front of the case more freely.

The hinge design of Antec P183 front door has also been redesigned to improve airflow. The small slats that once occupied that space have been replaced by much larger openings. My initial thought was that this might reduce the structural integrity of the hinge (making it flimsy), but so far it hasn't been an issue.

The right side of the door gets the same treatment. In the above photo, we can also see the front I/O panel. The usual USB and audio ports are present and accounted for, but with the Antec P183, we also get an eSATA port. This replaces the FireWire of the previous models and should be a welcome addition for most users.

The back side of the Antec P183 provides a few clues as to its inner structure. The bottom mounted power supply and full ATX accommodations are visible, as is the rear 120mm fan and water-cooling pass-throughs. These were carried over from previous models. One interesting change that stands out, however, is the addition of a larger power supply mounting plate, which I'll discuss further in the next section.

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