Are there any mATX enclosures that look like an HP Media Server?

I

idea

Gawd
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
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HP.MediaSmartServer.jpg


Look how sexy that thing is. I can't find anything like it to build a custom machine with. I'm tempted to buy it just for it's looks.

4xSATA drives are fine for me. Its 10" high. Black mesh. Hot swap cassettes. No optical drive, no floppy drive. It's like a NAS enclosure but with a full OS.

The downsides seem to be no internal drives (for OS), propriety PSU (and possibly other hardware), and lack of cooling. And Windows. But thats nothing linux can't fix.
 
Nice link, thanks. I just don't know what to do. I want to make my closet look better. Too many old PC's with wires all over the place. I wanted to fix it up with some nice looking enclosures but I need to find nice looking ones first. Not really interested in the full tower look anymore. Maybe I should just do rackmount for once.
 
The updated version of the HP EX470 should be out next month. Codename 'Encore'

I'm holding of to see what that will be.

I've wanted to get the EX470, but the issues with the PSU fan is giving me second thoughts.

To your original question: I have not seen anything that looks remotely as nice as the HP unit, except for the Chenbro, but the external power brick and price, may not be worth it in the end.
 
Is there any other reason why you need a case that is similar to the HP's other than aesthetics? Because then I would say just find something that works instead, since the Chenbro case is expensive.
 
The HP Media Server is actually a very good deal.

You can get it on sale for ~$350

You get WHS, 512MB Ram, and a 500GB HD with this.

You can easily swap to 2GB Ram, and no need to swap processors now as the new EX470s come with 2Ghz CPUs.
 
Without Windows it would be an even better price. But yes, my only reason is aesthetics. I would rather my fileserver not look like a full size PC.
 
idea said:
Without Windows it would be an even better price. But yes, my only reason is aesthetics. I would rather my fileserver not look like a full size PC.
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You keep dissing Windows, but I have some news for you. The Windows Home Server NOS in that HP is an awsome NOS.
 
SpeedyVV said:
You keep dissing Windows, but I have some news for you. The Windows Home Server NOS in that HP is an awsome NOS.
Click to expand...

i can't understand what you are saying. you like windows? that's great, thanks for letting me know.
 
idea, that is not what I am saying.

There is a lot to dislike in Windows XP, or Windows Vista.

But I will not say the same about "Windows Home Server" which comes in that HP Box.

Just to be clear, Windows Home Server NOT equal to Windows.
 
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