Most users probably think their computer is broken and buy a new one.

A mATX version of this case wouldn't be bad... If Antec updated the Solo, why not updating the 3480?

atleast the p280 has some nice improvements...

I'd call it SOLO 0.9 beta.... Disappointed as most are, I own both SOLO and P150 and would buy them again over SOLO II any day.

I see 3 improvements:
1. 120mm intake fan
2. USB 3 - that is more of an update than an improvement, but still welcome.
3. Tray cut outs for cables and backplate (more of a must have now that the bottom of the tray is blocked all the way to the front)

Then I see quite a few things that could have been improved but were skipped in the name of cutting corners (not like the old Antec to do this)
1. Same power button with ~50% chance of breaking.
2. Similar support bar for the PSU - you'll need to take it all out to swap PSU, and yes I had to do this a few times of a few rigs and its just a pain.
3. Same hard to reach filter placement.
4. Same polished black finish when everyone knows matte is much cooler! not to mention cleaner. And no white (someone call marketing and tell them chicks love the white cases)

And to top it off there are a few new flaws that make this case much less desirable
1. Less HDDs with only 3 trays or 2 suspended! that is more like a mini or HTPC offering, not a midi tower. This one is the true deal breaker for me! will not buy this or recommended this case to anyone because of this flaw. people need more hard drives. People that buy super long GPUs will never buy a Solo case. EVER! removing 3 HDDs will not change their mind. It will simply give them yet another reason why not to buy a Solo case.
2. Less 5.25 space and a slot load? Are Antec selling these drives with the case? If not where do I buy one? don't bother I wont be needing it
3. Only one intake fan frame - at least the option for filtered positive pressure would have been a nice touch.
4. Less room behind the mobo tray (or so it seems)

At least the P280 is looking better, even if they did drop the chamber concept and go with a CM 690 style configuration.

Antec aint what it use to be...

I still think P182/180 and P150/Solo were the best cases Antec ever made, and its been down hill since.
Even the One Hundred it not as good as the Three Hundred.


Whats going on Antec?

For my needs, so IMHO, i can't see a good case (white, hell yeah i said it, WHITE!) in Antec list.

The only thing that unites this SoloII to the P150/Solo series is the name.

SOLO II improvement for me:
1. remove the bar next to PSU. It makes install/uninstall PSU awkward.
2. Add a removable 3.5 bay/cage. If you want something very long like AMD Radeon 6990, you could remove cage at your will. If you want more HDD quantity, you could keep it for more capacity.

Otherwise, bottom-mounted PSU isn't that important for me due to its bigger footprint compared to top-mounted PSU. And that would conflict with P18x/P28x series.

Yeah, the new Solo is a disappointment to me, too, and I am in general agreement with the other critics here.

1) PSU on top is really antiquated. This is simply not acceptable any more for a high performance cool or quiet case. It's not even a question of whether the PSU fan ramps up -- the heat of the system always rises up to it and the PSU has to run way hotter in this position than on the bottom. I've had my share of PSU failures over the years, mostly due to too much heat over the long term, with very slow fans on the PSUs.

We could stop right here, but if you want to quibble...

2) That annoying bar -- sure it makes the case stronger, but it's always been a pain. It's not hard to remove tho.
3) The HDD suspension was one of the standout features, and there's fewer of them here now. This is not as big a downer for me as others have expressed, because multiple drives are less necessary for me these days -- HDDs have such high capacity now.
4) If it's the same weak power switch as others have said, that's not impressive either.

Looks like Antec completely ignored the community

I dunno -- the main complaints I remember hearing about the Solo is it doesn't fit the larger video cards and it only had 92mm front fans. Both of these are answered.

Has anybody used all the HD cages, or all the soft suspension bays on the Solo?

The motherboard cutout helps with changing a heatsink.

The PSU is fine where it is, in my opinion. I do prefer the old color scheme, or rather a matte or pebble finish with the natural aluminum front would be my preference.

I would have to agree with Neil on this one. I know they didn't squeeze every change we would have liked but the 3 main areas for me were improved for me. Cable management, video card legth, 120mm fans.

The on switch, while cosmetically the same "hopefully" is imporved mechanically.

I really don't see the PSU bar to be too annoying for most people, once they get their computer/psu in this stuff rarely comes out again. On the other hand, who the hell sits on there tower anyway that it would need such support?! Perhaps the bar helps rigidity limiting vibration?

One less 3.5 bay. Did anyone notice that underneath the 3.5 bays there seems to be a mount for a 2.5 drive? SSD or standard HDD (hopefully with soft mounts) and 2 to 3 hard drives isn't too bad for most people I think!

I think they have decided to refresh the Solo with minimal retooling required and this is why the psu remains on top. I think overall the Solo 2 lot better than it's predecessor.

Hopefully they offer a silver version too although I will be getting the black one to replace my broken and battered p180 with horrid (in this day) cable management

I don't like the optical drive, Blu ray for me!

Cheers

Apparently you haven't seen the internal pictures that show the plastic parts and the actual switch behind the button. I can assure you I've spend far too much time working with that stupid button/switch to not recognize every single component of it.

Heck this one picture alone is all I need to see that it's the same button they've been using for years. The only possible change is in the actual chemical composition of the plastic. I can't say I've analyzed the plastic at the molecular level but I can easily say it looks identical to the one in the same room with me on the original Antec Solo.

1. The clear plastic piece in the red circle will break on one of the two arms after repeated bending even if the user is moderately forceful and uses the system often with the attitude that they should turn things off when they aren't using them. Maybe it never happens on a lightly used system or with someone who leaves their system on 24/7. But when it happens the quick fix is to take the front cover off and push the switch with your finger but only if you do it gently because:

2. The lovely little plastic box that holds the mechanical switch in the yellow circle has plastic feet that snap into place as the part is inserted from the rear. A user that is more than a little forceful when trying to shut off a PC that has hung/frozen or won't power on will push this into the interior of the case. Much more likely to happen if the clear plastic piece broke previously. Odds are the first time that happens one or more of those "feet" will crack or break off. If it cracked instead of breaking you have very little chance of getting it back into place without breaking it off. Since most users don't use the reset switch you can steal the remaining switch from the reset button to replace the one that used to be the power button but now won't stay in place.

admittedly the solo power button was worse when it first came out and they redesigned it slightly 3 or 4 years ago but even the slight redesign doesn't make the overall issue go away.

maybe you can get Antec to ship you parts every time someone you build a system for breaks a power button, maybe you are willing to rig something up when your own power button breaks. Maybe you have a Lian Li (BZ-U01B) or Scythe Kama-Panel 3 (SCKMPN-3000) laying around to use for these situations. Myself I'd rather buy a case with a power button that is designed to survive heavy handed end users so I won't have to deal with whatever failure mode decides to rear it's ugly head.

The quietest computer evaaagh!

As an owner of the original P150 looking for a new case this sure dissapoints. My power button is broken, I just use my litle finger inserted into the hole. I use 3 drives suspended. I guess I will replace the fans and possible the PSU in my old P150.
When you lose people who have already bought your product you are in trouble.

Increased video card space and sticking with top mounted PSU indicates some indecisive thinking on Antec's part. On the one hand, the case seems OK for someone to slap a uATX M/B and standard parts in and sell it as a quiet PC. For that, it's a bit pricey.

On the other, using all that GPU space means dealing with the perennial problem of the trapped heat pocket below the graphics card. For gamers, there are any number of better cases in the same price range.

I like the built-in HDD suspension, and there are bigger cases if someone needs more drives. Antec's traditionally weak power switch may not be a problem for a mini-server's long uptimes, but one wonders when they are going to bother to fix it for the average user. It seems I could start a new company selling serious quality Antec-compatible power switches and do quite well.

Hey Antec, where's the USB 3.0 upgrade kit for the all those 300/600/900/1200 cases? There's a serious amount of money (and customer good will) to be made here. No, I'm not buying a new case just to support my new USB 3.0 M/B. Right now I have a USB 3.0 cable lying on top of my old Antec case, leading to the back. That's good enough for now, but I could have spent that cable money on a better solution from Antec.

Yes. I have 7 HDD, 1 SSD and a DVD RW mounted to my solo with an icydock hotswappable enclosure. Going 5+ years strong.

Its a huge disappointment to have only 2 front 5.25 external slots. Pratically rule it out of using it as a file/media server with hotswappable enclosures. And in fact, its the exact same reason i did not and cannot use mini p180 due to that retarded top HDD cage design instead of 5.25 front slots.

I used to have bottom HDDs suspensed but found out its a rather poor way to mount; the stock suspenders are looser than paris hilton and moving the case decreases the reliability of my HDDs.

And when the hell is antec goung to release USB3 front port updates to p180/183v3/solo?

Yep I use the 3 bays of the HD cages all the time in my current machine. The other bay is left open to make it easier for my video card to breathe. But I don't need any gigantic gaming cards in my solo, it's supposed to be a quiet gaming machine in the first place.
I never wanted it to fit bigger cards. I do find the 92mm only to be annoying though, but I have a lot of 92mm fans now with the $2 arctic sale, not a big concern for me anymore. The main thing for me, the power button, and the lack of newer ports on the front if I wanted a new version of the case. At this point I'm half tempted to keep the same case for my next build.

92mm fans are easily fixable though annoying, but 80mm fans attached hot swap capable 4/5in3 or 3in2 enclosures are harder.

I built a new computer this year and is going to upgrade the two old boxes I have. And I plan to buy no new cases. Solo II or other incarnations of P150 all looks like huge disappointments.

P183v3 is another huge let down in its USB3 implementation. The only thing that's left in Antec is its distribution channel and marketing. Design wise its been falling behind for the past 5 years. Even Lian Li has USB3 front ports ready for its older cases and Antec is still using same old USB2 or a routing cable taht occupies one of the back USB port.

An updated page, Solo II incoming? Antec Solo II

"Removable PSU support beam
Top vent with fine mesh for optimal PSU air intake"

Now that makes this case a bit more attractive. Now it's possible to build a positive pressure system since the PSU has its separate intake. But no word on filtered PSU intake?

The top vent is visible here. Why hasn't it been shown before?

I think it was modified after people reacted negatively to the position of the PSU and cooling. IMHO, there's no filtered intake for psu, only this fine mesh that has the function of a pseudo-filter.
I was thinking about positive pressure, too. Maybe the top mesh will be useful for positive pressure + passive PSU like a Seasonic 400 for example, in this manner the heat of psu will escape from the top mesh, i suppose. Anyway this case is more interesting for me, no white model but i want it for my new rig.

I wonder if the open top panel will be sold separately. Swapping it on the original Solo is a matter of what... 4 rivets?

While I don't like the Solo II, I was a bit surprised at the issues that were NOT raised in discussion so far. I've done 4 Solo/ P-150 builds, each for a different user, which makes for a fairly varied perspective.

To save typing, I'll call the original "S1" and the Solo II, "S2".

1) WHERE DOES YOUR CASE SIT?

My S1 lives on top of my desk. The side mounted front panel ports are well positioned for me, and the high friction silicone feet are spot-on.

My wife's P-150 lives under her desk, on typical wall-to-wall carpet, making the front port position less attractive, but still easy to use; I replaced the Antec feet with the largest plastic furniture glides I could find, and they are a big help when I have to pull it out for service.

I am looking for a new case that is better suited to the bottom-fan PSUs now prevalent, and I am struck by how many new designs have the front ports on top. It's not a great improvement for on-the-floor systems over a side mount, and is deadly for on-the-desk users, as it puts all the cords that plug in dangling in front of the optical drives. Of course, they can be shoved over on the side of the case, which would not work well for my layout

For me, the S2 retention of the front port position on the side is a positive. Perhaps I'm the last on-the-desk user at SPCR, as no one else has mentioned this.

2) WHAT'S ON TOP OF YOUR CASE?

As my computer and my printer are on top of my desk (really a standard US office-style table with cut down legs to get the right keyboard hight), horizontal space is at a premium. My wife's is under her table, which is a combination of a 4 foot board and a bookcase, giving a 7 foot run. Yet both of us put stuff on top of our case. The available horizontal space near our computers is never enough for either of us, so we really don't want a case with an exhaust or an intake on top - the top of the case is valuable real estate, and will not be given up willingly. I've got an old Dell under my table, and it's got stuff on top of the case as well.

Perhaps the rest of SPCR are well organized an neat, as no one else seems to be concerned about a top intake on the S2. Or perhaps it's just that every other case on the market today also has a hole in the top.

I'd also be concerned that a top intake would suck in at least some of the heated air coming out the back exhausts. I use the top front panel bay as a PSU intake, and I'm surprised that Antec didn't make it a part of the S2, as lots of folks do the same.

3) HOW MANY REAR BRACKET SLOTS DO YOU NEED?

Most new enthusiast cases have thankfully gone to 8, but I count only 7 on the S2. I'm not planning triple SLI. But I also use slots for things that don't plug into a PCI or PCIe motherboard slot. In my case, a SATA (not eSATA) data and power bracket for easier testing of new drives outside the case, and a daughter bracket associated with a Hauppauge TV tuner that plugs into the card, but not the motherboard - so extra slots are welcome. I've seen quite a few other uses for extra rear slots, and keeping to the original 7 is a disappointment.

4) THE S2 HAS NO ADDITIONAL ROOM ON THE RIGHT SIDE FOR CABLE MANAGEMENT.

My first build on a P-150 still has a bulge on the right side panel where the stiff, bulky, main 24-pin cable doesn't quite fit. My later builds also use Antec NeoHe power supplies with the same 24-pin cable, but I spent extra time removing the sleeving on the power cable so that the cable could be more easily bent, reshaped, and rerouted. I originally was just going to spread it out, but I found that with the sleeving removed, the cable could be routed over the top of the PSU and back across the top of the motherboard tray (looks like a snake on a fence), where it was easily secured with zip ties.

Adding extra right side room would have been a much better fix, but apparently the width of the S2 is unchanged from the S1, so I have to assume that the right side room is the same.

5) DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT A SCALED UP SOLO?

My main complaint about the P-150/S1 has been that it could use more hard drive bays. While disk capacity has zoomed since the P-150 came out, so has most people's disk usage! I surf and have a music collection and a small photo collection, but I'm also transferring DVDs to disk and recording movies and favorite shows from TV, and have recently filled a 2TB disk with such material - and most of that is not HD.

Given the increasing prevalence of PCs as DVRs, I suspect there are more people than ever filling disks in this manner. I'm still using XP and Hauppauge's painful software to record TV, but Win 7 is supposed to be much better, and my next build will be a WIn 7 DVR in a Solo case - about as small a case as my big hands can get into. But with easier to use software and HD now common, more disk bays seem to be in many people's future.

Which makes the S2 design look even less of a good idea...

This a question for any mid-tower case, and the answer is always based on personal factors.

Whether atop the desk or below it, the back of the top panel is simply too far away for it to be that useful, imo. I have a Solo1 below my desk & often have things atop it but never on the back half -- just too far away, and I don't put things like external drives atop the case because it seems too unstable. So I think this is a non issue and not at all unique to the S2 -- it's so common for all types of cases (mATX, ATX, bir or small tower) to have a vent hole atop. The top vent also makes the Solo2 perfectly adapted for a passive PSU like one of the Seasonic X series. (more so than a bottom PSU placement)

8 vs 7? If you really need 7, you probably want a bigger case anyway. In contrast to your needs, mine have shrunk as modern motherboards have integrated so many more components.

True, with so many detachable cable PSUs to choose from, this can't be a huge issue unless you populate all the slots and need to run all the cables. And as long as in/out airflow is good, there's no benefit beyond the visual appeal of tidiness.

Not me. There are so many bigger cases to choose from. The S2 seems optimized for those with modest needs, someone who would actually be fine with a mATX board except for one or 2 factors... and the option to install one or 2 full length video cards, made possible by only truncating the HDD cage.

Interesting read I was expecting a bit more from Antec on this one.
Personally the lack of HDD bays is not really an issue for me I'd rarely fit more than 2 to a pc and you have a mounting for an SSD anyway.

A bigger problem is well erm I tend to fit 2 optical drives so that kills any card reader options. This is a not a deal killer (I can use an external) but it's an annoyance and a mistake IMO. The button saga has been well discussed all there is to say here is I would hope Antec would be aware of this.

I don't share the view that a bottom mounted PSU is "better" so I'm very happy to see a top mounted one.
Overall a bit of a let down I had hoped Antec would have really nailed down the mid sized quiet pc case by now, but then neither has anyone else.

It might be ok for my needs... a modest gaming machine with 250W max power consumption, maybe 200W. Minimum size for ATX, not yet another transformer-like case but a classy one, not huge, no grids-for-dust everywhere. Positive pressure is possible, no acoustic foam is needed. Apart from it, what else is there with similar features?

Now that it's out, it seems not as bad as it could have been. Top vent and removable bar make it better.

Still many people use more drives and only one 120 front fan is gonna make positive pressure even more of a challenge to cool properly.
A second drive cage with them both being removable (like in the p180) plus a second 120 intake would have made this case irresistible.

As it is right now I still prefer the original Solo. As a matter of fact I cant see a scenario where the S2 will used in any of my future builds.

Sorry Antec, I am a long time fan but this is yet another step in what I can only describe as an unfocused direction. Similar to adding the front plastic holes to the P-183 - killing the monolith look, or designing a case like the one-hundred, when the three hundred is so much better!? Sometime I just don't get it. It's as if Antec is trying to copy some coolermaster designs instead of the other way around. Like I said it's best described as lack of focus...

I agree with your assessment of the S2, but I would still hope to see Antec - or someone else - cater to those of us who like a door-less case with more hard drive bays - and the silencing measures that have been put into the Solo. The P-180 and descendants come close except for the door. With the door open, and perhaps folded all the way back, those needs are adressed, but to my eyes, the P180 with the door open is not the aesthetic I'm interested in

When I got my second Solo case at Fry's a few years ago, I started doing what I think of as the "tap test". In the past, I'd go down the long row of cases at Fry's and listen to the noise made by a finger tapping on the side of the case - and only the Solo and the P180 would sound dead, while the others sounded like various oil drums being hit. This time around, there was no Solo and no P18x in the row of 45 cases (although there were many other Antec cases), and every last case in that row was an oil drum. Tapping is not a perfect predictor of quiet potential, but is a handy first approximation. And yes, 2/3 were fairly low end cases. But - where are the larger cases that can match the Solo and the P-18x for noise and vibration control - without a door? I don't care where the PSU goes, but I'd prefer a Solo-like, doorless case with good ventilation, that goes "thunk" instead of "clang". For that I habitually look to Antec, but perhaps it's time to look elsewhere.

Suggestions?

A review: http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/14408-antec-solo-ii

Is the Solo II case available for sale in the United States? Cannot find it on the Antec site or via search. Thanks.

That page seems to be gone now. Perhaps they're having a re-think?