Soon after Phanteks came out with its T30-120 fans, I was waiting to see who would be next to go down the liquid crystalline polymer rotor route and perhaps even use a thicker frame. Thermaltake came in with its TOUGHFAN 12, which has recently been updated with the TOUGHFAN 12 Pro, and then Lian Li decided to do the same. The new UNI FAN P28 offers pretty much everything the T30-120 does but at a lower cost and with a few other benefits too. For example, it's 28 mm thick compared to the 30 mm on the T30-120 so you do get slightly higher case compatibility in this metric. There are two color options of all black and all white which are more pleasing than the more industrial aesthetics of the Phanteks fan and almost certainly less divisive than the original Noctua NF-A12x25 which arguably started the whole trend in the first place. You also get a neater method of installing multiple fans together on radiators with a single cable per group and there are handy tweaks utilized to ensure the radiator ports don't get blocked or that you won't need to use longer screws either. Purely from a performance point of view, the Lian Li offering competes favorably with the T30-120 and bests it the faster they both spin. Then there's the part where you pay less per fan and Lian Li does make a strong case for itself. I do wish the three operating modes were available via a switch or did not require the add-on controller, which is included with a triple pack admittedly, but it's not the end of the world and you do get a long RPM range of control by default either way.

Compared to the TOUGHFAN 12, you don't get the many different color options or the more straightforward 120 x 120 x 25 mm footprint but Lian Li does best it in terms of pure performance as well as a balance of performance and noise alike. There's also a fan-specific lighting accessory here which adds ARGB LEDs to the UNI FAN P28 but I was not impressed with what you get for the money, especially since it makes the wide fans even wider when installed. The daisy-chaining is still neat though and the ARGB kit makes for a cleaner group of fans that looks like a single solid block when put together. Given that it's purely optional, I can't fault the fans themselves and so my overall positive impressions continue. It's a funny time when LED fans cost a lot more than pure performance fans that use more expensive materials and R&D time but that's just how things are. People want to be able to customize their PC build and having individually addressable LEDs is one of the easier ways to do so while also adding in lighting inside the case. The Lian Li UNI FAN P28 still has its gimmicks but it does what it promises and offers excellent performance for those looking for it. It's an easy recommendation in my books and the relatively lower cost compared to the other contenders pushes it towards being an editor's choice too.

[Update, July 2023: With the Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Pro having come out just shortly after this review was written, the Lian Li UNI FAN P28 does not merit an Editor's Choice award any more. I've downgraded it to a recommendation, which it still earns.]