There was a time when everything had to be connected to the rear of the computer: the headphones, the USB flash drives, Bluetooth adapters as well as SD memory cards. Plugging the device right where it belonged was an extremely painstaking operation, especially at the office, knelt under your desk, poking around the jumble of cables in an attempt at removing the flash drive from the rear panel of the computer. Not quite the ideal posture you would like to be seen in, right?

The majority of case manufacturers have understood the users' need for front connectivity and implemented the front USB ports and the jack/microphone lines. That did the trick for a while, but now we are wondering where the other connectors and outputs are.

Vizo's Master Panel II is really worth its name. The panel fits a 5,25'' spare drive bay and provide all types of connectors and additional controls that would give your computer a nuclear command center look. Apart from the common USB and Firewire ports, the panel is comprised of a fully-featured memory card reader (Compact Flash, Memory Stick, Smart Media or SD cards), an eSATA port, an A/V connector (RCA style) and two fan controllers. The panel requires a power connection to supply the memory card reader and the two fans.

The Master Panel II ships with all the cables to connect the outputs to the motherboard as well as cable ties. The hardware installation doesn't raise problems, but connecting all the ports to the motherboard can be a little difficult, as the cables tend to hang inside the case and prevent the ventilation.

Vizio's Panel adds plenty of functionality to the user's computer, especially for the cases that don't benefit from front panel ports. The card reader supports a multitude of manufacturers and the fan controller lets you adjust the fan speed according to the computer usage. The bad part is that the audio connectors are merely pass-through cables that do not automatically disable the speakers when using the front connectors.