The Fractal Design Focus 2 is one of the brands most affordable cases and as such presents a much lower barrier of entry for anyone wanting a chassis from them. As such, with its $69.99 starting price and $79.99 for the RGB variant, the Focus 2 is clearly in the budget territory. This is great as it really opens up a new market segment for Fractal and after the recent release of their Pop series further underlines their push towards capturing that costumer group. Offering such a case also helps with system integrators who are always on the lookout for functional and sturdy enclosure to build systems with.

Instead of simply reusing an OEM frame or some old tooling, Fractal has gone the extra mile and put their own spin of what they envision a case for this segment should provide. Gone is the shroud that has become a staple for essentially all enclosures out there, regardless of price point. Instead you get a unique metal strip across the bottom edge of the glass, which does add a nifty visual touch but doesn't solve the issue of keeping the PSUs cable mess at bay. The one big gripe I have with the Focus 2 are the plastic push pins for the 2.5" bay. These simply are far too hit & miss in terms of functioning properly. As such, you may be left with a drive that falls off and no option to install it anywhere else within the chassis without spening more money. This is even more painful, as many budget builds may still rely on this format to get benefits of Solid State Drives affordably. On the upside, with the side panel on, the drives should not have enough room to pop off the pins, so the major annoyance manifests itself during the actual build itself.

Otherwise, the interior of the chassis is quite traditional, extremely well built and thanks to the many zip tie hooks, also allows for sufficient cable management. The Aspect 14 fan and the RGB power button are also unique elements that should catch your attention when you are in the market for such an enclosure. And, thanks to the included offset brackets, you can even go for a 240 mm AIO in the ceiling.

Considering the premium build of Fractal Design cases, the same holds true for the Focus 2. And as such being able to buy a case for $70/$80 is a great. You get a clean, well engineered window, thumb screw equipped, reusable expansion slot covers, a high quality I/O panel with expandability for USB-C and genuine Aspect 14 fans. All of that makes the Fractal Design Focus 2 deservant of a recommendation. That said, for just $10 more, you can get color choices, Velcro cable management, three retail grade fans, metal HDD mounting trays and a shroud in form of the Fractal Design Pop series, which may end up being the more attractive choice for most budget minded users.