Other Asian-market only products

[Phuncz]

Today I stumbled upon this brand which seems to be Asia only:
http://www.segotep.com/SegoProduct.aspx?name=1210151000114269410a3522168d11fd0fbe

Noteworthy SFF cases:

http://www.segotep.com/SegoProductdetails.aspx?id=15124ca30d626fd34bb48d5ade11b7cd42ec

mATX/mITX case measuring 335mm(长)*165mm(宽)*295mm(高) (16.3L)

http://www.segotep.com/SegoProductdetails.aspx?id=1406e88219e6a8f04ee5966caa70bea4a0af
(more pics: http://product.pcpop.com/000383653/Picture.html)

mITX case measuring 280mm(W)×280mm(H)×66mm(D) (5.2L)
Double Low-Profile card support

http://www.segotep.com/SegoProductdetails.aspx?id=1406a02a02408cb14b229f62a5487e6f88a4

mITX case measuring 228mm(W)×262mm(H)×110mm(D) (6.6L)
Double Low-Profile card support

mITX/mATX 3-slot case measuring 240*135*340MM (11L)

mATX 4-slot case measuring 300mm*175mm*385mm (20,2L)

Some interesting SFF cases and ideas, which Asia seems to have exclusively. Jonsbo/Cooltek is one of those brands that was Asia-market only for a while to. It makes me wonder what other cases are hiding in plain sight.

 

[confusis]

We get Segotep cases here: http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?p=search&sf=segotep&full=true

Unfortunately none of their SFF stuff but the brand made it here!

Their stuff also gets branded 'Naratechwin'
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z...echwin-I-1AL-USB-3.0-Aluminum-mATX-Case-with-
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z...echwin-I-2AL-USB-3.0-Aluminum-Cube-Mini-Case-

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Segotep has some other stuff. The Desert Eagle 2 I wanted to get but it's about $150 and only accepts low profile cards, but it's super compact. You can find a lot of other good cases on Taobao though.

You can also check out a couple other brands, Sahara and AlYiBai - they make some interesting cases.

 

[CC Ricers]

I see many of them take design cues from In Win. I guess that shouldn't be very surprising though.

AlyiBai makes a very slim mATX case that fits SFX power supplies only- You cannot use graphics cards with PEG connectors on the sides, only ones facing forward. http://item.jd.com/10122582693.html

I can't find measurements for this case but it looks to be around the 15L territory.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

The Alyibai one is about the same as one Segotep makes - as well as another company (CEMO).

http://www.cemo.cn/prodetail.aspx?ProductsCateID=138&ProductsId=76&CateId=138

http://www.segotep.com/SegoProductdetails.aspx?id=14055a76c6d794864575baf3bb2ba7fe25bd

The Segotep is 135w x 240d x 340h (11L) - 3 PCI slots and SFX power supply
The CEMO is 138w x 260d x 320h (11.5L) - 2 PCI slots and SFX power supply
The Alyibai is 138w x 240d x 350h (11.6L) 3 PCI slots and SFX power supply.

Segotep also makes a slightly larger S6 Art which can take ATX power supplies but it's almost 19L.

SKTC makes one similar to Raijintek - https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.163.D0XkrP&id=522605381425&ns=1&abbucket=15#detail

The Segotep one allows you to put a 120mm fan at the top in place of a hard drive mount, but most of the fan is blocked by the design of the exhaust vent

I would generally say these companies copy Jonsbo more than In Win though. In the West, Jonsbo cases are very pricy compared to here. You can pick up most older Jonsbo cases for under $50 in the Chinese market, and the new/ more stylish ones for under $100.

Sorry for all the links

I was looking for a case recently so I did a lot of searching on Taobao. I had to create an excel spreadsheet to keep track of what all of these cases are!

 

[iFreilicht]

I find it to be disheartening how much these companies just imitate or blandly copy designs without any incentive of doing something new. The three cases you showed there were all obvious copies of one another, two even shared the same non-standard mounting-hole pattern for the PSU.
The case that's similar to the Rajintek Metis is also a bland copy. It's so strange why all these companies, who seem to be able to produce any case they'd want, choose to be so unoriginal.

 

[Phuncz]

It's a stigmata the Asian production world seems to be cursed with, but I find it hard to believe there is no abundance of talent to be found in Asia, if I look at the builds being shown by our overseas forum members. I think Segotep has a few original ideas and designs.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

They can create new designs easily, i think Jonsbo, Deepcool, InWin are all examples of that.

I have a thought on this, one is that a factory produces many chassis for different companies. The seller is just adding some type of design or style, but in a case like the Segotep ones their isn't much for them to change, so likely both companies are buying the same case from a factory and just reselling it.

If they can sell enough, maybe they can raise the funds to design their own.

I would argue that in the West it's an issue of cases never making it to market. I see lots of interesting designs here but 2 years later, they're still in the design phase. In China they can put a design on the market within a few months. I see several cases on the custom section of this forum that look 90% identical to cases already available on Taobao in some form or another. Many are not as polished as what people are aiming for here, but if it takes two years to get to market, what's the point?

 

[Phuncz]

Many are not as polished as what people are aiming for here, but if it takes two years to get to market, what's the point?

Quality over quantity. It's why I didn't purchase the MacPro-like case on AliExpress but I was waiting for projects that would make a better version that's more true-to-the-concept and has a higher build quality. I'm a patient man that prioritizes quality over "having a product". It's probably why some of us are awaiting the projects that offer high quality. I don't mind waiting for that quality, cases like the Ncase M1 can attest what this can become.

 

[iFreilicht]

They can create new designs easily, i think Jonsbo, Deepcool, InWin are all examples of that.

Of course they can, and those companies all offer decent or even high quality products that are sold around the world. Those that are only sold in Asia always seem to have a significantly lower standard for production quality, which is probably why they aren't sold in the West.
As Phuncz said and as many, many users demonstrate each day on so many forums, quality is more important than quantity. I don't want to buy 5 different cases for 20$ and then discover that all are flawed from the get-go in some way. I'd rather buy one for 150$, even if that's more money and be sure that a lot of time and critical thinking went into the design.

Many are not as polished as what people are aiming for here, but if it takes two years to get to market, what's the point?

I think this is the huge cultural difference we're looking at here. The point is that I don't just want to make a case and sell it. I want to make the best case I can and have people enjoy it. I want to make a case that people enjoy building in, enjoy looking at, enjoy modding or at least enjoy seeing builds in.
The S4 Mini is a huge testimony to this mentality in my eyes. @Josh | NFC has put countless hours and unspeakable amounts of money into it and its predecessors because he wanted to make the best case he could possibly deliver. If you put blood, sweat and tears into a project like that, you fill it with soul, you care about it and the public perception of it. It becomes a passion, and the long and tedious way of getting where you want is part of it.

Personally, I spent about 30 hours with data accumulation just to determine the perfect width for the GPU compartment of my case to make sure every ITX GPU on the market will fit. Josh spent and is still spending thousands of bucks to get the perfect power coating for his cases. @Necere spent hundreds of hours going through tens of basic layouts, modelling a complete case each time, to find the perfect one for a flexible ITX case. @wahaha360 was travelling through Asia for over half a year to find the perfect factory. @Aibohphobia and @PlayfulPhoenix spent hundreds of hours on maximising flexibility for their case and ended up inventing a mounting system like no case has had before. @QinX put blood, sweat and tears in two working prototypes of one of the most compact cases to have ever existed, just to realise that it wasn't feasible to sell.

This sort of passion is what makes indie cases take so long to get to market, and it is what makes them so great. We all have regular jobs, we don't depend on the success of our cases and frankly, we couldn't make a living from them, but that is not the point. The point is to follow our passion and of sharing that passion with a small group of people that have a similar mindset, not to make a case design speedrun.

 

[Ceros_X]

I think that cases are copied in Asia because they are used to making copies of something that is already successful. Why risk making something that might not be successful when they can copy something that is a sure thing?

Not my philosophy, but where I think they are coming from.

 

[CC Ricers]

Sunmilo's cases might be a better example of an Asian company producing bespoke designs with more care put into them. I'm a fan of the extrusion rod frames they are using. The thread on [H] suggests the owner of the company is very responsive to user feedback and would try to accommodate requests that they get.

These cases look like they're built very well, and still somewhat retain the hobbyist CNC machined look that I personally am a fan of.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

If you put blood, sweat and tears into a project like that, you fill it with soul, you care about it and the public perception of it. It becomes a passion, and the long and tedious way of getting where you want is part of it.

The joy is in the journey...

@Aibohphobia and @PlayfulPhoenix spent hundreds of hours on maximising flexibility for their case and ended up inventing a mounting seystem like no case has had before.

This isn't strictly true, as there are a few examples of similar systems in older enclosures. We did "invent" it independently, though, and more importantly we extended the usefulness with our particular implementation with the 140mm rail (to support larger fans) and the various brackets (to allow drives and such to be mounted too).

I would argue that in the West it's an issue of cases never making it to market. I see lots of interesting designs here but 2 years later, they're still in the design phase. In China they can put a design on the market within a few months. I see several cases on the custom section of this forum that look 90% identical to cases already available on Taobao in some form or another. Many are not as polished as what people are aiming for here, but if it takes two years to get to market, what's the point?

Larger companies can take just as long as upstarts like us, easily. I think you should be careful of perception bias here - you only tend to know of cases by bespoke manufacturers and big companies when they're announced. With community projects, you know from the very beginning of their genesis.

(Also, I'd bet that the vast majority of those fast turn-around times are going to basically be poor quality copies of other designs, but hey, some people don't mind that. Lots of customers with lots of priorities)

I will say that timely delivery is an issue, though, as you can only hold a captive audience for so long. That's doubly true for small players. As such, and without going into too much detail, the vast majority of my work for KI post-KS has been towards architecting a production and fulfillment system that will enable us to have far more rapid turnaround on enclosures. Measured in weeks and months, not years.

IMO, the crowdfunding model is great to start with, as you get your feet wet and get attention, but it's not practical or (frankly) possible in the long term. Longevity and success demands a sustainable solution. I think KI is quite close to realizing it, but we'll see.

 

[iFreilicht]

Sunmilo's cases might be a better example of an Asian company producing bespoke designs with more care put into them. I'm a fan of the extrusion rod frames they are using. The thread on [H] suggests the owner of the company is very responsive to user feedback and would try to accommodate requests that they get.

These cases look like they're built very well, and still somewhat retain the hobbyist CNC machined look that I personally am a fan of.

That is indeed true, they have quite a few interesting designs. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but in general it seems like a lot of goods produced by small asian companies are made by talented people that have little time to test their designs. This is especially showing with electronics. Maybe I'm not seeing the full picture, though.

The joy is in the journey...

Indeed it is.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

The case I purchased from Sunmilo is pretty high quality. I guess what I mean by the "flaws" and quality is not that the quality is not good, but rather what one person see's as "flaws" others may see as advantages. Often I see custom makers debating weather they should use this switch or that switch, or this design or that design. They're debating minor details and no matter which one they chose, some people aren't going to like it.

I'll use the Sunmilo case I purchased as an example. It was one of the first models they released, and when I bought it they had updated the design to "fix" some of the issues of the original design. Those fixes included adding an additional front fan and opening the front to allow more airflow. I think many could agree that this is a good benefit. The seller told me this and asked me if I would consider the newer one as it was the same price and had some of these benefits. While many probably do want this, I found that the older design suited me better as it allowed me to put a dust filter on it, had more room for hard drives, and the cooling wasn't a big issue because it wasn't a high powered PC to begin with.

Sunmilo released a design that may not be perfect, and allow them to get feedback and improve the design. Sure, they could have just continued designing it for 6 more months until they got it "perfect" to begin with, but nothing will ever be perfect to everyone and often not to most people, so I think it's still a good idea to release a somewhat flawed product to market and tweak it from practical feedback and user experience rather than guessing what the customers may like.

 

[iFreilicht]

That sounds like they made a very different case, though, not like they improved on some small issues.

Often I see custom makers debating weather they should use this switch or that switch, or this design or that design. They're debating minor details and no matter which one they chose, some people aren't going to like it.

That's of course very true. Because of the freedom independent designers have, they often get caught up in minor details like that. But just like with the case you were talking about, some see this as a flaw, some see it as a benefit.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

The case I purchased from Sunmilo is pretty high quality. I guess what I mean by the "flaws" and quality is not that the quality is not good, but rather what one person see's as "flaws" others may see as advantages. Often I see custom makers debating weather they should use this switch or that switch, or this design or that design. They're debating minor details and no matter which one they chose, some people aren't going to like it.

You're not wrong, but to some people the process is just as important as the result. Others fall into your line of thinking. It all comes down to preference, really.

 

[Vittra]

Keep in mind that some chassis designs are shared between different brands that are dominant in North America and Europe as well. They try not to make them blatant copies, sure, but this is not something that exists solely within Asia.

For these companies, innovation isn't really the motivating factor, and I can't say I blame them. The idea is to produce as many units as possible to serve demand.

 

[iFreilicht]

Yeah Thermaltake is very guilty of that as a prominent example, not only with cases.
Of course there are also more subtle ones, but I think in many cases you can just account that to the lack of possibilities. An ATX tower can only have so many layouts, and there are hundreds of them. At some point you'll see some similarities.

The idea is to produce as many units as possible to serve demand.

Not sure if I would fully agree with that. The idea seems to be to get a high market share, regardless of demand. And where demand is saturated, new demand is created if possible.
I'm pretty sure that the idea behind TT cloning the Fractal Define R5 wasn't "oh man there's so much demand for this case but Fractal doesn't manage to serve it, let's help the customers to get the case they want", but more like "shit these guys have a case that sells well, better make a similar one to make sure we get some market share".

I feel quite many companies in the industry are toxic like that, and it's a real shame. But yeah, I agree with the basic sentiment, it's not solely a phenomenom from asian companies.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Agree with above about market share. Could also be to fill excess capacity. For example, the Xiaomi MiPad2 is almost identical in specs to the Asus Zenpad S and Nokia C1 ( I think that's the right one) tablet. it isn't even noticeably better than the original Tegra K1 tablet. But when you have excess capacity and a bunch of Intel atom CPUs laying around...gotta put em some where. I guess Thermaltake or could have an order to build xxxxx number of cases but if your own designs arent selling well, copy some others quickly and sell.