Intro

Very much like the 1970’s battle between Sony’s Betamax format and JCV’s VHS format, the home computer industry has suffered much in the same way but without the major players backing a specific format. Currently, there are four major known basic types of card readers and three major known types of external home computer hardware interfaces. As a consequence, a novice home computer user would have to do some research on what types of connectors their home computer has before they went out and bought, say, a new digital camera.

Not anymore, they don’t. That is, unless they have already looked into the market of the highly convenient All-In-One panels that have become the latest rage for gamers and an extreme convenience for home users like myself. The design of using a front bay panel to host connection ports slowly crept into the market place a while back and has been growing ever since.

That leads me to introduce to you the 20-in-1 Superior Panel from SunbeamTech. Like the name suggests, this front 5 1/4” panel supports nine different types of memory cards, three major external hardware interface connectors, four different multi-media ports, a thermal indicator that displays two different temperatures and two different fan speeds, and finally two wheel type adjusters so you can not only adjust your fan speeds but close your front panel, too. Can this 20-In-1 Superior Panel satisfy the needs of the consumer market?

Speaking of fans, SunbeamTech also sent along four of their brand new Silent Anodized LED fans for review. The fans are extremely attractive looking, having been anodized (both the blades and the frame) and sports four LEDs, one at each corner. Looks count when you’re a modder, but it isn’t worth it unless you can also get performance out of it. Can this Silent Anodized LED fan earn a place in your next mod?

Let’s find out.

The package arrived in your standard, ordinary plain brown box via UPS Ground. Again I have been blessed in that the box arrived safe and sound in perfect condition. Inside the box was the 20-In-1 Superior Panel box and the four Silent Anodized LED fans. Extra space had been filled up with your basic, run-of-the-mill newspaper.

Like a kid on Christmas, I couldn’t decide which one to open first so I went with the biggest box first, the 20-In-1 Superior Panel. Once I opened this sturdy box, I felt intimidated by what I saw. After all, the last time I hooked up a car stereo it had fewer wires packed inside the box than this one did. Thankfully, I came to my senses and actually remembered that I know what these wires were for (unlike the car stereo).

SunbeamTech did a great job in packaging so much into a small box. The wires were all tied neatly and it seems in a specific order to use all the space available. Both the wires and the front panel were protected further inside the box by being encased inside plastic packaging. One of the first things I did when I opened the package was to go straight to the manual to see if there was a packing list and sure enough, page 2 shows exactly everything that should be included (and yes, it was). Also included is a manual and a driver CD.

Seeing that everything was included with the front I/O panel, I moved on to the Silent Anodized LED fans. They were packed in what is known as a clear plastic “blister” so you could see how shiny the fan is. Inside the clear plastic blister was, of course, the fan and a small filler box, which contained a three pin to four pin connector and five stickers. Stickers? From the look of it, the five stickers were included so you could change the color of the sticker on the fan to the color choices that they had included (silver, blue, green, red, and gold).