Fractal wins Computex.

my coverage of computex 2024 is brought to you by  fractal antec thermaltake and Asus I'll be honest   guys computex can be a bit of a slog it can be hot  it can be crowded so it's really nice to come up   to the 88th floor of taipei 101 just to calm down  to rest to relax in a nice peaceful environment   that's been provided by one of my sponsors fractal  design and I'm going to be covering some really   cool new products from them of course they have a  new case it's called the a 2 it's a mini ITX case   it's really small and it's going to be awesome  and I think that's probably the thing you're most   interested in but fractal is actually expanding  into additional categories like this very comfy   chair that's behind me they have a spelt new  headset as well which is called escape and we have   another cool new case that's called mood where  should we begin we actually started off with a   walk down a hallway that was a bit of a walk down  memory lane fractal had a bunch of their recent   cases all lined up so you could see how they've  developed over the years including their most   recent ones the fractal North cases which have  wood accents which are really beautiful and that   is where they're going with their next generation  of cases starting with the era 2 it's on display   in this sort of Lifestyle environment they have  out here very clean very minimalistic just as   fractal is known for and again just by comparison  to all the chaos of computech so far this has been   such a pleasant experience to be here the AA  2 case though is what you're looking at right   now what do you guys think is it pretty I think  it's pretty it's got a wood panel across the top   it has a very distinctive perforated side panel  piece um but actually don't get fooled that's not   just a side panel this case actually has an entire  wraparound chassis that slides off completely once   you po off the dust filter from the bottom as a  name implies fractal already made an original era   case um back in the day it was actually one of  their first cases that they did wood paneling on   this is an extension of that uh they were really  happy with that case but in terms of popularity   it was never really never really took off quite as  well as some of their other more recent attempts   but I think the era 2 is going to change all  of that because this case which is less than   19 liters in capacity so not the tiniest in terms  of small form factor cases but it has support for   all the largest Hardware that you might want to  put in there I mean as long as you don't want to   put an ATX motherboard it's a miniitx case but it  does have room for full-size graphics cards even   RTX 490s so apart from the Striking exterior of  this case which is going to be available in three   different finishes at launch they have a charcoal  gray they have a silver and they have a midnight   blue which I really like the midnight blue I feel  like that's a color that I haven't really seen in   too many cases but this assembly is going to be  the best way to show you guys the interior and   how it's all put together at the back of the  case on the bottom you can reach in and grab   underneath and pop off the dust filter and you  could slide that all the way out if you want to   clean it of course that's useful but just popping  it out a little bit will allow you to release the   catches that allow you to remove the entire frame  of the case not a side panel no it has an entire   wraparound frame frame which I really like it is  aluminum frame it's very sturdy and there on the   top you can see that it has support for up to  a 280 mm radiator by the way if you're removing   the frame you might also want to remove the top  panel that is handled by simply pushing down on   the back and you can lift it off this is walnuts  and fractal sources all of their wood from the US   you can see just a little bit of subtle branding  down there in the corner and that's going to be   like an ongoing theme today is fractals subtle  branding yes it's fractal but they're not going   to like be all up in your face with it they want  to be classy with their branding and you know what   I approve another nice feature for the wood panel  top is that it has a steel frame underneath and it   is screwed into the wood at multiple points wood  of course is a somewhat flexible material and if   you're using a case and it's getting colder and  warmer there is a little bit of a risk of warpage   over time by attaching the metal frame to the  bottom they're going to ensure that this is going   to stay rigid and fit the top of your case for  the Long Haul fractal has made the interior a bit   flexible with this miniitx case so the internal  frame has a few different mounting points actually   three different mounting Point positions you can  see at the back of this unit that they have on   display in their uh home setup that it has a two-  slot card that's currently attached so pretty good   timing to align with nvidia's push to say hey guys  not all of our cards are like three and four slots   we do have a fair amount that are smaller than  that so something up to like maybe an RTX 4070   but you could of course go beyond that by pushing  the frame over you have a little bit less space on   the CPU and motherboard side but it will allow you  to add a three slot graphics card and that will   will support gpus up to 325 mm in length air flow  is one thing that fractal wanted to improve upon   versus the previous version of this case so they  actually have a unique bottom of the case too and   you can see when you pull the dust filter out all  the way that there's sort of a vshape the center   of the bottom of the case is a little bit lower  than the side so it's angled and fractal tells   me that improves the air flow for the intake for  the two pre-installed 120 mm fans in the bottom   of the case so that is your quick overview of the  AA 2 and we're expecting this to launch in Q3 2024   the price is $200 which is you know a little on  the pricey side in terms of cases but look what   fractal is done with this one let me know in the  comments section do you guys think it's worth it   for that price we have one more case it's actually  over here in their home theater area but this case   would be suitable for an hdpc but just as suitable  for an actual gaming PC as well this is mood it's   going to be available in gray and black and this  one is actually launching soon in just about a   week or two June 18th it's going to be selling  for $150 just like the Air 2 mood has a removable   frame that comes off all together it also has a  fabric exterior that's going to provide plenty of   air flow and once again just like the a 2 we have  support for very large graphics cards the back of   the case is the only side that looks different  from the fabric panels but this is removable   of course there is a dust filter integrated you  could remove the dust filter if you wanted like   tons and tons of air flow for your GPU but it's  nice to have some dust filtration too because   this is a sort of chimney style case they have  a single large 180 mm fan this is the same fan   that they've been using in the fractal torrent  which is really good large fan can run at lower   RPMs and still move plenty of air to keep all  the components inside cool mood has a base down   at the bottom that it stands on and of course it's  got some front IO with a couple USBS USB type-c a   headphone jack and if I didn't mention already  this is a mini ITX case and it does support   up to 280 mm radiators as well let's talk about  fractal's new chairs look at them aren't they nice   there's a mesh one I like mesh chairs because I've  been using a mesh chair recently these are called   refine which is very similar to their Define  series it falls in line with their product naming   scheme this is going to be available in a variety  of different finishes there's mesh available in   both black and white there's also fabric that's  going to be available in black and white as well   there's also an Alcantara finish which is going to  be a little bit more expensive that one's going to   be an MSRP of $900 these are going to be $550 each  but if you've ever gone shopping for a high-end   actually ergonomic desktop chair $550 is  actually quite the deal of course the most   important feature of this chair it's comfortable I  got to sit in it and again with the computex strip   being as busy as it is just being able to sit in  this chair and have a bit of peace and comfort was   very nice the mesh finish is going to give you  a lot of breathability on the back the fabric   finish is going to also be plenty comfortable but  both of them have lumbar support it's adjustable   down in the bottom both of them have adjustable  Heights you can lean the chairs back what I really   liked was that the uh base of the chair and the  back of the chair when you lean back uh adjust   themselves and there's actually 13 lockable  positions that you can set it to or you can   keep it in free floating mode if you want to lean  forward and lean back at your leisure the arms on   the chair and this is key for both gaming and if  you want to use these in office or home office or   you're going to be spending a whole day working  are cushions they're squishy the entire chair is   squishy actually including the headrest which  is also memory foam armrests are of course 4D   adjustable so you can use those buttons that are  on the side when you're sitting there to adjust   the armrest to move them closer further away up  down left right there's plenty of adjustment in   this chair and even the wheels have I feel like  that fractal Touch where they're just a little   bit different they actually there's a hole in  the middle which is nice but they have a rubber   finish on the bottom too so they're going to Glide  nicely across a variety of surfaces let's talk   about fractal's headset it's called the scape it's  going to be available later this year it's going   to have an MSRP of $200 and yes that includes  the stand but it does not include this absolutely   ridiculously cute mini Define XL which they've set  up with raspberry pies they've actually just set   these up for the listening experience for press  to come in um but it's just they're not going   to sell those you can't have one but look how cute  it is back to the scape though this is going to be   available in two finishes as you can see a white  finish and a black finish and that price of course   includes the stand as well again just trying these  on they are super comfortable they are lightweight   they have memory foam on the ear cups as well  as across the headband and you can see a variety   of buttons to control a variety of things they  do have some lighting it is RGB and you can of   course uh change that to your preference and they  actually have not software but a web web based   interface to help control the scape headphones I  should say headset the stand is also a wireless   charging stand so all you got to do is drop them  down into that cradle it's got a little Groove   at the back for your detachable boom microphone  and then they will light up to indicate that they   are charging and the lights can also indicate when  they have low battery or you can just adjust them   to your preference with the software I said  software it's not software it's a web- based   experience and no it doesn't require registration  or anything like that so what that means is you   can play with the functions of the headset you  can set up uh three Equalization modes you can of   course use the presets that are built in or you  can adjust them yourself and then that saves to   the headset and then you don't have any software  or anything like that running up in the background   and using up your system resources the boom mic  is detachable and will flip up to mute there's   an indicator light on the bottom to show you which  of the three Equalization modes you have selected   this actually has a built-in mic as well so if you  remove that boom mic you can still use it for uh   connectivity to a phone or other Bluetooth enabled  device and you could still use it to talk and hear   your voice there's a built-in mic and that's why  there is an additional uh mic mute button on the   side too it even has an LED down in the end of the  boom mic and that's going to turn red to indicate   that it is muted one other feature of the stand  and this isn't built into the stand but it has a   USB dongle you can you connect to uh via Bluetooth  with these to any bluetooth enabled device or   you can use that USB dongle to plug into your  computer computer or any device that accepts a   USB input and that will give you a direct wireless  connection and they say up to 40 m of range so you   can walk around your entire house with this and  that's a lot more range than you get with standard   Bluetooth the stand also has some ease of use  features you can reroute the cable down underneath   depending on how you have it set up on your desk  and they've also I I accidentally had it backwards   at one point you want to have the boom mic facing  away from you when you have this on your desk that   way when you pick up the headset to put it on it's  going to be right in the orientation that you want   it to be and it's always going to be charged cuz  when you put it on the stand it wirelessly charges   some really cool and exciting stuff the fractal  showed us today but one other thing that some of   you guys might be interested in is the north XL  which launched earlier this year actually they're   working on a new version of it that supports the  rear-facing motherboard connectors BTF as Asus   calls it project zero as MSI calls it they're not  just punching more holes in the motherboard though   in order to provide better Cable Management in  that space uh they're actually going to move   the motherboard tray over a little bit to give  you more cable management area on that backside   where all the connectors are going to be you can  see with the setup they have here they've tied   done everything to make it really clean and then  of course on the flip side of the case you can't   see any of the cables cuz for people who really  don't like cables they're a sin and they should   be hidden forever but guys that is going to wrap  it up for my coverage here at the fractal I want   to say Booth but we're actually up on the 88th  floor of taipei 101 so thank you fractal for   inviting me thank you for providing such a nice  calm peaceful environment to shoot some footage   of your awesome new hardware and thank you guys  for watching this video a big thank you to my   sponsors for computex 2024 Asus antec thermaltake  and fractal of course I have more videos coming at   you real soon so hit the Thumbs Up Button check  out the video playlist in the description if you   want to see all my computex 2024 coverage  and we'll see you all in the next one

Channel: Paul's Hardware

Views: 82,118

Keywords: computer, PC, PC gaming, personal computer, computer hardware, paulshardware, Fractal, Fractal Design, New Fractal case, Fractal Mood, Fractal Era 2, Era 2, Mini ITX, case, computer case, Fractal Refine Chair, Fractal Scape Headset, Fractal North XL, Fractal Computex 2024, Computex 2024, Computex, Taipei, Taiwan

Id: trKtxmdQO6s

Length: 12min 19sec (739 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 05 2024