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Timothy A.

Timothy A.

Joined on 02/19/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 15
Most Favorable Review

Superb Black Levels

Sony BRAVIA 32" 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV
Sony BRAVIA 32" 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV

Pros: Picture Quality - Basically the black levels, contrast ratio, and color look much better than the two other entry level sets I've purchased in the past 3 years (and returned). Best Black levels and contrast I've seen on a set under $400, especially on a CCFL screen.

Cons: Audio - no headphone/earphone output, external audio output volume level cannot be controlled by the TV (i.e., if you have headphones plugged in), speakers seem to direct sound behind the set rather than in front of it. PIP - will only work for connecting a PC and watching TV in a window, not for watching 2 programs at once. No internet connectivity, just a USB port for pictures, video, or music loaded from a USB device.

Overall Review: This set is almost identical to the bx420 (1080p is the only difference) which was very well reviewed on another site. Since the manual for the bx320 and bx420 is the same, I assume the specs may also be very similar. If so, this is about as good a picture quality as you may find in an entry level set today. Have done much reading of similar HDTV specs, reviews, etc. I was deciding between this set, and a similar Samsung or Vizio that are both cheaper. A somewhat empirically based review indicated a generally better picture overall than the Samsung (though not by that much). Audio and connectivity are not this set's strengths. Picture quality is, however, if you like deep blacks, high contrast and accurate looking, saturated colors.

Most Critical Review

Great Specs for B660 itx

ASUS ROG STRIX B660-I GAMING WIFI LGA 1700 (Intel 12th & 13th Gen) Mini-ITX Gaming Motherboard (PCIe 5.0, 8+1 power stages, DDR5, WiFi 6, 2.5 Gb LAN, 2xM.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD support, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C)
ASUS ROG STRIX B660-I GAMING WIFI LGA 1700 (Intel 12th & 13th Gen) Mini-ITX Gaming Motherboard (PCIe 5.0, 8+1 power stages, DDR5, WiFi 6, 2.5 Gb LAN, 2xM.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD support, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C)

Pros: - overclocks RAM - only 2 DIMM slots means faster DDR5 (4 slots always slows DDR5 at least 400mhz, even when using only 2 of 4 slots) - can run non-k CPU at higher PL2 state indefinitely - PCIe 5.0 - price was under $200

Cons: - doesn't do non-k overclocking (haven't tried Der8auer's trick to get around that) -no Wifi 6E

Overall Review: "USB devce over current status detected" error in BIOS when using the Type C front panel port connected to the MB. Troubleshooting w/Asus revealed the port doesn't work. No choice but to RMA because the system won't start if you use front panel type C from the internal header. Not happy about having to RMA a new MB, but Asus customer support was very good - almost no waiting, and they quickly helped identify the issue after a phone call or two. Am told the repair process will take 7-10 business days, not counting time in transit. Otherwise, MB seems built solidly. Very good VRMs.

It's well made but has short cables

TRENDnet 2-Port HDMI KVM Switch, Control 2 Computers With One Set Of Console Controls, Full HD 1080P, HDMI And 3.5 mm Analog Audio, Monitor Switch, Windows And Mac KVM Switch Software, White, TK-215I
TRENDnet 2-Port HDMI KVM Switch, Control 2 Computers With One Set Of Console Controls, Full HD 1080P, HDMI And 3.5 mm Analog Audio, Monitor Switch, Windows And Mac KVM Switch Software, White, TK-215I

Pros: high quality

Cons: cable length

Overall Review: Other than the cables being less than 3 feet long, the only issue I had was waking the computers up from sleep. Simply pressing a key or moving the mouse wouldn't wake either computer up from sleep mode. I had to physically press the sleep/power button on the computer to wake it up. I didn't try the switching software because the toggle switch worked fine (maybe the software would also have helped waking the computers from sleep mode with the keyboard or mouse, that or modifying BIOS settings). I decided to return it only because I realized I needed to have the sound coming from one PC while I used the other. But it worked without any problems in the few days I used it.

Bought Another

Crucial MX100 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128MX100SSD1
Crucial MX100 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT128MX100SSD1

Pros: Quality Price

Cons: None

Overall Review: I mentioned in my other review for an earlier purchase that I I had to RMA a MX-100. Turns out the RMA was not necessary at all. If your system is Windows 8x and you don't have a UEFI-based motherboard, then you may need to uncheck the 'Turn on fast startup' option in the Control Panel's Power Options area. Otherwise, you could experience BSODs with this SSD when you boot up from a powered down state. You might want to do that anyway to avoid other problems with non-UEFI motherboards and Windows 8x. I've had problems with other drives too until I unchecked fast startup.

Excellent Chromebook

HP Chromebook 14-q070nr - Intel Celeron 2955U(1.4GHz) 14" 4GB Memory 16GB SSD Intel HD Graphics
HP Chromebook 14-q070nr - Intel Celeron 2955U(1.4GHz) 14" 4GB Memory 16GB SSD Intel HD Graphics

Pros: 4GB memory T-mobile 4G free (200MB/mo) 14" screen HP quality

Cons: The screen can look washed out when viewing off angle, so some 11" Chromebook screens look better A Chromebook can't completely replace Windows, considering there is always some software you may need that still only works in Windows.

Overall Review: As a piece of hardware it seems well built to me, the design and materials are first rate (given that it is relatively inexpensive). The 14" screen is so much better than 11" (for my needs), but can look very washed out from off angles. The dual-core Celeron processor can occasionally slow down a little when first loading webpages with lots of simultaneous scripts, video ads, etc. The 4GB RAM (instead of 2GB) helps keep performance smooth with lots of open tabs. The Chrome OS is just the Chrome browser primarily, but is optimized for browsing so performance is good. It's very very difficult right now (though not impossible) for malware to to gain a foothold on a Chromebook (everything is checked when booting up). The browser is still susceptible to Chrome adware, spyware, etc., but the built-in Powerwash feature will clean away just about anything (it takes only a minute or two, and I sometimes do that before important online financial transactions, just in case). If that for some reason isn't enough for you, you can always restore the original OS image in less than an hour to fresh from the factory condition. Only someone with physical access to your computer could somehow possibly get around that. If you're concerned about privacy, not logging in and browsing as a guest completely avoids anything Google.

10/24/2014

Good Router

NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAR N600 Dual Band Wireless Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab Manufacturer Recertified
NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAR N600 Dual Band Wireless Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab Manufacturer Recertified

Pros: Compatible with some alternative firmware (DD-WRT) Netgear quality Price (was around $75 at buying time for v3)

Cons: Not compatible with OpenWrt, only minimal functionality with Tomato firmware

Overall Review: A hardware website founded by a guy named Tom tested the wireless quality of routers a few years back and concluded that Linksys (owned by Cisco at the time) and Netgear had the best wireless performance then. I bought this hoping for a good quality refurbished router that also supported alternative firmware (for better security). The refurbished unit I got from Newegg last year was a WNDR3700v3 - which is different from the other versions of this router because it uses a Broadcom chip, not an Atheros. OpenWrt firmware won't work with WNDR34700v3, but does support the other Atheros versions of the 3700 (v1, v2, v4). The Tomato by Shibby firmware (which some prefer for the easier to understand user interface) only supports very basic beta-like functionality on this router (5Ghz wireless doesn't work, some LEDs only show amber instead of green, no built-in support for DNSCrypt, etc.) DD-WRT supports all versions of the WNDR3700.

10/21/2014