A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the box, the Lian Li O11 Air Mini instantly reminds us of the normal and XL variants. As this is the variant meant for additional cooling, the main material change is the use of fine perforation panels on the top and front. Thanks to the fine grill, there is no need for any additional dust-filter layers.


Looking at the front, the Lian Li O11 Air Mini front panel is clearly made out of steel, and there are fine perforation. Its feet have also been changed from the original, and the slimmer bar on the right seems to be a little wider as well. In fact, the O11 Air Mini is wider than the original O11 Dynamic Mini to accommodate an ATX PSU, as is clearly seen when viewed from the back.

To access the two pre-installed 140 mm fans, you have to remove the top panel first and then pull up the one in the front. While the front glass panel of the O11 Dynamic Mini could also be removed, there is very little reason to do so unless you have a very elaborate build.


The main side panel utilizes the same mounting mechanism as on the larger cases, which makes it seamless. On the opposite side is the aluminium panel with two sets of air vents which are now sporting the same fine openings as the front for the side fan/radiator mount in the front and the PSU and HDD area towards the rear of the chassis.


Even though the Lian Li O11 Air Mini is quite compact, it features full seven-slot ATX compatibility. These are now broken down into two sections, with the bottom two slots removable, so you may move the whole configuration down while still employing an mATX or smaller form factor. Next to this is the full-size ATX PSU bay, which is a very functional upgrade to the SFX one of the original O11 Dynamic Mini. This allows you to go for a full-size power supply and put the savings over the more compact form factor towards other things in your build.


In the top is still the rear fan mount which comes with a 120 mm exhaust fan pre-installed. You may adjust its height to line it up with your components for the best cooling performance. As the PSU has been moved to the bottom-left of the case from this angle, the two 3.5" hard-drive bays are now located in the top-left corner behind a vented cover. The trays themselves have been updated as well, but are still made out of steel.


The top of the Lian Li O11 Air Mini features a vented steel panel with a fine grid of holes you may remove, revealing mounting possibilities for up to three 120 or two 140 mm fans. Alternatively, you may install a radiator of up to 280 mm here. As the O11 Air Mini is slightly wider than the original, Lian Li has also offset the mounting slightly further away from the motherboard.


Lian Li has placed two USB 3.0 and a single USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C connector in the top, next to a power button. Instead of the acrylic of the original, the panel on the O11 Air Mini surrounding the I/O is now made out of aluminium.


A removable dust filter has been placed along the whole floor of the chassis. You may pull it out through the side for cleaning purposes. This makes accessing it extremely easy no matter how your desktop is arranged.


Before we dive into the interior, we changed the layout of the rear to showcase how to accommodate an mATX board in case you want to go for a bigger cooling setup in the ceiling of the chassis. Simply remove the thumb screws holding the parts in place, move the motherboard backplate down, and place the separately included cover strip above it to close the gap.