By: vws (30-Jun-08)      Experience with product: 3

Strengths:	Good ventilation, sturdy build, complete accessories
Weaknesses:	If you are the unlucky 20% you'd get a very loud fan

Full User Summary
For anyone who wants to buy this for quiet performance, I'd suggest to buy it from a local store for easy return/exchange. I bought one from amazon 3 months ago and that one has a loose DC plug and the fan makes some whirling noise which can be easily heard within 10 feet in the night. A couple of months later, I bought two for my friends and I was quite surprised to witness a great variation between them. One enclosure has a dead silent fan plugged to a circuit board that's probably > 1 year old. It's DC plug is so loose that it comes off easy by itself! The other enclosure, however, has a fan that makes terribly loud noise like a diesel generator, yet the DC plug is tight and the circuit board is the latest version 2.x (black board with components facing up, very sleeky). BTW one of the boxes makes squeaky sound when I open/close the cover (can't remember which). I don't know what happened to Antec's QC for this model, but I bet if I bought 10 I'd witness 10 different build quality.For further elaboration, of all the MX-1 enclosures that I examined, none of them has any assembly issue such as fan blades touching the case/wires or misaligned ports missing the contacts, whatsoever. However, it's the individual parts that are not made to the same specs. In the loose DC plug case above, I noticed they actually soldered a different DC socket onboard - all the holes are way wider than the others (so it's actually a miracle that the plug pins would lodge in).I've owned plenty of Antec products and the level of manufacturing variation in this specific line of products is never seen. Although there are a few review sites that give great remarks about this product, people should not assume every box out there has the same excellent quality like what they received. Based on my stats I estimate there are about 1 in 5 enclosures that are poorly made.

By: hadjih (18-Mar-08)      Experience with product: 1

Strengths:	runs cool
Weaknesses:	none

Full User Summary
I was looking for a cool quiet cas to slip my older 120gb hard drive in. The MX-1 fit the bill to a tee. I am currently using the USb connection, but the esata will make it future proof should I want to add more storage.

By: sierra_nevadas (05-Jan-08)      Experience with product: 1 Week

Strengths:	Sleek looks; nice bundle & package; cooling fan
Weaknesses:	Fan is loud; eSATA braket

Full User Summary
I wanted to add an "always on" hard-drive to a HTPC which was in an enclosed cabinet, so cooling was extremely important to me. Very few enclosures offer any realistic cooling, or have a tiny fan which is doing nothing. The MX-1 seemed like a great design with cooling in mind, so I gave it a shot. I have not been disappointed! While the fan is a tad loud, I don't notice it once the cabinet door is closed. The bundle was very nice as well. Not only do you get the eSATA & USB cables, you also get an eSATA bracket, which allows you to convert an internal SATA port into an eSATA one and also provides a convenient connection on the back of your computer. Installation was a snap, and I was up and running in a few minutes. The drive can lay flat as shown in the picture, or there is a stand to allow it to sit on it's side. The only thing I wish this had was the ability to use either SATA or PATA hard-drives. I sometimes have an older PATA drive sitting around, and would like to put it to use.

By: gazrcom (04-Jan-08)      Experience with product: 2

Strengths:	Design. Build Quality. Cooling Fan.
Weaknesses:	Price, although you get what you pay for.

Full User Summary
Whenever I need good quality components that I know Antec make, they are always first on my list to check out. This cooling device was no exception. Yes, it is pricier than similar enclosures, but this baby is worth every penny.The enclosure comes in a nice quality box which highlights the inputs this device accepts: e/Sata and USB 2.0. The contents of the box are: Power adapter, eSata PCI slot cover, eSata cable, USB 2.0 cable, Stand and MX1 with installed fan. The slot covers and cables are a nice included touch and saves you a couple of bucks right there. I personally like my hard drives laying flat, so don't use the stand.Performance wise, this enclosure works just fine. I don't measure speed or collect temperatures, but using eSata, this thing is fast, and to the touch, it is cool. What more do you want it to do? :) Yes, maybe you are paying a little extra for the name, but sometimes it is worth it. This is one of those times, and it matches my P182B nicely too ;)

By: anewculture (17-Nov-07)      Experience with product: 1 Days

Strengths:	looks, cooling fan
Weaknesses:	fan noise when the computer is off

Full User Summary
Great construction, quality and looks. It actually looks much better than the image so don't worry you'll not get embarrassed to take this baby out from your bag.The fan has an annoying buzz (like a tiny fly flying near my ear) which is ONLY audible in a silent room when the computer is off. But there's a on/off switch for the solution. At the end, the most important thing for me is the safety and lifespan of my harddrive which MX-1 will hopefully provide.I was expecting a larger drop in the transfer speed but short tests showed that the external e-sata works only 5% slower than my internal sata drive. The size of enclosure is not that bad for a 3.5". But who wouldn't like a smaller enclosure which requires no AC adapter and extra cables to carry. If ANTEC produces a 2.5" 'mobile' enclosure (with a 3.5" bay for inserting it onto a desktop case) with 'active cooling' and with a short (hidden) cable I'll be the first to buy.