External appearance – up top
According to Cooler Master, one of the other big selling-points is the use of the "world's first capacitive power button". Of course, owners of PS3 games consoles, large-screen Dell TFTs, or recent Apple Macs will already know about such power buttons but, as best as we can tell, Cooler Master has scored a first for cases designed for Windows and Linux.
Now, this might be something to talk to your mates about - and does have a nice red glow - but what if it goes wrong? The thing most likely to fail on a PC case is the power button (followed closely by the ports, of course), so we can't help wondering just how expensive it will be to replace one of these capacitive units.
Perhaps these sorts of switches have a far longer life than conventional switches? We really don't know, so be sure to tell us your experiences in the HEXUS community.
The ports on the front are greatly improved over the rough finish of the RC1100's predecessor, with a simple sliding cover protecting them from dust. This works well but, over time, that glossy black finish is going to have more handprints than a mechanic's topless calendar.
Even though there are eight ports under the cover - four USB, one eSATA, one FireWire and mic and headphone sockets - there's also space for a reset button. Trouble is, there isn't one.
Cooler Master responded to our queries about this omission by saying that - unlike our pre-production sample - finished cases will use a four-second hold of the power button to restart the system. That's all well and good but there will be issues with BIOS configurations using this proposed solution.
So, we've recommended that the company does include a dedicated reset button - and positions it under the port cover. We await with interest whether Cooler Master does take on board our suggestion with the chassis scheduled to arrive on sale towards the end of March.
Whereas the top of the RC1000 was a plastic shell, the RC1100 is shaped mesh, running for most of the depth of the top - and topped at the rear by a four-slot plastic cover emphasising the influence of sports car designs.