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Charles C.

Charles C.

Joined on 09/11/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Unmanaged Done Right!

D-Link DGS-1024A  24-Port Gigabit Switch
D-Link DGS-1024A 24-Port Gigabit Switch

Pros: Plug and play - the end. Very little heat generated. It just works!

Cons: None

Overall Review: Numbers could be a little larger in the front. I like that the cables connect in the back of the device making the numbers on the front a little easier to read. Price was also excellent. Looking forward to many years of use.

Most Critical Review

Nice Case, Bad Rubber!

IN WIN BUC Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 12V, PSII Size, Not Included Power Supply
IN WIN BUC Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 12V, PSII Size, Not Included Power Supply

Pros: Beautiful case. Nice cable management. Easy to carry. Almost tool less. LEDs are cool. Installing hard drives was an absolute breeze. Cables are nicely labeled. Packing for the case in the box is appropriate and protects the case rather nicely. Case fans are very quiet.

Cons: Instructions are presented on a fold-out and not a book type manual. The instructions (if you can call them instructions) are just pictures as the text below is virtually useless. The worst part: the rubber grommets that hold the rear fan in place. Why rubber!!! When installing a water cooled fan, the screws for the fan had nothing to secure to as the screw head was too small for the rubber grommet and passed right through it! Why not use the case and cut an appropriate hole for screws??? As a result of this layout, installing a self inclosed water cooler was a nightmare. Furthermore, one of the rubber grommets split in half so now I have only 3 screws holding the rear fan (as extras are not included). Not a deal breaker but a real hassle when installing third party fans. A metal grommet would have been the way to go on this - 2 eggs off for that.

Overall Review: I like the case so I'm stuck with 3 grommets. May try to go to a hardware store to find a metal replacement for all 4 grommets. Fans are near silent which is great. I setup the new AMD FX chip with this case and it runs absolutely silent. Would have been nice if the cutout for the estata on the front of the case was actually cutout so you could use it. This is one of the nicer cases offered by In Win.

6 The Hard Way

Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH – Six-Tuner CableCARD Ethernet Network Tuner for Win7 and Win8 PC 5504-DCT06EX-ETH
Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH – Six-Tuner CableCARD Ethernet Network Tuner for Win7 and Win8 PC 5504-DCT06EX-ETH

Pros: 6 tuners, Ethernet connection to switch, all computers on network can see tuners and watch television. Setup relatively quick and straightforward. Price is okay.

Cons: Current Ceton drivers (13.5.24.142) for this unit cause random crashes in Windows Media Center whereas the previous software installed (I was using the pci-4 tuner version) was rock solid. The crashes are happening in Windows 8 on a brand new install with no other programs loaded. Having a hard time locking down the issue.

Overall Review: Ceton tends to update their software regularly so I'm hoping the next update will stabilize my current build. If you're not afraid of a little excitement, take a look at this tuner.

Not Too Friendly Towards the Xbox 360

NETGEAR AC1750 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router R6300-NAS
NETGEAR AC1750 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router R6300-NAS

Pros: Interface is easy to understand when setting up the router. Packaged very securely. Overall, a nice presentation.

Cons: Does not play nice with Xbox360. I've tried every setting I can think of and the connection on the 2.4ghz band is pretty much unusable. Trying to stream windows media center live tv or videos is pretty much a slide show (Xbox is literally 15 feet away). Much better on the 5ghz band but the new Xbox's are 2.4ghz unless you buy the dongle for the old Xbox. I'm at wit's end trying to configure this router in way that makes it usable. If I cannot resolve this, then a RMA may be the only solution.

Overall Review: I really want to like this unit, but not being able to stream to my Xbox360 is a real deal breaker. I will continue searching the many forums for answers. Maybe someone is experiencing this and has a solution already.

Is it really fast?

BELKIN F9K1103 N750 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n
BELKIN F9K1103 N750 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n

Pros: Price and delivery. The Egg delivered literally overnight even though it was 3 day shipping! Sexy looking. Comes password protected right out of the box which should protect the average consumer. Simply plug it in and you're pretty much ready to roll. On the box it claims up 900 mbps - don't know how true that is, that may be marketing hype.

Cons: Only one indicator light on the device unlike traditional routers which show ports 1 through 4 and give a color indication with regards to connectivity for each port. Speed - or lack thereof. As far as I can tell, it doesn't appear any faster than the router it replaces. Also, I'm not sure there is any way to check the speed to ensure you're getting 450 on the 5ghz channel and the full 300 on the 2.5ghz channel. I don't think I'm getting the advertised speed on the 5ghz channel as when I stream HD, it's still jerky and sometimes pixelated.

Overall Review: Looks good on paper and is easy to use but I'm hesitant to recommend. For most folks this is probably a good choice but if you are streaming HD and you have the option to run a wire to your device, that may be the way to go. I really want to like this product but the stuttering makes its performance no better than the router it's replacing which makes me feel like I wasted my money.

Pretty good deal!

Acer 24" TFT LCD WUXGA LCD Monitor with HDCP support 6ms (GTG) D-Sub, DVI-D AL2416Wd
Acer 24" TFT LCD WUXGA LCD Monitor with HDCP support 6ms (GTG) D-Sub, DVI-D AL2416Wd

Pros: Size, clarity, brightness, ease of setup. Price is nice for size.

Cons: Instructions are pretty generic in terms of explanations, using the dvi connector you don't see the post screen during bootup. Using the analog connector does not have that problem. Customer support not so hot! They tend to not respond to emails.

Overall Review: Nice size, no blurring, easy on the eyes and doesn't use a whole lot of electricity. I primarily use it for watching tv via media center and for gaming. No dead pixels.