The Exterior - Front
Like the units displayed in Akihabara, Japan, recently, the chassis colour of the preview unit is a deep red. In terms of dimensions, the main unit is roughly 12.5 inches deep, 8.25 inches wide, 7.5 inches tall, and as you'll see soon, there's an extra 1.5 inches of protruding PSU assembly at the rear. The front view is up first.
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The upper external drive bay houses any optical drive device you wish to install, the chassis stealthing the bay opening, leaving you with a slim push-button for activating the drive itself.
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Below that is a pull-down panel that drops down to reveal an external 3.5" bay opening for a floppy drive or similar device. The preview unit came with a 6-in-1 card reader and floppy drive combinatation device. The action needed to open the bay cover is a gentle but firm push, to free it from its catch and allow it to swing down. The swing action isn't weighted. That bay space also houses mic output and line input on the left, and a powered FireWire400 port on the right.
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The circular ports are all USB2.0, with the surround for each port lighting up depending on the condition of the port. If you have a device connected, the surround glows bright red, otherwise it's bright blue when empty. The power button (there's no reset button on the ZMAXdp) is metal-effect plastic and its surround also glows blue when there's power to the unit, with a small slit underneath that does the same. It's very striking in low light conditions, the surrounds glowing very brightly indeed.
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Excuse the poor quality of that last shot, my camera had trouble focusing without the flash, due to the bright lights. Let's move round the side and take a look at it from that angle, followed by a close look at its rear.
