Upstairs at the Antec booth at Computex 2011, a new case sat awaiting our eyes and cameras called the Performance Series P280.  A successor to the long-adored P180 case, the P280 will offer a host of tweaks and new features while maintaining a price point of about $130 on the street.

The fit and finish of the P280 should look familiar to anyone that has laid eyes on the P180.  This time Antec has added two internal USB 3.0 ports in addition to a pair of USB 2.0 ports on the front panel.

The door on this case has the same over-swing as the P180 to completely fold away on the side if needed.  There are three 5.25-in bays and a dual fan removable filter.

On the top of the case are pair of fans that use the newer rubber grommet style connection to lessen any kind of noise or rattle from them.

Both doors (and the top) of the P280 are lined with a very heavy compressed plastic that is used as a sound dampening device.  Antec claims this is more effective than the foam insulation siding that many case vendors are currently using or that Antec uses on the P180. 

Hit the "Read More" link for more photos and details on Antec’s P280!!

The optical drive bays use a new screwless retention mechanism that is actually a spring clip rather than a simple locking mechanism.

Six removable hard drive bays have high quality rubber grommets on them for noise and vibration reduction.

Though it is hard to see in this photo because of the lighting, the P280 will also have a pair of slots dedicated for 2.5-in / SSD drives directly above the 3.5-in trays.

While many cases have removable bottom intake fan filters, Antec has set it up in such a way that you can remove the filter from the side rather than the back.  If you are like me and have your case up against a wall you will appreciate the ability to remove the filter without moving your entire chassis.

There are a good amount of fans in the P280 and included in the back top corner is a fan cable hub that will accept up to eight fans and power then from a single Molex connector from your power supply.  A simple fan speed controller is located on the outside of the cases for this as well.

The motherboard tray has a very large cut out to access the motherboard socket brackets and you can see some cut outs for cable routing and management along the plate as well.  Antec says that the holes will be rubber grommetted after final production as well.

Antec has actually widened the footprint of the P280 to allow for more room behind the motherboard tray for cable routing without the annoying "bulge" of some current designs.

While we still have a while to wait for the Antec P280 to be released, the feature set and price point set it up to be a very popular choice among PC builders.  It has been a LONG wait for these updates but we are finally glad to see Antec moving in this direction.

Antec Performance P280 Case First Look at Computex - Cases and Cooling 2

Computex 2011 Coverage brought to you by MSI Computer and Antec