Can we get "bored" Sarah in the background of all of Colton's videos from here on out. It brings a whole nother level of realism to the his reviews that are reminiscent of when I try to discuss new chairs and desks with my wife 😂
I think people under appreciate how nice it is when a company puts in effort into their assembly steps and makes the assembly photos as clear and simple as possible. It's the small details that matter after all.
Yeah, I'm considering getting a new set of headphones, even though mine aren't that old, just because of the feature improvements over the last few years!
Bought a North XL for my new PC and its the best case Ive ever worked on. I lost one of the thumb screws and emailed them asking if I could just have one replacement screw. They responded in like 90 minutes. They ended up sending me TWELVE thumb screws, a sticker, and a nice note thanking me as a customer. They won me over for life that day. If I was rich Id buy one of those Mood cases when available just to build another PC in it. Its really beautiful. Reminds me of a skyscraper/tall building or something. Love it!
I wish Fractal had updated the fan bracket on the North and North XL to be removable or have more models since the 140mm fans create a huge turbolence resulting in a lot of noise.
I replaced them for Arctic P12 PWM PST fans and use one of the Aspect 14 PWM as exhaust at the top at lowest speed possible via Fan Control. I believe the wooden strips at the front panel is causing the noise. Same issue with the Fractal Terra side panels.
IKR?! Loks good, probably sounds good, detachable ear pads, charging stand, *PHYSICAL GOT DANN BUTTONS*, I already have good sony headphones but these are animmediate buy when they drop. As is the Mood case for my eventual Strix Halo build for that 4070 tier APU performance in my livingroom for game nights.
I'd honestly love something like the Scape but that's open back, has ATH-M50xSTS mic quality, and planar magnetic drivers (and an on device EQ to enable or disable the extra bass common for gaming headsets)
Love me some Fractal. Quality, beautiful products! LOL on the edit that used Sarah's hands for the chair adjustments that made it seem like they were Colton's hands. At first I was like "thats an odd Opal ring for Colton to be wearing."
Era is by far the best looking small case on the market. So glad they have inproved the ventilation. Love fractal, they seem to be the only large case manufacturer that actually develops cases that i think look nice.
7:55 FINALLY someone mentions it! The other reviews so far just say the official 2 slot compatibility, but totally looks like it can fit 2.5 at least. Can't wait to see a build review to know exactly what can be squeezed into this beautiful case
That mood one has a shape that could be really useful. Hot air rises so in theory you're shooting hot air out the top and intake fans on the bottom mean that you're always getting colder air. Unlike horizontal airflow patterns where you can kinda have the hot air exhaust bouncing of the wall that the PC is inevitably against. And gosh damn those headphones are so well thought out and looks great to the point where even
I always refuse to be a brand simp in general but I absolutely adore Fractal. They're such a unique company with their mature designs and creative approaches, and none of the prices are out to lunch. I loved how the North looks like it would cost $400 but it's only $140. I'm still running my build in a Define C and it only cost me $100. The headset looks so nice and the charging dock is the cherry on top. If you guys rate it well I might finally upgrade. I hope at some point they start doing mice and keyboards.
10/10 Fractal, my god. Continuing the killer wood/metal aesthetic. The headphones don't have earpad pleather, so it won't flake after half a year of use. Chairs with solid looking casters and chair base.
"feels premium for a not so premium price" *retails for over $800 and $500 respectively* I hate that this is the state we are in. I've needed a new chair for years now, but they are all so freaking expensive
The highlight was definitely the headphones. I’m pretty seriously considering getting them and swapping out of my Sennheisers. I love Sennheiser, but I need some new ones.
I love that Fractal is holding on to making cases with solid side panels, but it broke my heart to find out the Meshify 2 Compact with a side panel was discontinued when I finally decided on it. Hope they make a Meshify 3 Compact soon.
Looks great but having once built a mini itx I will never go down this way again. Building it is a pita, maintenance is a bigger pita, so much so that I'll do anything to avoid it. Only large tower cases for me, convenience is everything
Love fractal. I have the meshify and it works great with a 3090 etc and doesn’t overheat for me (even in a hot environment). This video is great for daydreaming about my next build! :) I think fractal make “pretty casss for designers” but they also make just solid good cases. As a non-designer nerd I like the plainer ones :)
I don't understand the love for pcie risers in split cases. Mounting the video card directly into the motherboard ensures compatibility, and gives CPU coolers plenty of height while still keeping it basically a cube/rectangle shape
the Era2 is beautiful in much the same way as my fractal North in white w/ glass but i see a problem; there is a cross-piece below the 'rear panel' I/O that means you cant remove or install the cover with ANY cables connected.
I really love Fractal cases. I have a Define 7 compact and I love how accessible everything is. I've got a 240mm AIO, and a XFX Merc 7900XTX, which is a monster GPU. And it fits. :D
Fabric-clad cases are interesting, and I'm curious to see GN's testing of airflow with them. That fabric is going to be a headache to care for, though. Vacuums will likely be too strong and will just pull at the fabric and likely stretch it over time, especially with lack of backing adhesion. Washing would require distilled water to avoid mineral buildup, cold hand wash with air dry. And to my knowledge these airflow-friendly fabrics don't take well to wiping, especially when there's no backer. Canned air from the backside will likely be the common solution, as you have pressure to blow out anything stuck to the frontside, but then you're not exactly getting rid of the dust and instead displacing it within the air. Honestly, it'd just be better if the air was flowing out of the case through the fabric, rather than using the fabric as a filter, this would keep it cleaner and would allow for traditional filters to be used. I also wish that vertical itx case was just a bit larger. No official third PCIe slot and lack of proper AIO support? Come on now, just bump up the dimensions a bit to allow for this, it wouldn't increase the footprint by that much, and this would've been done in the pre-tooling phase of design. Someone definitely failed compatibility checks while drafting this case, shame that engineer for not considering marginal changes allowing for a better case.
Really nice product from fractal, that chair with that adjust lumba on back of the chair is awesome design :D and they look good too, i love my fracta meshify case :D
Out of all of those small foot print cases, I think FT03 mini is still the best designed one. I mean it does not require any riser, has room for a decent gpu, has all the rear ports at the top and.... well it still has an optical drive and they managed to make it look good. This makes this excellent for HTPC / Emulation station and very useful if you just have a large collection of games or data on physical discs. And I get it - you can connect external optical drive if you really need one, but it kinda feels bad that nowadays they don't even give us option in those sff vertical cases.
The ERA2 is a really good looking case! Unfortunately there is one thing that renders it unusable for me: Because of the way the outer shell is built you have to unplug ALL cables before you are able to take a look inside. That's a no-go for me. :( Regarding the headphones and the chairs I must say I am surprised how many of the boxes on my list of needs they tick. Definately worth keeping an eye on. Can you give the headphones a run through the lab once they're out?
I'm no audiophile but I am kinda picky about my audio devices. But gotta say that headphone stand is pretty superbly designed. Not only secure charging, but low profile and best of all, will not compress the headband foam at all. Nice. And the overall aesthetic of those headphones are terrific, totally avoiding every trope "gamer" headphone look.
What do you mean simultaneously ? From their website : It also offers audio connectivity through a low-latency dongle or multi-device Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity
Legit, the chairs are an unexpected highlight of the show. I'm so tired of "gAmINg ChaIrS," and so happy to see actual, smart, functional, sitting-down-to-do-chair-stuff chairs at a relatively decent price. I hope LTT just neglected to cover them and the arms have some customization as well, but otherwise they look great.
Great job guys, on what could have been a boring and forgetable video. Fun to watch and engaging. Jake delivered but, more Colton and more Luke please!
I wish i could try one of the chairs. I hate my herman miller and these LOOK very comfortable plus i LOVE my Fractal North. Its my new favorite case dethrowning the Super Lan Boy i used to have.
My last 2 cases have been Fractal, and my Wife's is too. I like their cases, but I dont see my next one being a Fractal. I havent really been a fan of their newer designs. Idk what my next case will be. I've got the King 95 in my PCPartPicker list, but I liked what I saw from LianLi on the LTT video the other day too. And I'm still a year or two from building so plenty of time for other cases to catch my interest and my needs and tastes to change (i swap between flashy and minimalist often haha)
