Azza Toledo 301 Case Review

In the computer case market there are several major players and a large field of smaller companies fighting for their share of the customer base. Competition like this make it a real buyers market. With so many cases to chose from there is always something for everyone.

Today in we will be looking at a relative newcomer in the market with a popular design called the Toledo.  The Azza Toledo 301 is a very affordable ATX midtower design with a very unique style. Dressed in black and highlighted with Blue LED lighting it makes a very nice first impression.

Packed to the brim with nice features, the Toledo 301 is well laid out and should find a fairly wide audience. It is coated both inside and outside with a sleek black finish and constructed of surprisingly solid SECC steel and heavy plastic components which gives it a very substantial feel for a case in this price segment.

A blue LED 120mm fan resides under the front bezel bringing fresh air in over the 3.5" drivebays. A 120mm non-lighted fan exhausts air out the back by the I/O plate. Mounted in the door is a massive 250mm LED fan which flushes the videocard and motherboard with an abundant supply of fresh air. Inside the top there is enough room to mount two additional 120mm fans and room for another in the center of the case bottom (not included).

There are plenty of drive bays to satisfy just about any system builder.  It has a single external 3.5" bay, four external 5.25" drive bays, four internal 3.25" bays which could handle four hard drives or three hard drives and a pair of SSDs. For securing the optical drives, there is a full coverage plastic latching mechanism which can secure your drives in a single step.

All throughout the inside, there are many well planned features, from large well placed holes for routing cables to bulging side panels which allow routing for even thick wiring behind the motherboard tray. 

The motherboard tray also comes with a large access hole for mounting CPU coolers without the need to remove the motherboard.

The Azza Toledo 301 is a surprisingly well done midtower case. With several standout features and no real weak points, it is clear the designers put a lot of effort into making a real impact. From the striking blue glow coming from the front bezel as well as the side panel to the nice blue ringed power switch and fully painted chassis, there is a lot to like about the Toledo 301. There are some shortcomings however, as there was no provision for dust filters in any of the locations. Also the vents on top would have benefitted from the LED fan treatment nicely; however those fans are not included. Also the wiring for the massive door panel fan tail is un-sleeved. Another functional downside is that there are no USB 3.0 ports provided even though this has become a standard on most cases.

Price point and looks are the usual deciding factors in any case purchase.  While we found the looks decent we were not blown away. It would be hard to dismiss the bold vents and style of the case in any regard as it definitely has a solid theme going. with copious amounts of airflow available and room (according to the manufacturer) for even lengthy Radeon HD 5970 videocards this midtower makes a lot of sense to a budget minded builder looking for a good balance of quality and price.