Joined on 08/11/09
Good card, if you treat it well!
Pros: -Second most powerful card for slim case computers (First I know of is 9800Gt) -Powerful enough to run the latest games at med/high settings -Built very well. Nice solid look and feel -Turned my typical $350 office PC into a decent gaming PC
Cons: There is the problem of the back heatsink plate interfering with a capacitor near the Pci-e slot, which seems to be common among OEM motherboards. Can easily be solved if you're willing to get your hands dirty. Tendency for people to mistake this card for the fanless hd3450 it is probably replacing. This will result in lots of overheating/bsod's if cooling is not taken into consideration.
Overall Review: When I first got it I ran into a roadblock due to the back heat sink interfering with a capacitor on my motherboard. The back heat sink can easily be removed to make it fit without any noticeable change in cooling capacity. I was later able to modify the heat sink in the machine shop I work in. The second problem I had was the card was running very hot, and the fan constantly at 100%. I realized it was not getting any airflow in my Acer x3810 slim case, and added a silent case fan blowing on to the card to get some air moving. Now the card runs cool and nearly silent at idle. Fan ramps up for games but quickly cools off afterward. I think many people fail to realize this is not a typical sff pc card. It's quite beefy and requires extra attention to cooling needs when going into a small case.
xfx mislabeling
Pros: heads up for potential buyers
Cons: no, I don't own this
Overall Review: look at the specs, this is nothing more than a 4650 with a 50mhz overclock on the core. all other 4670s on this site are clocked at 750mhz and come with ddr3 memory. I'm so tired of xfx labeling practices.
Will hold me out until QNX phones
Pros: Great build quality Autofocus Camera Scratch resistant glass screen Purchased apps from my 9300 work on this device (that don't work on OS7)
Cons: Well, price, for a last gen blackberry is a bit high. I could have gotten one used for $200 or less but that's just gross...
Overall Review: Actually considered this phone an upgrade from my 9900 Bold. I was having issues with that phone - touch screen responsiveness, hanging constantly, connectivity issues. On top of it all I found that OS7 devices were far behind in quality compared to OS6 phones. I've had 2 curve 9360s and 2 Bold 9900s cross my path and all had build quality issues. I got this phone on a hunch based on experiences with nearly all OS6 devices and i was pretty much right on. Build quality is superlative, the device is super snappy (even compared to the 9900 with 2x the mhz) Most importantly though, all the apps I purchased for my old curve 9300 are compatible with this device. I know that compatability will end with QNX but at least I get to use my favorite apps a while longer (and at least I get a chance to finish Cyberlords!)
RIM is losing it
Pros: Looks good on display in the store Improved cpu, and screen over previous curve model
Cons: Questionable build quality Buggy Slow Unstable Games I bought for the 9300 (Cyberlords Arcology, Final Fantasy, and Tetris) are not compatible with this phone for some reason. Too thin. Had to buy otterboxes to make them feel more substantial.
Overall Review: Got two of these with wind mobile for me and my wife. The touchpad on hers was sunk really deep into the body of the phone and sat at a weird angle. Her screen had several dead pixels. The silver plastic band that goes around the phone popped off and hung loose on my phone. Took them back to be replaced. The replacements both had dust under the screens. All four phones have different startup sequences, and they vary on the same phone from one wipe to the next. Sometimes you get an intro screen and prompt to log into your BB account and sometimes not. Sometimes the phone asks you to turn on the radio and sometimes not. When restoring contacts from a backup sometimes contacts on the desktop manager is greyed out and not able to be transferred. Upgrading the firmware takes ages, on one phone it took over an hour. Two phones crashed during the update, and another kept crashing during a security wipe. Trackpads are all wiggly and not as solid or responsive as the 9300.
upgrade the ram!
Pros: Fast machine Well built Cool and super quiet
Cons: Comes with only 1 sodimm, so the ram runs in single channel limiting graphics performance
Overall Review: When I first got this machine I was truly impressed with the performance. I like to game, and this machine was amazing compared to my Acer with hd4250 graphics. However, after discovering that this laptop only has 1 ram slot populated I purchased another 4gb to make us of the dual channel. Gaming performance is now significantly better! Just for example, I was playing Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect, Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 on mostly high settings, 720p. Now I can run the same games with higher settings at native resolution (1600x900). Excellent Frame Rates! Games that were absolutely unplayable like Black Ops, Bad Company 2, and Saints Row 2 are now somewhat playable at lower settings. Ah well, can't expect miracles!
Totally worth it!
Pros: great price/performance ratio excellent build quality battery life :)
Cons: no bluetooth, usb3
Overall Review: I wanted a laptop with more screen and performance than my 15" acer with phenom II x3 n830 and hd4250 graphics. This laptop meets those needs and surpasses my expectations with build quality, battery life, heat and noise output. It's a wonderful laptop to use every day and has enough power to run my current games (mass effect, modern warfare 2, portal 2) on high settings and at least 720p resolution or greater. Setup was super easy and allows me to choose 32 or 64 bit windows. The computer also has virtually no bloatware, I just uninstalled MS office and Mcafee because I have my own preferred programs. All of the toshiba tools and utilities are smart, attractive and incredibly useful! If they keep making computers like this I'm a toshiba fan for life!