Packaging:
The unit arrived in a brown box, which did not include all the flashy colors of a retail oriented box. This is fine by me, and makes sense. The person looking to buy this type of enclosure probably won't be looking at the local electronics store (i.e. Best Buy, CompUSA, Fry's). The front and the back of the box do not provide you with much information. Other than a monochrome picture of the enclosure and the model number, nothing else is provided. In the second picture you can see the sides, which provide you information such as the model number and a few advantages of this unit.
Opening the box I found the enclosure to be packed between two large foam blocks and wrapped in a heavy plastic bag. The only additional items in the box were a manual that detailed the setup of the unit, and a small bag of screws.
The Basics:
In the below left image you can see the front which includes the three removable hard drive trays, and the top. The majority of the unit is aluminium, and the only plastic part which will be seen by the user is the bezel. The top includes a small diagram which goes over the connections and the function of the switch on the back.
The side of the unit is reminiscent of an optical drive. You have the screw holes as if you put two optical drives on top of each other. Occasionally I will have issues installing some hardware into Thermaltake cases which use a tool-less bracket to mount them. Such issues did not occur with the Icy Dock MB453SPF.
Moving to the back we see some of the more important areas. As you can see there is an 80mm exhaust fan attached next to the connections. The second picture shows the fan housing removed, which reveals that there is plenty of airflow potential. The two white connections are used to detect if the fan is connected, and the other is to provide power and speed monitoring to the fan.
