Xaser III Aluminum: ThermalTake drops Chenming

Front Panel

While we consider many of the changes on the Xaser III, none of them compare to the changes made on the front panel.  Most notably, the new front panel contains two doors rather than one.  This is achieved by a two step locking mechanism.  The first door can be opened when the key turns 90 degrees clockwise.  This bay door covers the external components, DVD/CD drives, 3.25” drives, etc.  Power and reset are also accessible here.

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We thought the second bay door was actually much more interesting.  Turning the key all the way around to 180 degrees from the origin, the upper bay door becomes locked again but the second bay door swings open.  From here we can remove and clean the intake filters (or just replace the fans if desired).  Also, the side panel door that we introduced on the previous page can be locked and unlocked from here.

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For all its greatness, the front panel door does have some flaws.  Like the Xaser II, the bay door is constructed of a solid aluminum slab.  Getting your finger stuck behind this bulletproof door feels only slightly less painful than inserting your finger in a car door and slamming it.  The larger, second door, hurts a lot more and will make you wish you had your finger squished by a car door.  The first bay door has a small groove along the edge to prevent a finger from getting pinched, but the larger door has a small 5mm ledge that really only proves useful when prying the door open.  Since we can usually use the torque from the key to open the second door, the 5mm flap does not have a lot of functionality.

 

Furthermore, since the weight of the front panel consists of almost half the weight of the unit, we noticed that the second door jam will bend if the door is slammed or forced open a little too hard. 

While on the issue of keys, we should also note that you do not want to loose the key for this case.  We somewhat jokingly mentioned that the all metal chassis on the Xaser II housed a puny 3mm plastic ring to hold the lock in place.  We possibly had a hand in our own demise.  Locking the front bay and locking the side panel door essentially immobilizes any attempt to access the internals of the case.  If you can get enough leverage, you may be able to bend the side panel to a point where you can bend it off the locking pin inside the case.  Our recommendation: place one of the two keys you receive with this case in a very safe place.