Fractal Design’s Pop 2 Air refines the Pop formula into a clean, quiet, and highly flexible midtower. Only a minor connectivity misstep keeps it from top-tier status.
Bringing back external drive bays was the headline hook of Fractal Design’s original Pop Air in 2022, but that novelty has aged. Few builders likely ever used its 5.25-inch bays, and in the years since, competitors have pushed airflow-focused designs ever further. With the Pop 2 Air PC case, Fractal Design drops the drive-bay gimmick and leans fully into ventilation, structural refinement, and build flexibility. The $99.99 Pop 2 Air (specifically, the tempered-glass „TG RGB“ version tested here) reframes the Pop series as a straightforward, airflow-first midtower, trading nostalgia for more fans, stronger panels, and a roomier, more modern interior. It’s a solid, if not spectacular, pick if you are keen on Fractal Design’s distinct, clean look.Design: Push More Air!
Fractal Design didn’t just add another fan mount to the Pop 2 Air where the original Pop Air had a pair of drive bays: It also added a third fan mount to its top panel. Even the top panel’s vent has been upgraded, with perforated sheet metal of similar thickness to its other panels. That takes the place of the weak mesh screen that covered the smaller two-fan top vent of the original version.
The Pop Air 2 is also available in black for the same $99 price as our white sample. As noted, our review unit is the TG RGB, which has RGB fans; you can get the case without RGB for $10 less. As for the „TG“ part? The non-RGB black version is available with or without a tempered-glass side, for the same $89 price.
A closeup of the top panel’s ports gets us a look at the perforated top fan cover, which is the same thickness as the side panel. It’s stuck on with the same kind of magnetic strips as the screen that covered the original Pop Air.
The ports are also carried over from the original, which is a ding on this case. That’s because the USB-port design forces PC builders to live with a 5Gbps maximum speed on the Type-C port, since that port shares a 19-pin USB 3 connector with the Type-A port. (Most modern cases use a separate Type-E 10Gbps connection for any Type-C ports.) We also see a headset combo jack, a pair of mode buttons for the integrated RGB controller, and an RGB-backlit power button.
The Pop 2 Air has but one dust filter, and it’s only big enough to cover the air inlet for the power supply. That makes the mesh filter over the front panel the case’s main intake charge, for better or worse.
A pattern of vents adjacent to the motherboard I/O panel is designed to accept a rear fan at various distances above the graphics card or below the top panel, depending on where you’re trying to gain more clearance.
