Joined on 02/06/09
Excellent Compromise of speed and space
Pros: Nice hard drive. Quicker than I expected. I have not used one of these hybrid drives before, but I've been pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure what to expect. Unlike some, I do not have multiple computers with which to do lots of benchmarking, testing with several operating systems, etc. I went with more real world testing. I moved all of my Origin and Steam games over to this drive. I noticed that the first time I loaded into a round of Battlefield 3, it sat at the loading screen for about a minute. But, after that first time, the next time I started the game from scratch, the loading time was down to 15-20 seconds, similar to when the game was on my regular SSD. I found similar results with games in Steam. The first time I started Civilization 5, it sat at the loading screen longer than it did the other times I booted up the game. So it seems that the speed gets better after the drive has opened the programs a few times.
Cons: I did find that the speed increase is fine for programs that are used frequently, but this does not hold true for less used programs. I found that other programs loaded about the same as they would off of a standard hard drive.
Overall Review: I was unable to run this as my OS drive, so boot up times, etc, were not tested. My system 120 GB Mushkin SSD Intel i2500K CPU, OC'd at 4.2 GHz 16 GB G Skills RAM at 1866 MHz ASUS P67 Sabertooth motherboard 500 GB Seagate SSHD Hybrid Drive 2 TB Western Digital Green HDD Sapphire 7950 3GB videocard Cooler Master HAF 932 case
Swing and a miss
Pros: Intriguing idea. I think many people would like some form of touch capability, even when they don't have a touch screen monitor.
Cons: Inside the box, we have the pen, two batteries, USB receiver, two stick-on magnets, and two pen refills for the tip. Instructions were straight forward; however the drivers for the pen come on a mini-cd. One of the computers I tried this on had a slot-loading cd drive, so the mini cd was an issue. At the time of this review I could not access the official website for the Pen to download the driver files (a few days later the site was up). I certainly hope a person with this product does not have to replace their monitor or laptop multiple times. The magnet’s adhesive would not stick on the 2nd device. It should go without saying but I wanted to point this out that it only comes with two, and at least from the manufacturer there is no means of ordering replacements, as far as I could see. I tested the software on three operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OSX 10.8 as a shot in the dark. I was disappointed that in both versions of Windows I could get the OS to recognize when the pen was moving, but nothing was responding to it. I was very much surprised 10.8 instantly recognized it without the need for additional software. However, the result was the same. OSX recognized when the pen was moving but I couldn't control anything. It was almost like it "wanted" to work on each OS. Had it been a little more successful I would have tested it on Ubuntu but I did not see the point. Given my experiences I cannot recommend the product at this time, however if a newer upgraded version becomes available I would be willing to test it out because it is an intriguing idea, and it has more to potentially offer than just using it for Windows 8. Photoshop or other graphic design software would benefit from this as well. It is a shame it was not more successful for me.
Overall Review: I consider it a bad omen that the folks from eFun have not responded to any of the negative reviews with fixes, or requests to contact them directly, as many other manufacturers do. Given my experiences I cannot recommend the product at this time, however if a newer, upgraded version becomes available I would be willing to test it out because it is an intriguing idea, and it has more to potentially offer than just using it for Windows 8. Photoshop or other graphic design software would benefit from this as well. It is a shame it was not more successful for me.
They work as advertised
Pros: The default ear adapters work just fine, but also has other sizes. They sound fine, especially as they cost 99 cents when I bought them.
Cons: None so far
Monitor does NOT have DVI and USB options.
Pros: Good monitor, I like it very much overall.
Cons: It doesn't have the listed DVI video port, or USB connection. Just look at the picture of the underside ports. I notified Newegg of this discrepancy back in April of this year, and was told by a very friendly customer service rep, Anthony V., that the description would be corrected. Alas, it has not been corrected. And interesting that my review was deleted.
Overall Review: Would not buy again until the bogus specs are corrected.
A quality refurbished monitor
Pros: Excellent size for a 2nd monitor. Decent color reproduction. Very good price.
Cons: Not really appropriate for online gaming. Its not a true con, as this monitor is not meant for twitch gaming. Just putting it out there.
Overall Review: I would say this is a great 2nd or 3rd monitor to someone with a serious gaming monitor, or someone just interested in productivity. For the price, I'm probably going to buy amother.
Excellent Mobo
Pros: Plenty of connections. M.2 slot, utilizing the PCIE lanes, instead of SATA. Plenty of fan headers. Just rock steady in every way.
Cons: I have had no issues with this board.
Quiet fans
These fans work as advertised. They are quiet, and move a decent amount of air. I would recommend them for any case that needs such small fans.