GeeekPi8U Server Cabinet, 10 inch Server Rack for Network, Servers, Audio, and Video Equipment, DeskPi RackMate T1 Rackmount

The GeeekPi 8U Server Cabinet is a well-designed and sturdy rack, perfect for organizing my Raspberry Pi cluster, small networking gear, and other lightweight equipment.I appreciate the compact 10-inch form factor — it fits nicely on a desk or shelf without taking up much space. Ventilation is decent, and it looks clean and professional once set up. I also like that it’s compatible with various accessories and rack-mounted components. There are many 3D models that can be printed and installed to support various equipment.If you're building a small home lab or need a tidy way to mount mini servers or AV equipment, this is a great solution. The installation instructions are a bit lacking.Here are some tips1. Start with the bag that has the rubber feet in them. The other bag has screws that are a bit too long but do somewhat fit.2. Top rails. Make sure you install them right side up. The metal should be flush with the acrylic top. If not, you will not get the use of the top screw holes and lose the space. See picture3. If you don't know, you can remove the plastic film from the acrylic parts if you want to. I know I shouldn't have to say this, but it is not obvious to some people. The peeling is also so satisfying. The acrylic top is a bit of a pain because of the vents, but just take your time.Pros:Sturdy constructionCompact and space-efficientEasy to assembleLooks great on a desk or shelfCons:Not deep enough for full-sized rack gear (as expected)

The packaging is compact and well-organized. Easy to assemble, sturdy and slick. A bit pricy at full price. The only complaint is the limitation of the included accessories. 1U and 2U ventilated shelves are more versatile. It would be great if aluminum rack shelves were available.

Anyone who is considering investing in a 10-inch rack should seriously consider this product. This product has the ability to store all of my networking equipment, as well as some of my homelab equipment. It inspired me to learn more about the 10-inch rack architecture and design my own rack mounts. It's pricey, sure. However, I can't think of another company that is competing with these guys that can say the same about their build-quality. What I would like for this company to do in the future is make it easy to remove the tempered glass on the side. While it looks nice -- that's all it is. Making it easy to remove these side panels, either for airflow or ease-of-access purposes, would be a welcomed iteration of this design. My recommendation? Buy it. Show it off. Use it as a talking point in those job-interviews you never seem to pass. It's your money, spend it on things that are going to work for you.

***** Updated Review (11/3/24) *****GeekPi reached out to me offering a full refund shortly after my review went up (and before I could even contact them about the cracked acrylic top). I very much appreciate when companies have attentive customer service personnel who stand behind their products, so I'm updating my review and rating as I originally promised I would.Since I'm already here, I thought I'd give a bit of an update on my experience after using the RackMate T1 for about a week. I'll keep it brief (and I do recommend reading my initial thoughts below), but there were a few things I wanted to touch on and correct from my initial review.- The "Opening" Width between the front and rear mounting rails is 8.46". While I didn't see this on the productpage for the RackMate T1 when purchasing, GeekPi thankfully notates this very clearly in several of their rack shelf product pages. I should have checked that before purchasing, and that's absolutely on me.- The rack measures 11" in width, as advertised. Its internal clearance is just about 10" (I believe I measured it at 9.75").- The internal depth is just shy of 7". So if you have a piece of hardware that's between 8.46" and 9.75" in width (but less than 7" in depth), you could probably muscle it in by introducing it into the rack diagonally.Now, for something that might come as a surprise: I ended up NOT returning my unit. After setting up my networking gear (with my Cisco Meraki MS-130 on a freshly 3D-printed top panel), I actually really love the tiny footprint of this rack! It fits perfectly in a tight space in my office, and I realized that there are already a ton of people making 3D printing files for custom mounting and shelves for this unit.I'm updating my score to 4/5 stars because of the prompt customer service response and my love of the form factor. I do think that receiving the product damaged with (possible) assembly issues is worth knocking a star off, but I can still easily recommend this product - especially with the great accessories being offered by GeekPi as well as the community (via print files).----- Original Review Below (10/22/24) -------I honestly love the design of this mini rack, and I was super excited for it to show up today.The frame seems sturdy and the finish on the aluminum parts looks great in person. I didn’t have any denting on the frame, which I was glad of after reading a few other reviews.With that said, I did unfortunately have some glaring issues with my unit:- Upon arrival, the top acrylic panel had large cracks in 3 of the 4 corners and was visibly bent (bowing) in the middle.- The top aluminum crossbars of the frame were assembled/installed upside down, which almost certainly caused both the cracking and bending in the top acrylic panel. If they had been installed correctly, the lip of those crossbars would have supported the acrylic panel on the top and prevented the stresses which caused the cracking/bending. [EDIT: I'm not entirely sure of this after spending some time squinting at some of their product photos elsewhere. But if they were installed correctly, it's a pretty big design flaw to not support the flimsy acrylic top panel]- Some parts of the chassis and a few panels don’t quite line up, though I’m not yet sure if these are assembly or manufacturing issues.Needless to say, I was disappointed - especially after spending nearly $200. I’ll contact GeekPi to see if I can get a replacement panel or return, and will update my review and score if we’re able to reach a satisfactory resolution.The last thing I want to make others aware of is that the clearance *between* the aluminum side pieces is a bit less than 9 inches (~8.75").- While there may be clearance for 10” equipment *inside* of the chassis, it won’t be possible to fit any equipment wider than ~8.75" IF that equipment also protrudes from the back or front of the frame.- I was surprised and disappointed to find that my ~9” wide Meraki PoE+ switch could not fit in the rack because of this.To be fair, I'm not exactly familiar with measurement standards for racks smaller than the much more common 19"W x 24"/48"D racks that I work with, so I'm not necessarily counting this against GeekPi here. I just think buyers should be aware of this going into their purchase.

This thing is amazing if you want a compact server rack, and great quality for the price! The acrylic side panel is great visually, and the metal feels very sturdy. I'm not afraid in any way that it'll fall apart or otherwise not hold whatever it is I want to put in it.The setup is pretty simple, just make sure you don't install the crossbar upside down like I did at first :)