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Andrew L.

Andrew L.

Joined on 08/23/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 65
Most Favorable Review

Solid Performer

Linksys WRT600N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE802.11n Draft
Linksys WRT600N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE802.11n Draft

Pros: HUGE throughput, you wouldn't think a sub-$500 device would have the backplane to handle multiple high-speed streaming connections, but this does. Enterprise level encryption, on-board FTP server, DD-WRT compatibility, USB port, gigabit wired and A/B/G/N wireless; all combined with some of the best fixed-antenna coverage I have ever used. There is nothing this router does that it does not do well. Even wiping out Linksys firmware (which was surprisingly functional for Linksys) to put on DD-WRT was flawless.

Cons: Doesn't come out of the box with DD-WRT. Also, no built in POE, but I can deal with having to run a separate power line to it or buying an adapter, it was never built to be a remote AP in the first place. Linksys tried to "replace" it with the 610N, and failed, signal coverage is wretched in the 610N. Buy the 600N, its actually the better (best) device.

Overall Review: I work with a wide variety or wireless devices, ranging from throw-away netgear, to mobile phones with wi-fi connection broadcasting, to full on Cisco enterprise routers and APs; I always look forward to customer's that use Linksys. Its a two step process, load DD-WRT, painlessly control every system aspect.

Most Critical Review

Cool design, poor quality...

SUPER TALENT Pico_C 8GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) STU8GPCS
SUPER TALENT Pico_C 8GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) STU8GPCS

Pros: TINY! *WOULD* have fit great inside my EEE PC...

Cons: I ordered 3 of them, and all of them worked for 30 seconds, then mid-copy they "disappeared". I this happened on 3 machines, 2 Windows XP Pro machines and a Vista Home Premium. All three times, the same thing happened, these drives are JUNK!

Overall Review: I *REALLY* like the design, but they don't work, they don't show up as drives. On rare occasion windows will install drivers for them or recognize they got plugged in, but that's as far as it ever gets Going to attempt to RMA them, we'll see how that goes...

12/20/2008

INSANE power!

MSI GX Series - 15.6" AMD Radeon HD 7970M - AMD A10-4600M  - 8GB Memory - - Windows 8 - Gaming Laptop - (GX60 1AC-021US )
MSI GX Series - 15.6" AMD Radeon HD 7970M - AMD A10-4600M - 8GB Memory - - Windows 8 - Gaming Laptop - (GX60 1AC-021US )

Pros: Radeon 7970M - tied with the 680M for performance (within margin of error in either direction) Radeon 7970M - same silicon as desktop 7870 - can be overclocked to match speed, safely runs at 940MHz core/1450MHz mem on stock voltage. A10-4600M - most times I can play my games on about 3/4 of maximum using just the A10-4600M processor and it's on-chip Radeon 7660G Room for 2 full SATA HDDs Plays Far Cry 3 at maximum EVERYTHING at over 40FPS, usually 50-60FPS - on stock clocks. Video Card AND Processor are both slotted - i.e. easily swapped out for next gen.

Cons: A10 processor can at times be a bottleneck. ArmA II CO requires draw distance to be turned down from 10000 to about 4000-6000 depending on map to get above 30FPS (you can go ahead and leave everything else at absolute max). Guild Wars 2 in WvW cripples gaming desktops, so that is no surprise here. And I have heard complaints about Battlefield 3 as well - again, all this on stock clocks. A10 is also NOT overclockable AT ALL. This is an A10 thing not a bios thing.

Overall Review: Turn it up. Thinks like anti-aliasing and high quality rendering are butter smooth at maximum, the 7970M is absolutely not the limiter here, it is the most powerful single-chip mobile graphics solution on the market, tied with the twice-the-price 680M. The A10 processor gets picked on for being weak, but with AA off and otherwise max settings, you can shut the 7970M off completely and play Skyrim on otherwise max settings on the INTEGRATED card at 1920x1080. Try that with any intel processor ever and integrated intel graphics.... When running on the 7970M, the A10-4600M hardly ever throttles down since it's heat design includes heat output from the integrated 7660G which is powered off/unused - and also the cooling power of this laptop is insane, I've gamed with it on my lap and it doesn't get too hot at all provided you position it to not block any vents.

NAS with no N, just AS

Drobo Direct Attached Storage - 4 bay array - USB3 and Thunderbolt ports - Designed for portability (DR-MINI-1A21)
Drobo Direct Attached Storage - 4 bay array - USB3 and Thunderbolt ports - Designed for portability (DR-MINI-1A21)

Pros: Looks nice.

Cons: For the low price of $650, you can buy 5 external drives (one of them mSATA with a mSATA to SATA adapter), a USB 3.0 HUB, and duct tape them together. OR, you can buy this Drobo, with no drives in it for the same price.

Overall Review: I have yet to see the point of owning a NAS (network attached storage) unit with no network interface. I mean hey, maybe you want to have all your external drives duct taped together in a pretty case, and you hate having money (daisy chain FTW!). If so, by all means, this DROBO is for you. Just don't forget, you are paying $650 for a USB hard drive case, you still need to put drives in it.

BEWARE - shipping Micron

Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series 240GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDAT240GB-DX
Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series 240GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDAT240GB-DX

Pros: Fast shipping, great service from Newegg.

Cons: Ships with Micron memory NOT Toshiba memory (at least, mine did) - Toshiba is faster more reliable Toggle NAND Flash (and is what is in the product picture, AND every product review of the Atlas Deluxe). Micron is Asynchronous NAND Flash. Micron, for example, is what is used in the slower, higher failure rate (and cheaper) Crucial M4 SSD.

Overall Review: I checked before even removing it from the package, Newegg had a shipping label and RMA number in my email in less than 5 minutes - with this item being a strict NO REFUND item, I was worried, however Newegg went above and beyond as always. Very satisfied Newegg customer, very DISSATISFIED Mushkin customer. Mushkin - I realize most people won't realize you are shipping an inferior product, however you should be ashamed at the deception.

11/28/2012

If it is Toshiba

Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series 240GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDAT240GB-DX
Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series 240GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDAT240GB-DX

Pros: If this is the Toshiba toggle NAND as the picture specifies (see cons), this drive is unbeatable, and at a fantastic price.

Cons: If this is the Micron asynchronus NAND, then it will be prone to the same shortcomings (speed, failure, lifespan) as the Crucial M4 drive.

Overall Review: Mushkin quietly switched some of the Atlas Deluxe SSDs from premium Toshiba Toggle-NAND to Micron asynchronous NAND. If mine arrives as Micron I WILL be returning it for a full refund, the reason I purchased this over the Crucial M4 (using Micron) is that the Micron has a much shorter lifespan and prone to failure. Beware of this, and double check to make sure you got Toshiba memory chips! Was going to subtract an egg for trickery, but I don't want to penalize it for something I read on the internet, I'll wait until it's in my hands.

11/25/2012