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Seth M.

Seth M.

Joined on 11/29/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 2
Most Favorable Review

Perfect for HTPC

ZOTAC IONITX-F-E Intel Atom 330 (1.6GHz, dual-core) MCP7A-ION Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo
ZOTAC IONITX-F-E Intel Atom 330 (1.6GHz, dual-core) MCP7A-ION Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU Combo

Pros: So far this board has run extremely cool. I don't have a heat-sink fan and my one case fan is on the lowest setting. It streams from Hulu, Netflix, and ESPN 3 great, as well as any other sites I throw at it without a hiccup.

Cons: The wireless isn't the greatest, but updating all of the drivers does improve it a lot (still not great though). I get a little lag when navigating through WMC, but I haven't tried tweaking anything yet to get rid of it.

Overall Review: I don't DVR, I just stream online content, and this board shines at the task. I built it with an Intel SSD so it boots Windows 7 in under 5 seconds. I'm in the browser before my DVD player can even finish loading. I've had the board running since mid-December of 2010. And since then have used it almost every day for about 2.5 hours per day. I usually don't shut the PC down, just let it go into sleep mode on its own, and I haven't had any trouble so far. My case is an Antec ISK 300-65 which is solid steel and has really good airflow, not to mention an external power supply. I could probably go completely fan-less if I set up the box in "tower" mode, as convection would provide sufficient cooling.

Great Deal

Brother HL Series EHL-2170W Workgroup Up to 23 ppm Monochrome Ethernet (RJ-45) / USB / Wi-Fi Laser Printer
Brother HL Series EHL-2170W Workgroup Up to 23 ppm Monochrome Ethernet (RJ-45) / USB / Wi-Fi Laser Printer

Pros: Small footprint, easy to setup for wireless use, good print quality, great price for a networked printer (WiFi was not one of my req, but since this was by far the best deal it was a great bonus).

Cons: Lights dim when jobs are sent to the printer (not sure if it's all print jobs or ones that just wake it up), it even tripped my breaker once, which unfortunately in the same room as my UPS deprived PC.

Overall Review: The printer is great, but you might want to consider placing it on a different breaker than the room you're currently in to reduce the risk of overloading it.