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Michael M.

Michael M.

Joined on 11/30/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 12
Most Favorable Review

Solid dependable drives

Seagate Constellation.2 ST91000640NS 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Enterprise-class Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate Constellation.2 ST91000640NS 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Enterprise-class Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Spin up fast, fast access times, excellent density for the size. I have been using these (8 so far) in ESXi servers for over 3 years, I have never had a failure. 4 of these have replaced "laptop" hard drives during that timeframe. Very happy with these. They are proving well worth the money (you get what you pay for is true here, higher quality components), these are after all Enterprise-class HDDs.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: These will NOT fit in a laptop, they are 15mm high, which is thicker than a standard 12.5mm laptop HDD slot. They however fit perfectly in any server-class 2.5" HDD hot-swap chassis' out there.

Most Critical Review

Flawed design

ONKYO TX-NR616 7.2-Channel THX Certified Network A/V Receiver
ONKYO TX-NR616 7.2-Channel THX Certified Network A/V Receiver

Pros: 7.2 surround was great, while it worked. Worked with both HDMI TVs and projectors.

Cons: The HDMI board died just before warranty ran out, but I could not find a place local that would service it (Colorado). Sending it back to their main service location in California meant waiting AT LEAST two months to even have it diagnosed, and there are plenty of stories of people having it returned as Working but still broken. Clearly they have a huge warranty backlog on their garbage products.

Overall Review: Stay away from Onkyo. I replaced it with a Pioneer receiver which I should have bought in the first place.

Very good looking compact case

Silverstone Fortress Series FTZ01B Black Aluminum / Steel Computer Case SFX, SFX-L Power Supply Compatible
Silverstone Fortress Series FTZ01B Black Aluminum / Steel Computer Case SFX, SFX-L Power Supply Compatible

Pros: If you are building an HPC, or even just a new PC build without any fancy needs for multiple expansion cards, e.g., a high-end gaming machine, this is a great case to use. It takes an ITX motherboard only, and there's just a couple of choices for SFX power supply (Silverstone), but it'll take any two-slot full-length graphics card you throw at it. The included case fans keep it running cool. In half the space of an ATX mid-tower case.

Cons: Because it is so compact, you do need to take care on the component selection you use. You can't use any CPU fan, you need a low-profile one (or use the stock one that comes with Intel retail CPUs). E.g., NT06-PRO low-profile fits perfectly.

Overall Review: As also noted in other reviews, your only choice for optical drive is a low-profile slot-load, e.g., Panasonic UJ-267 (Blu-ray writer) And you do need to also order a data cable for it (Silverstone CP10), there isn't one included.

Multiple failures just past 5 yr warranty period

Western Digital WD RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive
Western Digital WD RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Ran great for 5.5 years...

Cons: 2 out of 3 drives began showing SMART offline uncorrectable errors just after the 5 yr warranty expired. This was in a RAID5 array so was almost a disaster.

Overall Review: Replaced with Seagate enterprise drives, my data feels safer now. Shot holes in the WDs with 7.62x51 rounds, data is gone from them for good. Wish I could post a pic.

Build quality is terrible, this is garbage, stay away unless you throw away the junk stand.

LG 22EA63T-P Black 21.5" 5ms IPS-Panel Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 10,000,000:1
LG 22EA63T-P Black 21.5" 5ms IPS-Panel Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 10,000,000:1

Pros: IPS panel looked great, nice color palette, wide viewing angles, was very impressed while it was working.

Cons: Extremely wobbly stand, no HDMI input. I had this display on a table with a DVI-D to HDMI converter sticking out of the back of it which made it even more wobbly. You can guess what happened next. It tipped over and fell on it's face catching the edge of the keyboard which SHATTERED THE DISPLAY internally. Needless to say I was VERY displeased that it broke so easily.

Overall Review: Sucks that I had it for a couple of days and I now have to eat the cost of this piece of garbage. No more poorly built LG displays for me!

Cumbersome

Rosewill RHB-620 (RIUH-11002) 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
Rosewill RHB-620 (RIUH-11002) 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub

Pros: Works well as a USB 3 hub, good speed.

Cons: It is big and cumbersome for a road warrior like me. The included cable is way too long for a "hub" where you just need port expansion off a laptop.

Overall Review: Carry the power brick with you too, you'll need it if you plug in devices requiring power, like an external hdd.