A Closer Look - Inside

Origen AE has kept the insides of the M10 very simple. There are a few different colored PCBs around the mainboard area and a simple but effective tray for the optical drive. Sadly, there is no adapter for such drives included. Both IDE and SATA drives require an adapter to connect to the desktop connectors of the power supply.


The front area is filled by two PCBs. A green one which holds the VFD and IR unit along with a small blue one for the power button and LED. There is quite the space on the left side of the green PCB. This could have been used for a card reader or some external connectivity. Origen AE has included a single 60 mm fan to create some air flow and I am happy to report that it is very quiet. Note the space between the DC to DC converter and the fan. If the PCB were moved back towards the cooling unit a bit more, there would have been even more space for the above mentioned missing features.


The DC to DC PCB has all solid state capacitors, which further underlines the quality Origen AE is so well known for. Also included is a short cable to connect the mainboard and converter. You also get a single Molex, a SATA and a Floppy plug along with that P4 connector. This set is well chosen and more than you need for an enclosure like this.


The single expansion slot is covered by a removable, silver cover. Many mini ITX board feature a PCI or PCIe expansion slot, which could be useful when adding a TV tuner card for example.