Lian Li PC-TU150

One briefcase please, hold the brief

- CHRISTIAN GUYTON

LIAN LI HASN’T MADE a super-compact PC case with a carry handle in quite some time. The TU150 is a long-awaited follow-up to the classic TU100 and TU200 cases, which were released years ago and, frankly, were ugly as hell. Nobody wants their sweet portable gaming PC to look like a shell case for their ailing Fleetwood Mac cover band’s solitary amplifier. If you disagree with that statement, put down this magazine, and go buy your bandmates another amp!

The TU150 is an altogether more tasteful affair, engineered for the best possible use of space, and crafted from aluminum and steel, with a tempered glass window or silver finish available at no extra cost, should that take your fancy. The panels pop off the TU150 with a little pressure, allowing for screwless disassembly. There’s no RGB lighting to be found here—not even a tiny HDD activity LED—but the TU150 still looks significantly more attractive than its predecessors, like an armored briefcase containing nuclear launch codes or your grandmother’s mac and cheese recipe.

The brushed aluminum front panel is topped with a simple front I/O, which has two USB-A 3.0 ports and a speedy USB-C 3.1 port, along with two 3.5mm jacks for a mic and headset, plus the power and reset buttons, of course. It’s nothing to write home about, but it has all the usual features and looks nice and snug tucked into a trapezoid slice in the metal casing.