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Dennis K.

Dennis K.

Joined on 03/06/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 30
Most Favorable Review

Trusty Drives

Toshiba X300 5TB Performance & Gaming Internal Hard Drive 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5 inch - HDWE150XZSTA (RETAIL PACKAGE)
Toshiba X300 5TB Performance & Gaming Internal Hard Drive 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5 inch - HDWE150XZSTA (RETAIL PACKAGE)

Pros: Never had one fail in the 5 years I've been using them. I've bought two 5 tbs and one 6tb in the last 4 months and have 4 others in use personally at home that I purchased 3 or 4 years ago. Just bought another one today for someone else to use

Cons: None

Overall Review: I buy a number of HDD drives every year in my small PC support biz. HDD's are mechanical so they are guaranteed to fail whether it be next week (just after purchase), in 18 months, in 5 years or more. I've had failures with other mfg brands before their warranty expires but none with Toshiba. I know I am lucky not to have failures but that is why I keep buying Toshiba. Please mark this review helpful if it is

Most Critical Review

Not A Winner

Adobe Photoshop & Premier Elements 8 for Windows Minibox
Adobe Photoshop & Premier Elements 8 for Windows Minibox

Pros: Supports Adobe files formats which have become the graphics industry standards

Cons: Interface that is not intuitive. Prone to crashes and stalls. There has been a service patch that seems to minimize some issues. Support has been weak and is generally a waste of time Registration is required for tutorials. Subscription to a fee based annual service is required for more tutorials and templates The constant communications with Adobe's servers drags system and network performance so much that I had to block it from connecting to the Internet.

Overall Review: Problematic installation and disappointing performance on this 2.80 gig X4 , Win 7 with 6 gig ram. (With a terrific 1 gig R-adeon 4670 video card from New Egg). Everything but Elements runs well on this machine. I first installed this software on an Athlon II 2.6 Gig machine, 3 gig Ram, with an NVidia graphic card and the issues were worse

Put a old laptop drives to convenient Use

Syba SY-ENC25063 2 Pack - USB 3.0 to SATA 2.5" Hard Drive External Enclosure Case
Syba SY-ENC25063 2 Pack - USB 3.0 to SATA 2.5" Hard Drive External Enclosure Case

Pros: Economical and works great. Protects the electronics on 2.5 inch drives I have on the shelf. Small form factor makes drives neatly stackable. Great for reusing drives from defective old laptops. I bought four

Cons: Not a thing

Overall Review: I am retired but still do leisurely tech support for a few clients. I had four old laptops waiting to be recycled. These drive enclosures are perfect to reuse the laptop drives (that are removed for security purposes before recycling). I plopped the drives into the enclosures, reformat them, and wa-la, I have drives for backup of 40,000 or more family photos, videos and music. The result: Cheap, new storage. Enough media to give to family members off-site so photos are never lost. Please mark this as helpful if it is

Terrific software for protecting you

Symantec Norton Security with Antivirus Premium - 10 Devices [Key Card]
Symantec Norton Security with Antivirus Premium - 10 Devices [Key Card]

Pros: Works as expected. I have never been infected in using this software for over 10 years

Cons: One star taken because of the prompts to use Lifelock, and give up more private information. Too many prompts to protect and buy more

The one to consider if you need more ports

TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch | Ethernet Splitter | Sturdy Metal w/ Shielded Ports | Plug-and-Play | Traffic Optimization | Unmanaged (TL-SG108)
TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch | Ethernet Splitter | Sturdy Metal w/ Shielded Ports | Plug-and-Play | Traffic Optimization | Unmanaged (TL-SG108)

Pros: Great price and works exactly as expected

Cons: The ports are on the front and the network link to your router is on the back - it is perfect if you put it on a desktop when devices you plug in are positioned in FRONT of the switch. It is not perfect if you want to position the switch on a shelf, out of the way, and the devices you plug in are in places away from the switch. My switch is on a bookcase but it must be positioned sideways so the cables flow reasonably.

Overall Review: Would buy it again if the price was right. Please mark this as helpful if it is

Great features at a bargain

ASUS AC3100 Wi-Fi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router with 4x4 MU-MIMO, 4 x LAN Ports, AiProtection Network Security and WTFast Game Accelerator, AiMesh Whole Home Wi-Fi System Compatible (RT-AC3100)
ASUS AC3100 Wi-Fi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router with 4x4 MU-MIMO, 4 x LAN Ports, AiProtection Network Security and WTFast Game Accelerator, AiMesh Whole Home Wi-Fi System Compatible (RT-AC3100)

Pros: My re-certified router has been working great for over 7 months, not a hitch. There have been at least 5 firmware updates since I installed it. Great features and versatility. I use mine with and as a NAS external drive, and with a backup drive. Please mark this review as helpful if it is. The model was released in late 2015 or early 2016 but is still up-to-date with it's features

Cons: It's re-certified so only 90 day warranty. You do take a risk as shown by other reviews. The lastest firmware throws up a mesh screen control panel even though I am not using it as a mesh network - it is annoying. The received packaging was missing a network cable and the external antennaes do not tighten into a steady position. Not a big deal 'cause this re-cert saved well over $C and a half.

Overall Review: There must have been a zillion of the re-certs available from many many sellers at big savings from the list price. The recert prices has increased over the 7 months that I have had mine but are still available. It is likely that Asus has fixed the problem but is also likely that all of them had problems when they were originally manufactured. You should be aware that re-certified models of anything are NOT necessarily re-certed by the original manufacturer; the fix may have been contracted out. FYI: I would buy one of these again for my sis if the price was the same as when I bought mine. The recerts are still a bargain if you have an old router without the speed and / or features you need.