A Closer Look - Inside

The general interior layout of the Lian Li O11 Air Mini has not changed much from its predecessors, but Lian Li has tweaked it considerably to improve upon it. The main difference in the frame is why there is now a 90° angle for the cable management, so you no longer need that extra mounting plate the O11 Dynamic Mini featured to install a wide ATX board. On top of that, Lian Li has included additional parts to allow for more hard drives within the chassis. There is also a redesigned cove plate with the "Der Bauer" branding at the center, behind the motherboard tray—it may also hold two SSDs, and you may remove it to access the rest of the space.


Within the main chamber of the chassis, the rear is simply where you would find your expansion slots with each cover held in place by a traditional screw. The 120 mm PWM fan can be found in the very top.


In the front, the space is taken up by two pre-installed 140 mm fans. All the fans within the Lian Li O11 Air Mini are retail-grade, so there should be no reason for you to want to replace them. There is still the ability to install liquid cooling of up to 280 mm on the side of the case, but Lian Li has placed two HDD plates there as well, so you may use the space for storage purposes instead.


As is the case with all other O11 Dynamic variants, the Air Mini features another mounting position for two 120 or 140 mm fans with the option of up to a 280 mm radiator on the floor of the chassis. Exactly the same setup is seen in the ceiling. Obviously, the thickness of what you can install really depends on the motherboard size and how you have set up the rear motherboard backplate.


The two mounting plates for hard drives allows for either 2.5 or 3.5" drives to be installed here. Each plate is held in place by a thumb screw, and removing these reveals the mounting for either fans or radiators.


Then there is the hard-drive cage towards the rear of the chassis. It has been slightly redesigned to be a bit simpler. By using a different tray style, a few additional parts found on the original O11 Dynamic Mini are no longer needed. The only downside here is that there no longer any obvious way to install any type of SATA power and data PCB to allow for hot-swap capability, which is something the original O11 Dynamic Mini allowed for with an optional accessory.


Below that, the ATX PSU bay is pretty straightforward, with plenty of room to allow for longer, more potent variants. It sits on a little frame to give you some room below it for cable-routing audio and USB cables to the motherboard.


You will still find several Velcro strips next to the openings for cable-routing and management. The major openings are also covered with grommets that now feature a 90° angle, which should improve the ability to route cables easily as well.


All the leads within the chassis are sleeved black and plenty long. As such, you should have no issues connecting these to their respective plugs on your motherboard, no matter which form factor you pick.