What's it look like?
One of ION's indisputable benefits is that it can be placed into a very small chassis. Scan, however, chooses a Mini-ITX case from Compucase. The steel-and-plastic affair look reasonable enough but the slimline Optiarc drive's dark-grey colour somewhat clashes against the all-black plastic front of the chassis.
The chassis measures 268mm (W) x 318mm (D) x 70mm (H) making considerably larger than, say Acer's Revo (180mm x 180mm x 30mm). A couple of USB2.0 and audio ports sit next to an eSATA port which isn't used by Scan- - mainly because it's filled-in by the chassis manufacturer!
The generic-looking case has a vent just where you would need it, but the ION platform doesn't get that warm, even under load.
Scan removes the built-in PSU because the ZOTAC board features internal power; all you need is an external power-brick, much like laptops. It does make the rear look ungainly, however, and a smaller chassis would have been preferable.
The ports' provision is generous. Six USB2.0, eSATA, S/PDIF (optical and coaxial), WiFi, and no less than three video outputs. HDMI is an absolute must on an HTPC, and you can see it sandwiched between the left-hand USB port and optical S/PDIF.
