The Black Beauty

Did you realize that upgrading your computer is only half the fun if you had not planned to update your system chassis? Surely adding more RAM, getting a new CPU and motherboard combination or swapping your old graphics card with a new one would give you a much needed adrenalin boost, but once you have swapped your PC-innards and draw that casing cover back on, most of that excitement is lost. Without a tangible change that you can view, touch and admire, the jolly spirit of upgrading quickly evaporates away. However with the right chassis selection, your computing experience would be a joyous one as you take pride of the spanking new outlook you have given to your PC.

However, pleasing prosumers is definitely not an easy task these days as their purchasing criteria consists of design, material, ventilation, size, cost and color. Increasingly, even a casing’s operating noise is coming under scrutiny as users have had it with the buzzing or droning PCs situated right next to them. As the DIY industry matures and the expectations of the end-users rise, chassis manufactures too would have to step into an accelerated cycle of design to wring out new casings at a pace almost as often as new chipsets are introduced to keep users pleased.


So what sort of casings can wet the appetite of these demanding users? Well, there are some ideal candidates in the market, but Antec’s Lifestyle Series of casings are perhaps one of the newest and coolest casings to hit town. Today we take a tour of their glossy black Antec Sonata casing (model LS138) and unveil what this glistening black beauty had to offer users. It seems to us that more and more power supply product vendors are hopping in to the chassis arena, but Antec is no newcomer and has had a line of successful products in the past.

The Antec Sonata package consists of the following:-

Antec Sonata Piano Black Mid Tower

User’s Manual

Power Cord (incompatible with local power-points)

Packet of screws

Antec Logo

Keys for locking/unlocking PC

Antec TruePower 380W power supply installed

Antec 120mm case fan installed

The below is a quick specification list for the Antec Sonata chassis that would be useful to note before we proceed to the details:-

Antec Sonata (LS138) Technical Specifications

Dimensions and Specifications	Width: 206mm Height: 430mm Depth: 465mm Material : Steel Case Color: Piano Black Weight : 9.4kg Motherboard type: Standard ATX Locks to prevent system pilfering
Drive Bays and Expansion Slots / Ports	3 x 5.25" Drive Bays (Exposed) 2 x 3.5" Drive Bays (Exposed) 4 x 3.5" Drive Bays (Hidden) 7 x Rear Expansion Slots 2 x Forward USB ports 1 x Forward Firewire port 1 x Forward Mic-In port 1 x Forward Line-Out (headphone) port
Case Cooling	1 x Rear Exhaust fan - 120 x 120 x 25mm 1 x Forward Intake bay - 120 x 120 x 25mm (fan optional)
Power Supply	Antec TruePower TRUE380S ATX  (380W)