Final Thoughts

When it comes to HTPC, most manufacturers have made the decision to have your PC look like a piece of your stereo. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, some of us want something that has a little more pizzazz. Alternatively, some of us want our HTPC to be able to do more than just watch movies, but those sleek stereo lookalikes usually have very poor ventilation, so we find ourselves quite limited in what we can install into the system.

Enter Bgears and the b-Envi enclosure. It has managed to take the features of a quality built HTPC case and add in some of the best features of the older SFF boxes and have created an enclosure that meets the needs of both of these market segments. With a taller design and extra ventilation, you won't have to feel afraid to add in those extra goodies that will give you the power you crave. At the same time, you can have the convenience of a mATX board with many of your peripherals built in for ease of use. Your choices are nearly limitless.

Add in the innovative features like touch panel front buttons, dual windowed design, internal 2.5" hard drive connectivity and the ability to use a full fledged power supply and you add even more usefulness to an already cool product. The aluminum build will help keep weight down and the mirror finish on the front bezel will help set your system apart from the crowd.

While filtration of the side vent that allow incoming air would have been nice, the overall appearance and feature set included with the b-Envi make it very worthy of your consideration. While not found online everywhere, it is readily available from a large number of online stores for about $95US. While not the cheapest case on the, market, this price point falls toward the lower-middle portion of the price range. This gives you a lot of features for the money.