A Closer Look - Outside

Once the Edge-HD has been place on top of the stand, it makes a very good and compact impression. The surface is similar to that found on the BitFenix family of cases, having a soft feel to it. This means that the unit is not actually black but dark gray, which some may find irritating next to their all black Home Theater systems for example. Also, there is no way to mount the Edge-HD on the backside of a TV or monitor, as there are no VESA mounting holes anywhere.


You will find a pair of USB 2.0 connectivity in the front of the device. It would have been good to see USB 3.0 here, especially as you will have no way to add such a functionality in a system like this. Turning things around, there is a VGA port, an HDMI output, a pair of USB 2.0 plugs - for a total of four such expandability - the Gigabit Ethernet port, a power plug along with the traditional pair of audio connectors on the very bottom. I would have liked to see some sort of optical out so that the system could have been used with surround sound speakers properly. As it stands now, you will only be able to use the digital audio from the HDMI port.


Both sides of the Edge-HD are completely solid. Only the upper and bottom of the device are lined with air vents, with the top one being use to push hot air out of the system by the CPU/chipset cooler.


The power button along with the HDD activity LED have been placed on the left side panel. These light up blue and orange respectively once turned on.