Joined on 07/06/04
One of a few 7900 GTX SLI Certified
Pros: The four voltage rails deliver plenty of power to the cards with two dedicated PCI-E rails. This PSU is one of the few rated at slizone.com as 7900 GTX SLI certified. The OCZ 600 SLI PSU I had could not keep up with two 7900 GTX cards. Had all sorts of strange issues that are now remedied.
Cons: None, so far.
DO NOT BUY FOR 8800GTS/GTX!!!!
Pros: NewEgg is a great place to buy any of your computer components.
Cons: The manufacturer does NOT warrant this item for use with any current video cards (8800GTX or GTS). It did not work at all, so I contacted the manufacturer for a warranty replacement and they indicated that it is not certified for use with these cards and that there is nothing wrong with the unit.
Overall Review: If you are looking to boost your current PSU to save the hassle and expense of buying a better PSU, look elsewhere.
Excellent form factor
Pros: I have been evaluating a number of form factors for my systems at home. The HP Envy Touchsmart, HP Revolve, Dell XPS 18, Surface Pro 3, iPad, etc and have landed on this as the best balance. The use as a laptop and tablet is a great balance. I now have three of them with Windows 8.1 and do not have any issues. Of course, I did update to the latest BIOS and driver versions so that may be contributing to others' problems. As a note, I did remove the McAfee AV since that seemed to interfere with the Windows Update process. Battery life - very good - about 4 hours of constant use (not gaming) Presentation mode - I use mine for demos and presentations for my work. Excellent for this use. Relatively light - not as small or light as a pure tablet, but close.
Cons: The update to Windows 8.1 can pose some issues but is not difficult with all updates and drivers in place. Make sure you have those in place before attempting. I have not seen any of the buggy issues with the display that others have noted. There is also a lock screen button on the side (so it does NOT convert when the lid is closed)
Overall Review: I really like the approach that ASUS took with this hybrid laptop. I think they have a winner but it seems to be marred, somewhat, with users reporting update issues.
Fast and solid
Pros: These drives are reliable and fast. I have now picked up four of these drives for all of my mobile systems and all have been solid performers. Boot times are in line with a good hybrid like the Momentus XT drive, but this is silent and random write reads are amazlingly fast. Application do not open up, they burst. Barely have time to read the splash screens.
Cons: Still relatively expensive compared to a spindle, but the performance enhancement more than makes up.
Overall Review: I had originally bought two troublesome Torx drives that failed almost immediately. Patriot stepped up and replaced them with the Infernos. After using them for some time, I was so impressed by them I picked up two more since I felt confident about the quality and Patriot's warranty.
Great balance in a great form factor
Pros: I liked this new laptop so much, I picked up a second. It is one of the best balanced notebooks on the market today. It looks great, has a beautiful screen, a nice all metal design which gets you the "Envy" factor. You just want to own this thing. The screen is very bright, crisp and offers excellent blacks. The backlit keyboard is a great plus for working in dim lit areas (the airplane). The finish is a nice idea since it does not show finger prints like all black or silver brushed aluminum designs.
Cons: The only item that people will likely note is that it is a bit heavy for the size, but that is mostly battery weight which brings us to the second item, battery life. You will likely see realworld usage at around 4 to 4.5 hours. The nitpick item would be the video card clock speed of the video card at 450 MHz versus while the AMD can be optionally clocked from 450 to 650 MHz. It seems HP has decided that the lower voltage and heat is a better choice than a little bit of performance from the higher clocks. Some users felt a bit betrayed when they find out of the lower clocks.
Overall Review: This laptop represents one of the best balanced notebooks on the market with respect to size, power and weight.
Limited system support
Pros: This adapter is a great concept. If you have system with a mini Displayport and an older 30 inch LCD with a dual link DVI, this is the ticket to get to 2560x1600 resolution. The USB cacble is necessary since this is an active connection. Passive single link DVI cables are good up to 1920x1200. Worked great on Macbook to a 30 inch Cinema display.
Cons: I tried this item on an HP Envy 14 to a 30 inch Dell 3007 FPW-HC without success. The 5650 ATI card does not detect the monitor connection under display options. The item is noted to be ATI Eyefinity certified but did not work in this scenario.
Overall Review: Great concept but you may be rolling the dice with certain configurations. I suspect this item will yield a lot of returns.