Antec was eager to share with us its upcoming P280 chassis. The case we were shown is still a prototype but it's going to be Antec's flagship when it comes out later this year. The P280 will be priced at around $169 $140 ($160 MSRP), similar in price to the P180 it will replace. Power and reset buttons are behind the front cover, while the rest of the front panel IO was relocated further up the case.

The front of the chassis has two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports, all of which are driven off of motherboard headers.
 
The P280 has three tool-less 5.25" drive bays, just depress the release lever and slide the drive out:

There are two 2.5" and six 3.5" bays inside the chassis. The 3.5" trays don't accept 2.5" drives by default unfortunately.
 
All fans in the case can be driven by a collection of 3-pin fan headers at the very back of the case. A single molex connector feeds power to the fan header PCB.

Antec improves cable management by offering even more room behind the motherboard tray to route thicker cables:

Check out more pictures of the upcoming P280 in the gallery below.
 
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  • Ryan Smith - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    The P180 series was a pain in the butt to work in, but by god was it quiet.
  • qiankun - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    "Antec has relocated power/reset buttons to behind the front cover "

    Actually the buttons has always been behind the front cover ever since P180.
  • Guspaz - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    The power/reset buttons on the P183 are inside the door, not outside. It's impossible to accidentally press them by bumping into them, but as they're behind air vents, you can stick your finger through the vent and press the power/reset button without opening the door.
  • seedvt - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    Much more user-friendly design compared to the P180 line.
  • Mumrik - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    You're right about that Ryan... (looks at P180 to my left)

    6 internal 3½" bays doesn't cut it for me. Remove another 5.25 or two and squeeze in 8, then we can talk.
  • Snotling - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    Yeah who cares for more than one 5.25"... let alone more than 2!
  • Spivonious - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    I'm using three right now. DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, and X-Fi connector bay.
  • makken - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    Looks like they removed the plate dividing the top from the bottom, added in an opening for the psu fan, and added an additional 120mm opening on the top. I wonder how badly these changes affect the acoustics as the quiet aspect of the p180 series have always been the main draw for me.
  • MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link

    Dividing plate was dumb anyway. If one of the chambers had hotter components, that chamber's fan had to work harder. Now they can all share the load, no matter where the heat is. More, slower fans are quieter than fewer, faster ones.
  • haukionkannel - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link

    The extra room behind the motherboard tray is most welcome improvement. It makes caple management easier! Those USB3 port in the front were somewhat expected. I hope allso that they maintain thei good ventilation and acustic!

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