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Michael G.

Michael G.

Joined on 10/21/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

good budget gaming board

BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: features for dollars. Can't complain about an AM3 board with a radeon 4250 integrated graphics chipset. Everything's worked fine for me for a couple months, although I haven't had to use any PCI or IDE stuff yet. The integrated graphics did much better than I expected... my current rig is doing about as good at games as my old one which had an nvidia 8600 GT; if your games are older or not so graphics-intense you may be able to get away without a dedicated card

Cons: backside USB ports seem to be a little bit flimsy. Not enough to dock a star, and you should be fine once you get support from the backplate. The integrated graphics can sometimes give you green triangles after three or four hours of heavy gaming, but that's to be expected if you're gaming on an integrated card.

Overall Review: I really need to bite the bullet and drop $150 for a decent graphics card...

10/15/2011
Most Critical Review

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Samsung UN32J5003BFXZA 32-Inch 1080p HD LED TV
Samsung UN32J5003BFXZA 32-Inch 1080p HD LED TV

Pros: The picture is pretty good!

Cons: See the title? That's the sound mine's making whenever it's powered off and in 'standby' mode. It's a very, very high-pitch noise, and though it isn't too loud, it's quite annoying if I'm near it when the rest of my apartment's quiet. As soon as I turn the TV on, the noise goes away completely. I'm guessing it's likely a capacitor resonating at low voltages. I've tried plugging this thing in through a power strip, an extension cable, and directly into the wall, and none of it seems to make a difference. I RMA'd it and got a replacement unit, and the 2nd one does the exact same thing. I've taken to flipping the power strip off when I'm done watching TV just so I don't have to listen to it. Granted, I am young, I never play my music loud and I work a quiet desk job; my ears are likely more sensitive than most, so this may not bother you at all if it's happening. However if it does bother you, this item is only eligible for replacement, and is not eligible for a refund. Additionally, the "2 HDMI In" specification is somewhat misleading. One of the HDMI inputs is a DVI input only, meaning it gets no audio signal. This makes the 2nd input drastically less useful, and is not listed on the item's description online.

Overall Review: I would recommend this product only to people with less sensitive ears, and only if they fully understand that one of the HDMI inputs is DVI only and has no audio. It does have a great picture, and according to Google capacitor resonance hasn't seemed to keep other Samsung TV models from lasting for years. Regardless, I wouldn't get this again if it wasn't on sale.

Fast

SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E250BW
SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E250BW

Pros: - It's really fast. - Arch Linux and Windows both detected and were able to use the drive without any problems on a Gigabyte GA-Z170XP. - I can reboot into either operating system in well under a minute, including shutdown and BIOS screens. - It definitely feels like the hard drive is not a bottleneck on my system, like, at all. - Did I mention that it was really fast?

Cons: None so far! I've only had this thing for a month though.

Overall Review: I bought the 250GB version of this drive back when the pre-order price was $125.99. It's really nice, but I don't think I would have payed over $200 for it with the Crucial MX300 available for $90. Also, I haven't run any official speed tests on this thing. I have it plugged into a M.2 Socket 3 and I'm very satisfied with it.

Decent for the price

Rosewill RIKB-11002 Slim Keyboard with Low Profile Chiclet Keycap Design - Retail
Rosewill RIKB-11002 Slim Keyboard with Low Profile Chiclet Keycap Design - Retail

Pros: Used this keyboard for two years. Felt pretty good, and enjoyed the chiclet keys a lot more than those of a traditional keyboard. Nice and quiet too.

Cons: Keys do tend to stick... I am getting a new keyboard because the 'W' key is constantly stuck down. (Why, yes, I do play video games... how could you tell? :D) While the keys were nice and quiet for a long time, most of them sound pretty loud and clacky by now.

Overall Review: You'll get a very good experience for the price; I was very happy with this keyboard and felt that I got my money's worth from it. However, don't expect to use it heavily for more than 18-24 months without it wearing out.

12/21/2013

Purty Good

HAWKING HWR54G Wireless-G Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g
HAWKING HWR54G Wireless-G Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g

Pros: 54 mbs, 2750 foot range, ten minutes after I opened up the box I was on the internet up in my room. Really great for the price. I didn't even need the CD or instruction guide.

Cons: I'm not sure whats doing this, but every two or three minutes the wireless disconnects for a second or two and then reconnects. This has not gotten in the way of browsing, though.

10/24/2006