A very untraditional and relatively unique case has come to our editorial office. It is the ROG Z11, which the manufacturer introduced at the beginning of the year at CES 2020. The case hides several specialties, such as the possibility of vertical and horizontal positioning or a slightly curved motherboard tray. To make matters better, we fitted the case more or less exclusively with ROG components, thus creating a kind of full-on Asus build.
Rating
Asus ROG Z11 is an unconventional case, which you will see mainly at exhibitions (probably not this year though :/) and on the tables of real fans of this brand. It brings several interesting and non-traditional solutions such as side panels on the hinges, unusual positioning of the motherboard and graphics card and, above all, the possibility of dual orientation. Build quality, packaging and presentation is at a high level, but at a price of 249 euros, nothing else could be expected.
Personally, I consider the Z11 as a concept and a demonstration of ROG design as a mass product that should be in every player’s room. The reason is not only the price but also several imperfect things of the case design. Probably the most fundamental drawback is the complicated access to the motherboard connectors and especially the graphics card, and only the minimal opening for the cables to exit the case. The second complication during the assembly was too many screws and cables and the need to disassemble the case almost to the bone before one can finally start inserting the components.
The screws in the package are unlabelled and it is not entirely trivial to know like 6 types of them. Also, the lack of space to run the cabling from the power supply and its management in the case without the use of hand-braided and accurately measured cables was quite complicated. I would therefore describe the overall building experience as difficult, which is not unusual for ITX cases, but the design focus of the case made the building process quite difficult.
ROG Z11 will therefore be a suitable product for really passionate fans of the brand, or as a collector’s item, as its uniqueness cannot be denied. However, the convenience is not so good.
| Asus ROG Z11 |
| + unique design |
| + high build quality |
| + untraditional side panels |
| + up to 5 USB ports on the front panel |
| + RGB backlighting |
| + possibility of two positions |
| - bad access to the motherboard and GPU’s I/O |
| - little space for cabling |
| - complicated manipulation |
| - price |
| - unlabelled screws in the package |
You can buy this PC case at our partner’s website czc.cz for 6,499 Czk/249 Eur
