cover
James B.

James B.

Joined on 09/17/14

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 5
Most Favorable Review

This thing is a beast!

ASUS AC5300 Wi-Fi Tri-band Gigabit Wireless Router with 4x4 MU-MIMO, 4 x LAN Ports, AiProtection Network Security and WTFast Game Accelerator, AiMesh Whole Home Wi-Fi System Compatible (RT-AC5300)
ASUS AC5300 Wi-Fi Tri-band Gigabit Wireless Router with 4x4 MU-MIMO, 4 x LAN Ports, AiProtection Network Security and WTFast Game Accelerator, AiMesh Whole Home Wi-Fi System Compatible (RT-AC5300)

Pros: Very easy to set up! Works basically out of the box Updates go really well with it. Having multiple channels is really nice (especially for legacy devices that don't support newer standards) I have only had to reset it once since I got it (literally over a year ago at this point).

Cons: I wish the friction that maintains the antenna angle was slightly greater. As it stands sometimes the antennas will topple over if you tap them.

Overall Review: It isn't a cheap piece of equipment, but then sometimes that can be a really nice thing.

Great laptop

ASUS 15.6" 4K/UHD ZenBook Pro UX501VW-DS71T Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 16 GB Memory 512 GB SSD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop
ASUS 15.6" 4K/UHD ZenBook Pro UX501VW-DS71T Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 16 GB Memory 512 GB SSD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop

Pros: Really quick startup. Quick shutdown, quick reboot. All the good things. It actually uses an NVME drive for its internal SSD; this could be a pro or just a note, but it is interesting since it was in use before NVME was really a thing. Nice touchpad. Backlit keyboard

Cons: Non-serviceable hard drive. Now, I haven't opened it up to verify, but according to what I have read the hard drive isn't serviceable. Doesn't use USB-C for charging. This would have been a really nice feature to have, and in fact the laptop is capable of charging other devices via USB-C, just not itself. Windows 10. I know that I am in the hater camp here, and I won't actually count this against the product's rating, but Windows 10 really detracts from this laptop. That isn't to say that you should just jump to Linux as I have had some interesting driver quirks on Linux with this laptop as well; but I don't think Windows 10 was the correct operating system to put on such a magnificent machine.

Overall Review: I understand that I purchased this for a different reason than most people who are looking at it probably did, that's fine by me as it fulfills my intended purpose. I am not gaming on it and not expecting to. I actually use it primarily for text editing and to run a Linux VM that I can do work on (compile and run code).

Very nice sound card

Creative Sound Blaster Z PCIe 116dB SNR Gaming Sound Card with 600 ohm Headphone Amp and Beamforming Microphone
Creative Sound Blaster Z PCIe 116dB SNR Gaming Sound Card with 600 ohm Headphone Amp and Beamforming Microphone

Pros: Relatively nice software to use. Successfully boosted and cleared up my mic levels to something far more intelligible than I was previously dealing with.

Cons: The driver software isn't quite as user-friendly as I had hoped. Volume levels are skewed horribly on my headset (where I used to run my machine's volume at ~63% I now have to run at ~6%, which I assume means that it is driving just that much more current through the cable than the on-board was, but I don't know enough about audio to say for sure). This is relatively minor, and is something I can easily work around.

Overall Review: Maybe I should have prefaced the review by stating that I purchased this as a first-time upgrade from on-board audio to using a sound card due to streaming applications not picking up my mic, so I don't have too much experience with sound cards. However, it did everything I wanted it to and more!

A lifesaver when liquid cooling won't do

Dynatron K985 92mm Ball CPU Cooler for Intel LGA Socket 1151 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156
Dynatron K985 92mm Ball CPU Cooler for Intel LGA Socket 1151 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156

Pros: Small, compact, quiet, and fits nicely even in a tight/ small case.

Cons: None

Overall Review: It isn't liquid cooling, and I generally prefer liquid cooling my boxes, but sometimes the case just doesn't support that. So far this product has saved me on two different builds in which the motherboards built-in heat sinks meant liquid coolers just wouldn't fit (this is due to a combination of the liquid coolers' size, the box -- used in both a workstation build and media center build, and the motherboard's heat sinks). Very nice little CPU cooler, and it runs quiet.

Great workstation box

Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 CC-9011070-WW Black Steel Micro ATX / Mini-ITX Air 240 High Airflow MicroATX and Mini-ITX PC Case
Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 CC-9011070-WW Black Steel Micro ATX / Mini-ITX Air 240 High Airflow MicroATX and Mini-ITX PC Case

Pros: Compact, this thing fits nicely between my other machines and doesn't draw too much attention to itself. Everything goes in well. One of the major things I was looking for in the build I put together was having a motherboard that I could insert and work top-down (or at least turn sideways to do so) and this provides it. It also has a nice separator between the motherboard side and power supply/ drive enclosure side with all the cable management you need. Actually has (plastic) sleds for all the drives it claims to support (6). Very customizable!

Cons: Power LED is really bright, this makes it a little annoying at night. Second drive bay (the 2.5 inch bay) requires you remove the side and top of the case to get access to everything you need. The thumb screws don't quite align as nicely as I would like, meaning sometimes it is difficult to get them fastened securely (or to release when opening the case).

Overall Review: So far I can say that this has been a great product for what I purchased it as (a workstation box)! It is small, sleek, and looks nice all while having good airflow and having all the drive space I need (plus some).