Inwin a1 review in Spanish (full analysis)

InWin A1 is presented to the market as one of the reference Mini-ITX chassis for many reasons. This ultra-compact chassis for Mini-ITX Motherboards delights design lovers with a spectacular finish in glass, white steel, and lighting on a clear base. The brand has done an excellent job offering its product with a 600W 80 Plus Bronze PSU and Qi charger in the upper area to be able to charge mobile devices. But it is also supports high-end components to assemble a gaming computer even with liquid cooling on its back. All this and much more will be covered in our complete review of InWin A1, let's get started!

First of all, thank InWin for the trust in our team to give us their product for this analysis.

InWin A1 technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

We start as always, talking about the packaging that this beautiful InWin A1 chassis brings. It is something as original as a neutral cardboard box with black ink screen printing. Surprised? The case is that it has a very basic sketch of the chassis on one side and the model on the other. In addition, in the lateral areas we can see some other information on the characteristics of the product.

In this case, the chassis is perfectly protected inside the box by two expanded polystyrene corks and all of it wrapped in a black textile bag. Without a doubt this will give better results than the traditional plastic bag that always comes loaded with static electricity, something not good for the installation of components.

The next, of course, will be to proceed to the unpacking of the product to begin to explore all the possibilities that this box offers. Despite being a fairly small chassis, it has considerable weight, also due to the power supply that it stores inside as standard. The total weight of the product is 6 Kg.

Next to the chassis and inside the cardboard box, comes a plastic bag with all the documentation and hardware necessary for the installation of the components. We also have a steel plate that we can install on the chassis to better hold the graphics card that we install.

In turn, within the same chassis we have a 230 V power cable for InWin A1.

InWin A1 undoubtedly stands out for its excellent exterior appearance, a very careful design in an extremely small and compact chassis, even for ITX boards. This will allow us to place it as one more decorative element on our work table.

The entire exterior area is painted in white and made of SECC steel, although we will also have another version in black. This makes a very good combination with the black color of the interior area and its tempered glass side window.

As for the measurements of this chassis we have 35 7 mm long by 224 mm wide by 273 mm high, therefore, a very small chassis.

On its right side we can better see how the exterior white and interior black colors combine, which we can easily see thanks to a slightly darkened tempered glass panel 3 mm thick. At the lower ends we will have two opaque bands to improve and refine the presentation of the chassis.

This glass will be easily removable by means of two fixing tabs in which we will only have to pull outwards to uncouple the window and remove it. What we do not know is whether in the long run this system will lose its fixation and we will have problems keeping the window correctly fixed.

The front of this InWin A1 is entirely made of smooth white steel and rounded on both sides for a better finish. As a decorative element, we will have the brand logo in a relatively large size drilled in the sheet. In addition, we note the presentation of its base built in transparent acrylic with LED lighting.

This front is not removable, since inside it houses the power supply and not a ventilation hole like some other models.

The upper part of this chassis has much more crumb than the front. This area is composed of a glass finish on top of white steel, giving it, in our opinion, the area with the best finish of the chassis.

At the same time we have in the lateral zone an I / O panel designed in brushed steel that further improves this zone. We will have the following connections and elements:

2 USB 3.0 3.5mm audio jack and microphone connectors Power on / off button LED indicators for HDD and power status.

But this is not all, since InWin A1 has a Qi wireless charger for our mobile devices. Something really original and very useful for not having the need to charge by cable the devices that are compatible with this wireless charging technology.

In the right side area we have a white steel sheet easily removable by means of manual thread screws. This has an area full of honeycomb gills that will be used as extraction or introduction of air for the installation area of a fan that hides behind them. In this case we do not have a fan already pre-installed in this area or a dust filter, something that would be really useful.

In addition to ventilation, behind this sheet we have a small space of around 10 mm for cable management or, where appropriate, to install two 2.5-inch units.

We now move to the rear where we found more or less what to expect. In the lower area we have located in the central area the power connector to give power to the power source.

Right on top we have the two slots for expansion cards that at most bring the ITX motherboards, or where appropriate to support a high-performance graphics card. To ensure the correct placement of this, we have a fixing plate by means of a manual screw.

In the upper area we have the hole for the port panel of the motherboard and a ventilation hole for air extraction with a capacity for ventilation of 120 mm which is also not included.

We finish by taking a look at the lower area and which serves as a support for this chassis, although it has a few surprises. To start, we do not have the typical rubber feet, but a transparent acrylic plastic structure with supports at all four corners, yes, together with the bag of screws we have 4 non-slip bands to put them on. The result is very good but possibly the sound or vibrations of the box will be transmitted to the table where it is located, so it is not optimal for soundproofing.

In the central area we find a space for two 120mm fans not installed and in turn protected from the entry of dust by a somewhat thick and basic particle filter, although it will do its job correctly.

If we remove this element using the four screws it has for its fixation, we will find an LED lighting strip in the entire area that will make the entire support area of the chassis light up. This is also how we can install the fans, since the dust filter is fixed.

Interior and assembly

Having finished with the exterior area, we remove the side elements to access its interior area. Here we find to start the power cable to connect the chassis to the power. As we have said, InWin A1 is exclusively designed to mount Mini-ITX boards.

We can also see at a glance that the power supply does not have a fairing for its isolation, in this case the brand has opted for a black plastic protector and an installation in the front area. In this way, it has been possible to obtain a space for two fans at the bottom with such a tiny chassis. Still, we thought that a compartment for this font would still be possible to have installed.

Regarding the possibilities of installing drivers and hardware elements of this chassis, we have enough space to install graphics cards of up to 320 mm and CPU coolers of up to 160 mm. Surely the top of the range components will not enter the market, but we have very good space for most of them

Speaking a little more about the power supply, this comes pre-installed and has a power of 600W and 50A in single rail and certified 80Plus Bronze. It has the following connectors:

ATX connector for motherboard power Cable with two 6 + 2-pin connectors for graphics cards 4 + 2-pin CPU power connector SAT power cable Qi charger for devices with wireless charging

It is not exactly a high-end one, but we think it is more than enough if what we plan to build is a computer for work or for multimedia playback. For compact-sized gaming PCs and high-powered graphics cards, it may be a bit too tight.

We now turn to see what possibilities InWin A1 offers us to install our storage devices. The result has been capacity for 2 2.5-inch hard drives or SSDs and no gap for 3.5-inch hard drives. This is an important handicap for users who want to migrate traditional hard drives to an ITX machine.

To finish, we enter the refrigeration section for this chassis to study what options we have and if they are really useful or sufficient. We say this, because according to the brand, it is a gaming chassis, and as such it must be up to the task.

Fan configuration:

Side: 120mm x1 Rear: 120mm x1 Bottom: 120mm x2

We know that it is a small chassis and even so we have a capacity of 4 120mm fans, that does not have any factory pre-installed fans. The lower part is recommended to be used to obtain an air intake flow, since the hot air tends to go towards the upper area due to the lower weight. This also applies to the side zone fan. Therefore, we are left with the need for a powerful fan in the rear area to remove all the excess hot air from the components and the power supply.

Cooling configuration:

Rear: 120mm

We have few possibilities in this regard, although at least it is appreciated that there is one. We think that the lower part could have been exploited more in this aspect, but in such a small chassis it is normal to have these limitations.

To finish we see the final result with the complete installation and in operation. The result is very elegant and striking. Furthermore, we have been able to position the cables well enough to obtain a clean and tidy result.

Final words and conclusion about InWin A1

InWin has certainly done a great job of designing and looking this chassis. The build quality is obvious to the naked eye with its beautiful glass top and brushed steel panel. The lighting in its base stand also feels great and gives it a very refined and elegant look to form a set that looks good on any work table. Having a chassis of these extremely compact measures will allow us to even transport it more or less easily anywhere.

We must also highlight the factory availability of a good power supply with 80 Plus Bronze certificate and 600W of power and a Qi charger that comes to us that is not even painted to charge our mobile if it has this technology.

Another of the most positive features of InWin A1 is that we can install quite large heatsinks and up to 32 cm graphics cards, which is almost the total length of the chassis. In addition, we can install up to 4 120mm fans which is a very positive thing, although not so much its layout, but we must know the limitations of such a small chassis.

We also recommend our article on the best chassis of the moment

As for the upgradable aspects, we do not have factory installed fans available and also a little more space for cable management, since it is difficult to place them so that nothing is seen.

We can get InWin A1 for a price of 200 euros, which is a little high if we take into account the aspect of ventilation. We must also remember that we have a built-in power supply and Qi charger which means that the product must rise in price.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ QUALITY OF MATERIALS AND GREAT DESIGN	IT DOES NOT HAVE PRE-INSTALLED FANS, ALTHOUGH THIS IS INWIN FOR US TO INSTALL A FAN OF OUR FAVORITE BRAND
+ QI CHARGER AND FACTORY POWER SUPPLY	LITTLE DUST PROTECTION
+ TEMPERED GLASS ON THE SIDE AND UPPER PART	CANNOT INSTALL 3.5 "HARD DISKS, EVEN IF 2.5"
+ SUPPORTS LARGE SIZE HEATSINKS AND GRAPHICS CARDS