XFX Type 01 Bravo Case Review

Final Words

XFX put a lot of effort into the aesthetic appeal, with their marketing claiming that a case "represents who you really are". Aesthetics are a strictly subjective matter and the design of the Type 01 Bravo is undoubtedly unique. On the other hand, although it is not an aggressive design, we cannot really consider it to be "minimalistic" as XFX claims. The definition of minimalism is to design something with the least amount of elements possible, achieving simplicity. Though the design of the Type 01 Bravo is based on basic geometric shapes, they have been used excessively and in order to achieve a design that stands out a lot, not to form a simple and understated product.

In terms of performance, the XFX Type 01 Bravo is no better than most typical mid-tower cases. Although this isn't bad considering the size and design of the case, it becomes a problem once the price of the case is included in the evaluation. If it could close the performance gap between a mid-sized tower case and an advanced gaming case, the XFX Type 01 Bravo would have been serious competition; however, the XFX Type 01 Bravo is all but hopeless when compared with larger, more advanced designs.

Despite that, aesthetics are a subjective matter (some users might hate this design, others may love it) and the average performance is not really a major issue for a new case. The real problem of the Type 01 Bravo is the quality issues and the excessive use of plastic. We should clarify that there is nothing inherently wrong with plastic, the properties of which depend on its quality and density - there are plastics that greatly surpass the properties of the best metals. However, the plastics used in the Type 01 Bravo are badly designed and very brittle, requiring very careful handling by the user or serious damage is bound to happen. This also makes the Type 01 Bravo entirely unsuitable for frequent transportation and we would not recommend it to people who upgrade often either.

As the Type 01 Bravo is the very first attempt from XFX to design a case, we consider it to be a fair attempt, but with plenty of room for improvements. We cannot deny that the Type 01 Bravo has several useful and interesting features, nor that it is versatile and easy to work with. It is however plagued by quality issues and the price tag is hard to justify for what really is a typical mid-sized tower case with an unusual aesthetic. XFX is currently working on other case designs, with a rumored aluminum-based "Type 01 Alpha" coming up, which sounds far more interesting for advanced users, gamers, and enthusiasts.