Other What's on Taobao

pseudobacon

Average Stuffer
Jan 9, 2018
59
97
Anyone know of an s4 mini alternative on taobao. I'd like something around 5L and supports 215mm GPU. Preferably console style. And I have a hdplex 400 + 330w brick.

I already know modivio xcase M(6.2L, and expensive for 3d printed), custom_mod SLM1 lm 4(too small), and the logic supply mc600(decent amount of modding needed). Maybe. You guys have seen something no haven't. I looked on the updated list @prayogahs posted, and didn't see any more options.

机械核芯 (Mechanical Core) SLIM-PRO is pretty close, but it only supports 179mm GPUs. It is only 3.6L though.
 

Poblopuablo

King of Cable Management
Jan 14, 2018
816
465
机械核芯 (Mechanical Core) SLIM-PRO is pretty close, but it only supports 179mm GPUs. It is only 3.6L though.
Unfortunately I need something that can support a zotac mini card. I ordered the m69, ~5L and 450w 1u PSU included. Not my ideal layout, but nice and small. :)

Unfortunately they only have red until after the spring festival, after that they will have more black and silver. But I think I'll get it anyways, since its a really good deal for a small case and comes with the psu for about 90USD before superbuy shipping/handling fees. :)
 
D

Deleted member 13184

Guest
Hi there,

Does anybody here knows, when Sunmilo S01 is going to be available for order again?
I made my order through bhiner, but I overlooked that presale has ended, so they refund me all.
So now I'm with AXP90 and riser matching case, but no case itself.

Well, I'm an idiot XD
 

prayogahs

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 21, 2019
236
343
Hi there,

Does anybody here knows, when Sunmilo S01 is going to be available for order again?
I made my order through bhiner, but I overlooked that presale has ended, so they refund me all.
So now I'm with AXP90 and riser matching case, but no case itself.

Well, I'm an idiot XD
Really? I always thought we could order the case and they will deliver around 30 days. Didnt know they have a presale thing going on. If thats the case (heh), then the only option is to ask sunmilo directly through bhiner or taobao.

Edit: or maybe bhiner misunderstood? I think presale/preorder is usually just the start date of order/delivery then you can order as normal and will need to wait according tot the days stated.
 
D

Deleted member 13184

Guest
Really? I always thought we could order the case and they will deliver around 30 days. Didnt know they have a presale thing going on. If thats the case (heh), then the only option is to ask sunmilo directly through bhiner or taobao.

Edit: or maybe bhiner misunderstood? I think presale/preorder is usually just the start date of order/delivery then you can order as normal and will need to wait according tot the days stated.

I thought that too, but that's not the case here apparently (those puns tho XD).
Bhiner contacted sunmilo directly on my behalf and sadly next batch is planned for end of February.
I'm going to wait. I really dig the layout as well as general appearance of this case, additionally I have some modification planned for it.
 

prayogahs

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 21, 2019
236
343
I thought that too, but that's not the case here apparently (those puns tho XD).
Bhiner contacted sunmilo directly on my behalf and sadly next batch is planned for end of February.
I'm going to wait. I really dig the layout as well as general appearance of this case, additionally I have some modification planned for it.
Ah ok, good to know, thanks for sharing the information here. At least it is worth it as its a good case and not a lot are using this layout apart from CCD MI-6 and few others.

If I want to buy another case, will try to contact the seller first before ordering.
 

hereforthefeast

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 25, 2019
129
133
Really? I always thought we could order the case and they will deliver around 30 days. Didnt know they have a presale thing going on. If thats the case (heh), then the only option is to ask sunmilo directly through bhiner or taobao.

Edit: or maybe bhiner misunderstood? I think presale/preorder is usually just the start date of order/delivery then you can order as normal and will need to wait according tot the days stated.
This was my understanding as well when I ordered with Sunmilo - if you miss the cutoff date for whichever batch is currently going out then you just get added to the next batch
 

Clipz98

Chassis Packer
Oct 23, 2019
19
13
I'm curious (since I have searched up and down on here and elsewhere) if anyone got their hands on this or know of any places with more information other than Chiphell or Deipin (both sites I've explored via ghetto Google translations for this case). Really admire the 2013 Mac Pro form factor, and these obviously don't share the limitations of upgradability like the Mac pro has. Haven't been able to find anything on the companies either other than their Taobao storefronts and Chiphell info pages nor any videos of them in action.

Galaxy Studios
Others

In other news, did anyone dare to buy the Sentry 2.0 knockoff from TB? Seems like a good alternative for those folks that didn't get their hands on the original crowdfund.
 

Poblopuablo

King of Cable Management
Jan 14, 2018
816
465
Personally, I wouldn't buy the taobao sentry. Only because it is an exact rip-off of the sentry. No aesthetic design changes or improvement (as far as I can tell). It's a good deal, but because it's a rip off almost 100% I want nothing to do with it. If there were aesthetic changes, but same layout, I wouldn't have an issue, but it looks like an exact rip off, so I disagree with getting it. (just my personal opinion) I know a lot of cases here are "clones" but some have unique features that original cases that inspired them didn't (like the Nova 1024 vs Dan a4.... I like the additional top fans for cooling potential) I fell like there is nothing wrong with inspiration, but this feels wrong to me. (I know, it's just personal opinion). :)

That being said, if one is in the US I feel the sliger console would be a better buy. Not too much more and 8L with some impressive improvements in the console case genre. (Like same side facing components, small 8l size with 2slim 120mm fans behind the gpu for better cooling potential.) @150USD.
 

Clipz98

Chassis Packer
Oct 23, 2019
19
13
Personally, I wouldn't buy the taobao sentry. Only because it is an exact rip-off of the sentry. No aesthetic design changes or improvement (as far as I can tell). It's a good deal, but because it's a rip off almost 100% I want nothing to do with it. If there were aesthetic changes, but same layout, I wouldn't have an issue, but it looks like an exact rip off, so I disagree with getting it. (just my personal opinion) I know a lot of cases here are "clones" but some have unique features that original cases that inspired them didn't (like the Nova 1024 vs Dan a4.... I like the additional top fans for cooling potential) I fell like there is nothing wrong with inspiration, but this feels wrong to me. (I know, it's just personal opinion). :)

That being said, if one is in the US I feel the sliger console would be a better buy. Not too much more and 8L with some impressive improvements in the console case genre. (Like same side facing components, small 8l size with 2slim 120mm fans behind the gpu for better cooling potential.) @150USD.
Lol I hear ya. I'm personally not interested in it (at least not anymore anyway), but just sharing since there's a lot of people who didn't get there hands on it and are opting for overpriced secondhand eBay sales of the case. The only "innovation" (if you want to call it that) is that you can mount the stand on either side or even both sides, but I don't think the real sentry allows that. It's also slightly roomier by like .3L or so and I think it supports SFX-L like the Sentry 1.x versions did. As much as I'd rather support the original vendor, if there's another one that looks & functions 99% the same, can actually meet demand, there's no supply of the original model, and most importantly, is competitively priced, no amount of "principles" should stop anyone from considering (or even buying) the knockoff.

But meh, I'm more interested in those Mac Pro-inspired cases if anything. However, the cost and logistics of shipping that heavy thing overseas seems equivalent getting Apple Taxed.
 

Poblopuablo

King of Cable Management
Jan 14, 2018
816
465
One thing I would like to know, about the TB sentry, is the build quality. Can they produce something with the same/similar quality? That would be interesting to find out (just from an educational standpoint).

Something similar happened a few months back in the mechanical keyboard community with zealios. There was a clone company that branded themselves as the original zealios and sold them. This has since been somewhat rectified, and I am, now, willing to purchase from the clone company (durock). They have good switches and competitively priced, but i buy them primarily because I collect them. (I collect lots of mechanical switches). But this isn't the forum to be talking about Mechs lol. :)

Those apple trash can cases look pretty sick. :) I never really like the aesthetic before, but some of those are actually decent looking. :)
 

pseudobacon

Average Stuffer
Jan 9, 2018
59
97
One thing I would like to know, about the TB sentry, is the build quality. Can they produce something with the same/similar quality? That would be interesting to find out (just from an educational standpoint).

Something similar happened a few months back in the mechanical keyboard community with zealios. There was a clone company that branded themselves as the original zealios and sold them. This has since been somewhat rectified, and I am, now, willing to purchase from the clone company (durock). They have good switches and competitively priced, but i buy them primarily because I collect them. (I collect lots of mechanical switches). But this isn't the forum to be talking about Mechs lol. :)

Those apple trash can cases look pretty sick. :) I never really like the aesthetic before, but some of those are actually decent looking. :)

All the manufacturing is done in China anyway. It's just a matter of whether or not high quality materials and manufacturing processes are used. If you look at some of the more expensive Ghost S1 clones/derivatives they are very high quality, but the price gets a lot closer to the original cases. You get what you pay for
 

tinyitx

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 25, 2018
2,279
2,338
I'm curious (since I have searched up and down on here and elsewhere) if anyone got their hands on this or know of any places with more information other than Chiphell or Deipin (both sites I've explored via ghetto Google translations for this case). Really admire the 2013 Mac Pro form factor, and these obviously don't share the limitations of upgradability like the Mac pro has. Haven't been able to find anything on the companies either other than their Taobao storefronts and Chiphell info pages nor any videos of them in action.

Galaxy Studios
Others
I suppose you have already read those buyer reviews in the W2/W2 Pro product pages in Taobao? There are some brief user feedback with pics and a couple videos too. Definitely worth reading.

Perhaps W2/W2 Pro are too new to get many in-depth review/build log as they are seemingly released just about 2 months ago. Maybe you can check out those W1 reviews to gain whatever info about this Galaxy Shop.
Eg
 

Clipz98

Chassis Packer
Oct 23, 2019
19
13
I suppose you have already read those buyer reviews in the W2/W2 Pro product pages in Taobao? There are some brief user feedback with pics and a couple videos too. Definitely worth reading.

Perhaps W2/W2 Pro are too new to get many in-depth review/build log as they are seemingly released just about 2 months ago. Maybe you can check out those W1 reviews to gain whatever info about this Galaxy Shop.
Eg
Trust me, I scoured those Taobao reviews and that Chiphell thread too. Thanks for these new links though, very nice! I was less keen on the W1 since the W2 seems way better (especially the Pro).

If only Taobao just became AliExpress 2.0 and embraced the west directly without the additional shipping hurdles...
 

ababa

Average Stuffer
Oct 29, 2019
60
13
My case package was returned by chinese custom domestic
I dont know why, maybe because of peak season or i got lucky with inspection?!
Too much effort for a case, its going to piss me off
 
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pseudobacon

Average Stuffer
Jan 9, 2018
59
97
Trust me, I scoured those Taobao reviews and that Chiphell thread too. Thanks for these new links though, very nice! I was less keen on the W1 since the W2 seems way better (especially the Pro).

If only Taobao just became AliExpress 2.0 and embraced the west directly without the additional shipping hurdles...
You know that Aliexpress and Taobao are both owned by Alibaba group right? Taobao already has some official forwarding options to some countries, I'd expect them to slowly expand further out in the future.
 

Clipz98

Chassis Packer
Oct 23, 2019
19
13
You know that Aliexpress and Taobao are both owned by Alibaba group right? Taobao already has some official forwarding options to some countries, I'd expect them to slowly expand further out in the future.
I'm aware of these facts, which is why I wish TB & TMall just became another option with native English/Western support and direct shipping like AE. They have a lot more cool stuff besides computer components than Ali does imho. Can't imagine their markets getting hurt by a move like that. Hope they're not maintaining that posture to appease their forwarding agency "friends" since a move like that would put these "middlemen" out of business.
 

pseudobacon

Average Stuffer
Jan 9, 2018
59
97
I'm aware of these facts, which is why I wish TB & TMall just became another option with native English/Western support and direct shipping like AE. They have a lot more cool stuff besides computer components than Ali does imho. Can't imagine their markets getting hurt by a move like that. Hope they're not maintaining that posture to appease their forwarding agency "friends" since a move like that would put these "middlemen" out of business.

Some sellers do offer direct shipping, you just have to choose at it checkout. But just like Amazon's model, its not that easy if you're a seller to offer direct international shipping, especially if the vast majority of your business comes domestically. It would be like saying why does Amazon not sell more stuff to China directly? Chinese people love certain types of American products, but those sellers on Amazon don't speak any Chinese. Part of the beauty of Taobao is the direct messaging capability between buyer and seller. It's part of what drove eBay out of China.

The official freight forwarders are good in that they offer specialised shipping direct to your country, and at least where I live the rates are extremely competitive. I understand your frustration with "buying agents" but really all they can do at the moment is slowly expand their official freight forwarder network. I myself would offer to help people get stuff into Australia but I wouldn't do it for free. It takes time to contact the sellers. It takes time to collect money from buyers. It takes time to receive the packages, and then send them out again. This is the service that you're paying for.

Things like returns get really tricky once you start doing international shipping. Either Aliexpress will start to get more stuff from Taobao, or Taobao sellers will eventually ship to more countries. I find it unlikely that these forwarding agencies are "friends" with Taobao. It makes a lot more sense to have the official freight forwarding capability, in which case Taobao would profit from international customers as well. I'm sure they are working on it, it just takes time.
 

Clipz98

Chassis Packer
Oct 23, 2019
19
13
Some sellers do offer direct shipping, you just have to choose at it checkout. But just like Amazon's model, its not that easy if you're a seller to offer direct international shipping, especially if the vast majority of your business comes domestically. It would be like saying why does Amazon not sell more stuff to China directly? Chinese people love certain types of American products, but those sellers on Amazon don't speak any Chinese. Part of the beauty of Taobao is the direct messaging capability between buyer and seller. It's part of what drove eBay out of China.

The official freight forwarders are good in that they offer specialised shipping direct to your country, and at least where I live the rates are extremely competitive. I understand your frustration with "buying agents" but really all they can do at the moment is slowly expand their official freight forwarder network. I myself would offer to help people get stuff into Australia but I wouldn't do it for free. It takes time to contact the sellers. It takes time to collect money from buyers. It takes time to receive the packages, and then send them out again. This is the service that you're paying for.

Things like returns get really tricky once you start doing international shipping. Either Aliexpress will start to get more stuff from Taobao, or Taobao sellers will eventually ship to more countries. I find it unlikely that these forwarding agencies are "friends" with Taobao. It makes a lot more sense to have the official freight forwarding capability, in which case Taobao would profit from international customers as well. I'm sure they are working on it, it just takes time.
Once again, I know that direct shipping exists too (pretty familiar with the ins and outs of TB at this point), but it's not the norm obviously. Also, it's not like Amazon.cn doesn't exist too? Besides, there are most definitely a lot of sellers on US Amazon pusing their products directly from China, so I doubt there's a lack of Mandarin/Canto presence there. Obviously though, these Chinese seller's are probably not targeting their homeland and more so the international customers flocking to Amazon. At the same time, not every item that exists in Amazon.com can be found in it's .cn variant. I get it.

Taobao came before Ali and is more mature in that regard, so it's not like they couldn't have made bigger changes already. There's an overlap of sellers (I've run into a few times) with the same products on both platforms and even TMall for some other stuff I was looking at that offer direct shipping on Ali, but not on TB. THere's definitely value in agents (especially for returns and effectively communicating with sellers and stuff), but I'd rather just handle affairs myself. I'm sure there's a reason they've segregated their business models like this, but doesn't mean I have to like it 100%.

I'm just "dreaming out loud" here, so not really trying to be convinced that "it's getting better" when the international model hasn't changed too much over the years (imo, once again). Taboao is still pretty cool regardless.
 

ababa

Average Stuffer
Oct 29, 2019
60
13
No, trust me, do not buy straight from Taobao,
Taobao is a marketplace, there is a lottery of product quality, seller reputation...
I ordered through Superbuy:
- They have great customer online support
- They help you for almost anything (negotiating, delivery issues...)

My first case wasn't perfect with some minor defects, my agent warned me about it and negotiated on her owns with seller in order to return package without any handle fees
I got pictures when they receive package
Second issue, my new package was stuck at chinese custom domestic and they sent it back to warehouse
I found this combo Taobao/Superbuy even better than Aliexpress which most of my order went into a litige and sellers are bad faith and trying to offer very small compensation (like few usd of refund)
 
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