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Nicholas T.

Nicholas T.

Joined on 09/20/06

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Most Favorable Review

Super Fast Mechanical Hard Drive

Seagate Laptop Thin ST500LM021 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Hard Drive
Seagate Laptop Thin ST500LM021 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Hard Drive

Pros: *Ultra thin form factor (7mm) *Faster than your average hard drive *Outperforms SSD's in large quantity small file transfers I decided to do a real world performance test between 3 different hard drives in order to gain a speed perspective. I put this slim drive up again a Force GT 120GB SSD & 1 TB 7200 RPM Constellation Enterprise HDD. The test consists of 3 different types of files: Large Bulk Compressed Software Image, 3 Movie Files, and a Folder with 1000+ Pictures/Files of various sizes. Results are below 1000+ Pics/Files (2.84 gb): Seagate Thin - 430 mb/s 1 TB Constellation = 84 mb/s Force GT SSD - 96 mb/s Large Compressed File (10 GB): Seagate Thin - 128mb/s 1 TB Constellation = 150 mb/s Force GT SSD - 130 mb/s 3 Movie Files (3 GB ea.): Seagate Thin - 120 mb/s 1 TB Constellation = 125 mb/s Force GT SSD - 140 mb/s I can't explain why the thin drive does so well on large numbers of small files but it was almost instantaneous and 100% reproducible every time with no info loss.

Cons: *Capacity restraint (splitting hairs here) *Fragile feeling construction

Overall Review: It's a top tier hard drive just as everyone else is saying. I would definitely recommend this drive to anyone who does not have access to a SSD. I do wish the warranty was longer though as the construction does seem a bit fragile due to the thinness.

Most Critical Review

Huge QC Problems

ASUS ProArt Series PA246Q Black 24.1" 6ms P-IPS Height/Swivel/Pivot Adjustable LCD Monitor w/2 USB hub, Card Reader & Display port 400cd/m2 50000:1 DCR
ASUS ProArt Series PA246Q Black 24.1" 6ms P-IPS Height/Swivel/Pivot Adjustable LCD Monitor w/2 USB hub, Card Reader & Display port 400cd/m2 50000:1 DCR

Pros: Large Size Great Pixel Density Displayport Card Reader/USB Ports CCFL IPS Panel

Cons: I've had 2 of these monitors for just about 2 or more years now. I've had to get one of them replaced about 8 times and the second one about 6 times. Sadly, this is no joke. I'm a graphic design professional and I use color management devices such as X-Rite's I1Display Pro to calibrate my printing and display environments. I have never ever received 2 monitors that matched in backlighting and it drives me insane. One monitor always has a red tint to the backlight when viewing a white background and the other is always a green tint. I've sunk an enormous amount of hours into getting acceptable results without luck. (the OSD will not fix backlight tints nor will calibration tools, it's just a defect). It also doesn't help that Asus has 2 models of this unit floating around, an older model with bright white lettering on the bezel and a new one with dark grey lettering, to my understanding that have different backlight technologies also. I've tried calling X-Rite to make sure i'm calibrating these right, I've done tons of tests on the backlights (by the way the backlighting is always heavily uneven on most of the monitor's I've received.). I've tried many different inputs to calibrate, I've tried having 2 separate GPU's to hold different color profiles, I've even tried different GPU's & motherboards entirely. There is just no way to have two of these and expect them to be close, this also makes me come to the conclusion that just using 1 might not even get you the best results either. Mishaps while RMAing units: On one instance I received someone else's returned unit, still broken and scuffed up by mistake. On another instance I received my own monitor that I sent out back by accident without even being looked at. Another instance I received a unit that had worn down 'holes' in the screen so you got purples halos behind your image (They were not physical holes but defects in the screen itself). After all those times they finally escalated me to the top repair technician for Asus USA, Eric Sablan. He tried to be really helpful and he did his best but the 2 monitors he sent me were still not a match, they were closer but still not good enough in the backlight hues to be acceptable. Not to mention one of inputs on one of those specially hand picked units occasionally displays no input but shows it's on forcing me to toggle the PSU switch on/off to get it working again. It's highly annoying. So what do you do after 14 Returns and the last pair specifically matched for you by the top tech when one of the units doesn't function right? I have no idea! Send them back for another month+ of not having them just to get another set of mismatched units? I'm so upset. In the total ~2 years I've owned these monitors I've actually only been able to use them for 1 year, they have been tied up in RMA's for an entire year in time between the 14 total RMA's (Usually 1-1.5 months each time, rarely a few weeks). If these are pro monitors why is thei

Overall Review: I keep asking them to please refund my money, I'll send them the displays, I just want my money back. But Asus is sneaky. Asus USA takes no corporate responsibility for their products, Asus USA as they claim, is ONLY a repair service. They are not provided with the means to refund US customers and they get testy with you when you ask for way to contact those who can help with that. I've really close to pushing some legal action against them, what happened to Lemon Laws? I find this business practice deceptive. Asus Rep, If you see this, Please do the right thing, help me out. I want out of this investment. I gave Asus more than a fair chance to make this right and I'm getting walked all over on this. Please help me get in touch with the right people. It even isn't just limited to this monitor, Every Asus product I've bought within the last year has been out to service, my GPU (5 Service Events, resulted in an upgrade to a newer but equal GPU), my router, and wireless receiver as well. If you're thinking about buying this, Pass on it, save the headache.

Full Sized Performance in Small Format | A Win for Small Devices!

Crucial P310 2TB PCIe Gen4 2230 NVMe M.2 SSD - Up to 7,100 MB/s - Uplevel Your Console - Internal Solid State Drive (PC) - CT2000P310SSD2
Crucial P310 2TB PCIe Gen4 2230 NVMe M.2 SSD - Up to 7,100 MB/s - Uplevel Your Console - Internal Solid State Drive (PC) - CT2000P310SSD2

Pros: - Similiar performance as competing full-size high-end 2280 M.2 PCIe SSDs - Sequential write speed exceeded advertised rating of 6,000 MB/s (Avg 6,228.30 MB/s of 5 tests) - Great capacity X performance X format X price - Small size for use in various handheld gaming or media devices - 5 Year Warranty

Cons: - Doesn't quite reach the advertised sequential read speed of 7,100 MB/s but gets close (Avg 6,997.55 MB/s of 5 tests) - No included 2242, 2260, 2280 adapter for wider compatibility

Overall Review: Performed this test using an M.2 extender (plastic to increase the length) to make it fit a 2242 length slot because I did not have a handheld or small enough device with a 2230 slot. This does not impact performance. Test Setup: Intel 12700k, MSI Z690 Force Motherboard > M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot. Software: CrystalDiskMark 8.0.6 performance software. I ran 5 tests using various counts and sample sizes. 3x tests of 5 count 1 GiB sample 1x test 5 count 8 GiB 1x test 9 count 1 GiB My resulting scores are an average of these 5 tests. Results: Crucial says the P310 does up to 7100 MB/s Sequential Read (S.Read) and 6,000 MB/s Sequential Write (S.Write) as per their website. Testing shows 6,997.55 MB/s S.Read and 6,228.30 MB/s S.Write, So pretty close to advertised speeds. I did a final test again against a full 2280-sized competitor. The P310 (6,997.55 MB/s) performed closely with the competitor (6,961.24 MB/s) but outperformed it on S.Write speeds by 206.51 MB/s, which is impressive. I would recommend this drive, it keeps up with and outperformance comparable 2280 M.2 drives. Please see my review photos for more benchmark numbers and details.

On par in its class yet sleek and smaller.

Linksys CM3008 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem (8x4 Bonded channels)
Linksys CM3008 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem (8x4 Bonded channels)

Pros: -Ultra Small Size -Extremely Light (not in a cheap way) -Close port placement for easier cable management -Attractive Aesthetics -Clean & Easy to read web interface -Straight Forward setup Absolutely love the size, I always hated how large some modems can be. Also because of the small size the ports are closer together and are on one end so cable management is fantastic. Love the minimalize design aesthetics on this device, so many modems are either glossy or ugly and this thing just doesn't mess around with that. The icons for status are clearly understandable on this model too. The web interface is modern and clean; I found it very easy to read. There is not much you can do on the web interface other than gather info and check the status of a few things but that is on par with other manufacturer's modems in this class. The setup was pretty straight forward, I followed the convenient quick start guide and only ran into a problem during the ISP side of things (see cons).

Cons: -Extremely Bright LEDs -ISP would not recognize this model modem -Included cable is not CAT6 (it's CAT5E) The LEDs are ultra-bright on this thing. It doesn't really bother me since it is in my basement but I could totally see it bothering other people who will have it anywhere else other than a basement. My ISP (cox) did not have this modem listed to choose from during the initial setup (although on their website it lists the CM3008). I had to pick another CM series device (CM100 which is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem) to continue the setup. (Linksys please contact Cox and tell them to get with it!) When the setup completed my internet was very slow so I took the network completely down, I did a power cycle on each network device and rebooted my PC. After that the internet was fast again. I was a little disappointed that in 2016 the manufacturer is not including CAT6 cables with their products. I understand the theoretical speeds and the included CAT5E is enough but it just seems like a huge penny pinch move to me as the consumer.

Overall Review: Non of the cons were worth an egg loss. Overall this unit performs great and is on par with another brand's modem that are rated for the same internet speed rating (100MBPS package up to 343mbps). If you are in the market for a new modem and this fits your internet speed package I would highly consider it because of the price, size, and aesthetics. My ISP is Cox, I have a 50 MBPS internet package however speed test websites say I actually get 60+ MBPS down.

Highly Customizable Router, Overkill for some.

Linksys WRT1200AC Wireless AC1200 Dual-Band and Wi-Fi Wireless Router with Gigabit and USB 3.0 Ports and eSATA
Linksys WRT1200AC Wireless AC1200 Dual-Band and Wi-Fi Wireless Router with Gigabit and USB 3.0 Ports and eSATA

Pros: -Classic Linksys look/feel. -Opensource Ready -High Gain Antennas -Better Wireless N on 2.4 Ghz Band -USB 3.0 + eSATA (or USB 2.0) -Faster Dual Core Processor This router may not aesthetically appeal to everyone; it sports the old-school Linksys router look/feel. The WRT1200AC is the next step up from the Linksys EA6350. The biggest differences are the upgraded 1.3 Ghz dual-core processor, High Gain Antenna (for more range and performance), the eSATA port (for faster connections for connected storage devices), and Wireless N400 – versus N300 on the EA6350. However, the biggest deal for those that need it is the open source capability. You can install custom firmware on this router, such as OpenWRT, to get more options and features. (Note: if you do this, Linksys doesn’t offer support). Dual Band & Coverage: Having 2 networks being broadcasted (one in 2.4Ghz, Wireless N Speeds and one in 5 Ghz, Wireless AC Speeds) is great because you can put your older slower devices on the 2.4 Ghz band and your new high speed devices on the 5 Ghz band. As mentioned, this router supports N400 on the 2.4 Ghz so it isn’t the best but for the price and the other features it is price appropriate. The High Gain Antennas on this are great. Easily supports medium – large households with multiple floors.

Cons: -The is device is deep, it’s about 7.75” deep front to back. -Has a lot of aesthetic personality I couldn’t find much wrong with this router other than its enormous size and visual personality. If you are buying this router, you probably are not concerned with how it looks but maybe you would be concerned by the footprint. It’s obnoxiously deep. I had issues finding a good shelf to put this on because they were all too shallow to accommodate the router and then wires behind it.

Overall Review: If you are stuck in-between the price difference and of this and the EA6350, you should consider the size of the home, your ISP package speed, and need for extra options. If you are not going to use the extra options this router provides and have a medium-small home with a basic internet package, I’d go with the lower model. If you have a larger home with an above average internet package but will still not use the features, I’d look into the higher WRT1900AC model. Get this if you will use the features and have medium-larger house with good-superior internet package.

Solid & Easy to Use (For Medium-sized Homes & Modest Internet Packages)

Linksys EA6350 MU-MIMO AC1200+ Wi-Fi Wirless Dual-Band+ Router, Smart Wi-Fi App Enabled to Control Your Network from Anywhere
Linksys EA6350 MU-MIMO AC1200+ Wi-Fi Wirless Dual-Band+ Router, Smart Wi-Fi App Enabled to Control Your Network from Anywhere

Pros: -Sleek Exterior Aesthetics -USB 3.0 Port for Fast Network Storage -Great Network Range for Price Tier -No CD Setup (always a fan of not installing more software) -Dual Band (2 networks broadcasting simultaneously) Environment: I am testing this at my parent’s house, they have a medium sized home with a respectable 20 mbps from their ISP. For them, this is the right product for their house size and internet package. It also fits their budget, It has been running rock solid since the day I added it to the next work (May 2015). Super Easy No-CD Setup: Easy to use, either connect pc to router (also router to modem) with Ethernet or join the default wireless network that pops up to start configuring it. The web browser interface is very attractive and easy to use; items are in very thoughtful categories that are clear. I always and happy when I don't need to add more software to a computer for things that don't need it. Less software means less items starting up with the computer and bogging it down. Linksys was smart to make this optional (there is a CD included incase someone needs it). Dual Band: Having 2 networks being broadcasted (one in 2.4Ghz, Wireless N Speeds and one in 5 Ghz, Wireless AC Speeds) is great because you can put your older slower devices on the 2.4 Ghz band and your new high speed devices on the 5 Ghz band.

Cons: Cons: -Only N300 mbps & AC 867 mbps speeds (Made for medium sized homes and modest speeds) -One USB 3.0 port I only mentioned the network coverage and speeds as a con if you don’t fit the demographic this router is target to. At this price point the speed and range are what is to be expected. This is good for medium sized, 2 floor homes, with a modest internet package from your ISP. The same goes for the con on the 1 usb 3.0 port. Chances are, if you need to connect more devices to your router’s usb port, you are going to want the added benefits of the next model up because you will want the faster speeds and move coverage.

Overall Review: If you are not very technical (and don't have a large home), and you are looking for a modestly priced router with decent features available.... get this router. It's name brand, easy to use, and you shouldn't be disappointed.