Joined on 11/27/06
Good speakers with microphone pass-through.
Pros: I love the headphone & microphone pass-through from the speaker volume control. This is great for using headphones for gaming in the night without having crawl to the back of the case and unplug the speakers, then plug in the headphones and headset microphone. I
Cons: Sound quality is not up to the usual Logitech quality at high volumes. But, for less than $30 the sound is great.
Overall Review: I just wish that I could find Logitech or Altec Lansing speakers with 5.1 or 7.1 and the microphone pass-through. Then I would not need to purchase the platinum version of Sound Blasters latest card to get the easy access to headphone/mic plugin.
AC cools good, lousy supporting hardware
Pros: I purchased this unit for placing in a room with three computers. Good ac cooling ability, especially with the Texas summers being 100 degrees(f) or more. I love the remote and digital thermostat on the unit.
Cons: I think that the air seal may not be as good as I would like. A lawn mower went by the window, after I sealed the unit in place, and within seconds I could smell the cut grass and motor fumes. I think that this is a chronic problem of all window unit sellers... Their non-AC hardware sucks. After I installed the unit, there were spiders, moths, mosquitoes and other insect critters crawling through the side paneling. That means that cool air was getting out and hot, humid air was getting in! Window unit manufacturers should provide better hardware support with their units. They should not rely on the customer to actually create a air sealed enclosure. It would be nice for the manufacturers to supply a 1 or 2" foam insulation sheet that is cut to slide inside the side slats to help provide insulation and an air seal. Design the side slats so the foam sheet fits into the slat, and the customer can cut the sheet to the desired lengths for the variable window sizes.
Overall Review: I finally removed the two side slats and cut a 1x10 board to the dimensions that I needed. Then I used silicone on all the window to board, window to AC and AC to board edges(yes, top sides and bottom ;) ) to create an air seal all around the window and AC unit. I also used a Double Reflective Insulation, from Home Depot, on the lower half of the window outside the board to provide a better insulation and to keep the afternoon sun off the window.
Crash & Burn
Pros: I really like the number of SATA and USB ports on the mobo. My brother is not a gamer so a simple board should have done the job. I also like that this mobo has HDMI, Display Port, Optical audio output and PS/2 ports.
Cons: Maybe not "& Burn", but it defiantly crashes a lot. I purchased this mobo and other items from NewEgg as a BYO Christmas computer for my brother and his family in 2013. He did not tell me that it constantly crashes until recently. So I have had it for a few weeks trying to find out why it is crashing. I think that I have it narrowed down to the memory channels. If I place the two memory cards in the A2/B2 configuration like the manual shows or the A1/B1 configuration, the system crashes constantly. It is more stable if I place the memory in A1/A2 configuration, the system is much more stable. But, the memory is not running in a dual channel mode. I have tried multiple memory cards in the mobo and get the same results.
Overall Review: I have purchased at least seven ASUS motherboards since the Athlon XP was released. This is the first one that has really disappointed me. I may just go buy another brand to replace this one.
Pros: Nice RAM, Works with my ASUS P6X58D Premium.
Cons: I also had to go into bios to set the speed from 1066 to 1600
Overall Review: Why is the 3x4GB so expensive?
Excelent Monitor
Pros: Very clear image quality. I really like the HDMI, DVI and VGA imputs.
Cons: If your going to add speakers to a monitor, add speakers that are louder than an in the ear canal headphone that is playing ten feet away.
Overall Review: Add better speakers and volume buttons to the front panel. But, I purchased this for the monitor size and quality first and the Blu-ray play second.
Piece of Junk
Pros: Supposed to read and write CD's, DVD's and Blu-ray disks.
Cons: This drive, after nine months has quit reading CD's, DVD's and Blu-ray movies. Essentially it has died.