A Closer Look - Outside

The Air 100 Lite looks pretty nice out of the box with its straight lines and clean material mix. While there are plenty of options out there for ATX cases, the Micro-ATX market is usually geared more towards affordability and lacks attention to detail.


The front of the Montech Air 100 Lite is made out of steel with fine perforations that also acts as a dust filter. Montech advertises the holes as "super fine," but they are spaced slightly further apart than some implementations we have seen from ssupd, Phanteks, or Lian Li, for example. You may pull it off with a gentle tug, revealing a single, white 120 mm fan in the front of the chassis. The magnet holding the panel in place could have been stronger, or Montech could have employed push pins instead, but odds are you won't be moving your system around much anyways. In the rear, everything looks pretty traditional with the PSU bay located on the bottom of the Air 100 Lite.


The glass panel is essentially clear and comes with a clean mounting mechanism with hinges. A little plastic loop allows you to easily open it. Having the panel framed in a clean white really pulls the case together and makes it look great. On the opposite side, you are greeted by a solid black panel instead.


The PSU bay on the bottom of the rear has been placed underneath a shroud and features two sets of mounting holes. Above that, you will find the classic four expansion slots for your Micro-ATX motherboard. These are of the breakout kind, so you won't be able to reuse any to cover the slots unfortunately. In the very top is a second white 120 mm fan set to push hot air out the back. For the best-possible alignment with your internal setup, the fan may be positioned in six different vertical spots.


The top is essentially a perforated panel. It is unusually flat, whereas most brands simply recess it slightly and then place the magnetic dust filter on top of the chassis. Also, the screw-mounting holes are quite big, which could be an issue. Ultimately, these will be visible regardless of whether you go for classic fan cooling or an AIO. Lastly, the mounting holes have not been offset, so odds are most mainstream or higher-end motherboards will collide with a fan and radiator combination. The I/O on the Montech Air 100 Lite consists of two USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0, and the usual audio plugs. This is all just fine, but Montech could absolutely do away with the USB 2.0 port and spend those savings on engineering the top panel a little better, for example. A square power button and an unlabeled round one for either reset or ARGB control have been placed towards the front edge of the chassis.


On the underside, you will find another simple metal mesh dust filter, protecting the PSU from dirt and grime. The Montech Air 100 Lite allows you to move the HDD cage underneath the shroud back a little for a 280 mm radiator setup in the front, and two classic screws here hold the drive cage in place firmly. That said, if you are bold enough, you could try squeezing a 360 mm in even though it is not officially supported.


Montech has placed the 3-mm-thick glass panel on basic, but functional hinges, which is great to see. The panel is held in place magnetically, and a strip of foam on the chassis frame ensures it sits snug and doesn't rattle due to system vibrations.