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Russell J.

Russell J.

Joined on 11/20/01

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 13
Most Favorable Review

Great Value - AHCI Note

GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: It has every modern connection you can think of! Be aware that when you first start it up it asks you to choose IDE vs AHCI mode. If you select the AHCI your boot time is a little faster to Win 7 and you gain hot plug and play ability with eSata drives which is handy to have. What do you lose? You lose the ability to boot from a CD without first resetting your CMOS via a jumper on the motherboard. I use Norton Ghost 2003 on a bootable CD (I partition all of my drives) and make an image of the full activated install so that if a virus or a teen hits it, I can restore it in 20 minutes or less vs. the 5 hours that it takes to install all of the various pieces of software and then have to do all of the activations and telephone calls. This board has the ability to save up to 10 different CMOS configuration settings. I solved this problem by saving two CMOS files. The first is the "IDE mode" file the second is the SATA-AHCI file. (Cont'd in Cons)

Cons: NOT A CON. The IDE mode is the mode that the system will start in if you do not answer the AHCI inquiry with a Y for YES. All you need to do is enter the BIOS via the DEL button and restore the IDE file when the need arises to be able to boot a CD/DVD. If you go this route, you avoid taking the side cover off your case and jumping the CMOS pins. When would you want to boot a DVD/CD? How about a Windows 7 Repair, Norton Ghost 2010 or any other bootable DVD.

Overall Review: This is my 10th Gigabyte board this year and the greatest yet! This build has: 1) GA-880GMA-UD2H 2) AMD/ATH II X4 635 3) Two sticks of GSkill F3-10600CL9D 4) WD 1TB SATAIII WD1002FAEX 5) Win 7 HP 64 Bit 6) Antec NSK 4482 7) OCZ550FTY psu 8) All from NewEgg Works great, runs fast and performs well and my friends/customers love them!!

Excellent Refurb Desktop PC

HP A Grade Desktop Computer ProDesk 600 G1 - SFF Intel Core i5-4570 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600 Windows 10 Pro
HP A Grade Desktop Computer ProDesk 600 G1 - SFF Intel Core i5-4570 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600 Windows 10 Pro

Pros: Delivery was fast. PC was spotlessly clean on the inside. It started right up. The only change that I made was to replace the mechanical HDD with a new SSD which makes this a speed demon.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Go for it at this price.

Great Monitor and it came with a Data Port connection but no VGA

LG 29UB55-B 29" Ultra Wide HD 2560 x 1080 2 x HDMI, DVI-D, DisplayPort Flicker-Safe Split Screen LED Backlit IPS Monitor
LG 29UB55-B 29" Ultra Wide HD 2560 x 1080 2 x HDMI, DVI-D, DisplayPort Flicker-Safe Split Screen LED Backlit IPS Monitor

Pros: Beautiful clear display of text and or graphics. Splitting screen to do side by side comparison of tax returns for current year and past year works very well with either Windows 10 software or the LG software. Sound from the built in speakers is reasonable. Video Connections on the one that I received are HDMI1, HDMI2, Data Port and DVI-D. Running in 2560 X 1080 on a Lenovo Laptop using Intel video chip. Base is very stable. Monitor is almost infinitely adjustable for height and tilt.

Cons: The LG "Joystick" controller takes a bit of getting used to. Download the drivers from the LG website for Windows 10. It works well once you spend some time with it. For my purposes, I'm sticking with a HDMI switch that I used previously into HDMI1 in order to avoid using the LG joystick.

Overall Review: Got tired of two monitors on my desk and reclaimed some desktop space. Also cut down on the heat from 2 monitors being on.

12/10/2016

Very good reconditioned Corporate Class i5

HP 8100 Elite Intel i5 Dual Core 3200 MHz 320Gig 4096mb DVD-RW Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit Desktop Computer
HP 8100 Elite Intel i5 Dual Core 3200 MHz 320Gig 4096mb DVD-RW Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit Desktop Computer

Pros: Windows 10 Pro pre-installed. Thoroughly cleaned insides (no dust bunnies). Lots of USB 2.0 (10). Started right up and worked well.

Cons: It was a royal pain to open the case to upgrade Memory from 2 sticks of 2 Gigs to 2 sticks of 4 Gigs. It should have been very easy as illustrated at HP website for this PC. Once I got it open, subsequent reopenings were very easy as expected.

Overall Review: I upgraded memory and used Crucial Ballistix DDR3- 1600 1.5v 2 sticks @ 4 GIGs each for 8 total. Also took an old Sandisk SSD and cloned the disk with Acronis TI. Machine now starts to desktop in under 20 seconds and is ready to and does fly! Yes, it's a 5 or 6 year PC but it has an early I5 and some upgrade ability. Be forewarned that while there may be some PCI slots that the power supply has no extra connections. It's a great PC for surfing, office work, etc.

It's a great upgrade from the Logitech 700

Logitech 915-000194 Universal Infrared / Bluetooth Harmony Smart Control
Logitech 915-000194 Universal Infrared / Bluetooth Harmony Smart Control

Pros: Very easy setup using Android app on Lg-G2 phone and network in house. Their software copied over the settings in my old Logi Harmony 700 that was showing signs of age and brain damage from too many drops on the tile floor. The whole job took less than 15 minutes.

Cons: They could include in the package a bit more detail - explanation of what the buttons on the included remote and in the Android app are meant to be for. I've figured most of them out but at first, it was "take a guess". Also, I didn't immediately realize that some of the activities have more than 1 screen of data - icons to display

Overall Review: I have a Denon AVR-e300; 3 HDMI In, 1 out to TV Samsung HD TV and Bluray Comcast - Motorola HDMI DVR box Roku3 and Nintendo. Everything worked on first try. It's a pleasure to not have to reach for the Roku controller anymore. I have all of my components in a wall unit and was skeptical as to whether the IR would get to the Cable box, TV and bluray without use of the included external IR blaster. To my very pleasant surprise, everything worked right and continues to work and switch nicely between the "activities"

Great laptop for business or home

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 Intel Core i5 4200M 2.5GHz 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 15.6" Notebook Windows 7 Professional/Windows 8 Pro 64-bit - 20C6008SUS
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 Intel Core i5 4200M 2.5GHz 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 15.6" Notebook Windows 7 Professional/Windows 8 Pro 64-bit - 20C6008SUS

Pros: Great Processor, fast boot to Windows 7, easy access to add memory and minimal bloatware. It comes with Win 7 Pro preinstalled. If you want Windows 8, the DVDs (4 of them) are in the box. You may also need a BIOS update and make changes in the BIOS for UEFI boot for Windows 8. You can't have both installed. It's either one or the other.

Cons: No backup media for Windows 7. I used a 16 GIG USB stick to create the Win 7 Pro in case of a hard disk failure. Minor bloatware. Norton AV (30 day). Nitro PDF which is a great program but expensive and some Lenovo cloud based backup items.

Overall Review: I buy about 10 laptops a year for clients, friends and family. Lenovo is my "go to" brand. This Lenovo is with an insurance salesman (neighbor) and he loves it as do I. This is a new model (4/2014) and came with Windows 7 Pro Service Pack 1. It needed considerable updates but with a Comcast 50MBS service this was done in about 3 hours. It starts, runs and shuts down fine. It's secure for a business (Pro version). At time of purchase (local retailer) I also picked up one stick of 4 GIG DDR3 to put in the 2nd slot that I knew would be empty. Install of memory required undoing 3 screws and using a credit card to pry the cover off. Start to finish was 5 minutes. The battery is good for anywhere from 3 - 5 hours depending on what you are doing. Please don't lose the charger. For about a year now Lenovo has been using a unique rectangular plug which may be hard to replace. Finally, from a quick look at Lenovo.com there may be a better battery available if you really need it.