The Fractal Define 7 Compact is the first traditionally sized Define chassis that truly offers the same internal experience as the bigger brethren. Sure, there was the Define C that made it to market between the Define S and the Define R6, which made deciding where to place it in the product line-up difficult. It came out after the Define S and had a very different internal look and functionality, but wasn't a direct counterpart to the R6, either.

The Fractal Define 7 Compact, however, draws directly from the larger Define 7. On the exterior, you will find the same brushed aluminium panel and two variants of the top cover, while the side panel out of glass comes in the same clean aesthetic. On the interior, it offers the same core layout and thus compatibility with liquid cooling in the front, top, and even floor, as well as partially removable covers on the shroud. You will even get two retail-grade Dynamic X2 fans and all the usual dust filter and sound dampening additions of the Define 7.

Thus, at first sight it really looks and feels like a smaller version of the popular 7th generation of Define cases (not counting the outliers!), but both more obvious and less apparent differences are present upon taking a closer look. While the I/O is identical, you naturally don't have a 5.25" bay and thus no more front door, but such an omission was to be expected. The same goes for the lack of over-the-top storage capability and an uncompromising availability of space to throw all the biggest parts into the chassis while being able to go nuts on liquid cooling. The volume simply does not accommodate it, which should not come as a surprise, either.

However, things like the vertical GPU mount from the Define 7 could have made it into the compact variant, as other mid-towers of similar size also include it. On top of that, Fractal could have included the two additional 2.5" drive trays for the shroud, which would have been less drastic than the drop to four from the nine in the original, especially since some competing cases, like the Pure Base 500, do go for six out of the box. Lastly, the Nexus 2+ hub is nowhere to be found, which could be forgiven as it would be less useful with the lower number of possible fans if it weren't for the fact that most ATX boards still don't offer enough headers to cover all the fan-placement possibilities in the Fractal Design Define 7 Compact.

All in all, this may sound like Fractal has cut too many corners, but that is absolutely not the case. Just looking at the MSRP, with the Define 7 clocking in at around $160 for the most affordable version, the Define 7 Compact manages to hit that magic $100 mark. That will suddenly make this case incredibly enticing for a huge audience, and while slightly more expensive than the competition, it is so for good reason, which makes it an excellent value and a great choice!