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Jonathan H.

Jonathan H.

Joined on 05/03/02

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

Very quiet fan

Antec 761345-75121-6 3-Speed Case Cooling Fan
Antec 761345-75121-6 3-Speed Case Cooling Fan

Pros: Works as described. Extremely quiet on low setting. No LEDs!

Cons: None

Overall Review: I bought this to complement the tri-cool fans that were already preinstalled in my Antec P182 case. As far as I can tell it is the exact same fan.

Most Critical Review

Unreliable

OCZ Vertex 2 2.5" 115GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G
OCZ Vertex 2 2.5" 115GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G

Pros: So much faster than my old mechanical HDD. This model in particular seemed to be the best price/performance in the 120GB category when I bought it.

Cons: It failed after 10 months of use. Freezing, BSODs, and drive undetectable by BIOS. I am currently in the RMA process with OCZ.

Overall Review: I hope the new drive will be fine, but I am not too confident based on others' experiences...

Awesome monitor!

ASUS VE246H Black 24" 1920 x 1080 Full HD HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 50,000 :1 (ASCR)
ASUS VE246H Black 24" 1920 x 1080 Full HD HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 50,000 :1 (ASCR)

Pros: Another great monitor by ASUS! - The colors looked fantastic out of the box. I will probably do a little color tweaking soon but this is the first LCD I've purchased without obvious color problems. - Native 1080p resolution coupled with HDMI/DVI/VGA inputs makes this the ideal monitor to share between my computer and PS3. - I bought two of these and neither one has any dead/stuck pixels. - Only draws up to 35W of electricity, compared to most other 24" displays that use 50-60W. This makes me feel much better about running two of them! - The brightness is perfect in my opinion! This monitor has a lower max brightness than most, but I normally turn down the brightness of other monitors anyways. I will gladly take the power savings over a blindingly bright display. - Very minimal backlight bleed. - Very good price, bought from Newegg at $209.99 each with free shipping.

Cons: As others have mentioned, the warranty sticker is ON TOP of the protective plastic film that you are meant to peel off when setting up the monitor. So you either rip off the warranty sticker, or leave the ugly plastic film on your shiny new monitor. Hopefully this is a packaging error and not an extremely shady tactic to get out of performing warranty repairs.

Overall Review: I went from a single 25.5" ASUS VW266H (another fantastic ASUS display) to running two of these. I am only beginning to discover all the benefits of using multiple displays. I highly recommend picking up two of these if you have the desk space and can afford it!

Best Monitor I Have Owned

ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers w/ component connector
ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers w/ component connector

Pros: - Huge screen! - Great image quality and lightning-fast response. - It is 1920x1200 res and 16:10 aspect ratio! It's getting so hard to find this ratio, which seems to be getting phased out in favor of 1080p 16:9. - Tons of inputs.

Cons: - Console owners beware: This is a 16:10 monitor, and lacks the option to upscale to the console-preferred 16:9. This means you have to decide between having your games stretched to 16:10, or use 1:1 pixel mapping. The downside with 1:1 mapping is that most console games only broadcast in 720p, so you will have a little 1366x720 window in the middle of your 1920x1200 screen with giant black borders around it. If you are buying a monitor that you will also use to play a console with, look for a native 16:9 monitor. - Speakers are nothing special

Overall Review: After a year of faithful service, I am replacing this monitor with a dual-24" setup. If I had the desk space, I would have bought a second VW266H instead. I can't recommend it enough for a single monitor setup.

Good Monitor, But Resolution is Too Low

ASUS 27" LCD Monitor 2ms(GTG) 1920 x 1080 D-Sub, HDMI MT276HE
ASUS 27" LCD Monitor 2ms(GTG) 1920 x 1080 D-Sub, HDMI MT276HE

Pros: - Very good price for all the features. - Good image quality for a TN panel. - The included remote is very welcome. It makes it much easier to navigate the menus, switch inputs, and adjust the speaker volume. I wish more monitors came with remotes.

Cons: - After seeing this monitor in person, I believe 1920x1080 is too low of a resolution for a 27" monitor. The pixel density is just not adequate and small text (8pt or less) can be blocky hard to read. -1 egg - The speakers are junk. I realize that 99% of monitor speakers are no good, but if ASUS insists that the speaker grill needs to be gigantic and covered with flowery designs, the least they could do is put decent speakers behind it. -1/2 egg - Mine came with a dead pixel. -1/2 egg

Overall Review: For people looking to buy a large monitor (26-28"), I would only recommend the MT276HE if you absolutely need the 16:9 aspect ratio. Otherwise, take a look at ASUS's own VW266H, which I also own and much prefer to this one.

An amazing display for the price

ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers w/ component connector
ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers w/ component connector

Pros: - Huge! I upgraded from a 22" 1680x1050 monitor and I can't imagine going back to a smaller display. - I cannot find a single dead or stuck pixel. - Very vibrant, bright color (after a bit of tweaking). Hint: if on Windows 7, run dccw.exe from the start menu bar for a calibration tool. - Lightning fast response when playing games. Cannot detect any ghosting whatsoever. - Viewing angle is not nearly as horrible as some reviews make it out to be. - Several input options: HDMI, DVI, component, VGA. A very useful button is included on the front bezel for quick-switching between inputs. - Cheap! Could not find a cheaper display of this size without running into sketchy bargain-brands. Amazing value for the price.

Cons: - I am the internal speakers temporarily when playing my PS3, until my optical SPDIF cable arrives. They sound terrible. Which is to be expected on a value monitor. Does anyone actually use monitor speakers on a permanent basis? I'd rather they omit the speakers entirely and lower the price of the unit by a few dollars. - The included stand is nothing special. It does not let you alter the height of the monitor. Not a deal breaker but I wouldn't mind having the display about 1" higher than it is on my desk. - Some backlight-bleed is visible along the top of the monitor when there is a dark background. But it's minimal and actually less noticeable than my previous monitor.

Overall Review: I wish games played from my PS3 on this monitor looked sharper (using the HDMI port). But not the monitor's fault. That's what you get for upscaling a 1366x720 game to 1920x1200.

10/10/2009