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DR K.

DR K.

Joined on 09/17/07

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 13
Most Favorable Review

Pros and Cons

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX

Pros: hGreat price for fast Ram with decently low latency. Hard to find a better deal w/$40 rebate

Cons: Bought 4 sticks so my system would have no compatibility problems. 1 Stick was DOA - heard this complaint before - Newegg was great in RMAing it and a refund is in process - gotta love the Egg.

Overall Review: The heat spreaders are surprisingly high - almost double the height of other RAM - they fit fine in my striker extreme and Antec 900 at present, but I could see how they might get in the way of an aftermarket huge cpu fan, or make cabling a bit messy or complex. On the other hand, as another reviewer pointed out, the heat dissipated by the huge heatsinks probably help to OC them to the max, if you're into that

10/30/2007
Most Critical Review

Nuance is useless

NUANCE PaperPort 14
NUANCE PaperPort 14

Pros: It scans documents

Cons: As noted by previous reviewer, indexing is broken - even a great deal more than he documents - it simply doesn't work (never completes without errors) whether the files are problematic to it or not. Worse yet, Nuance has absolutely no customer support worth anything. Their policy is to ignore you, so you'll upgrade to the next version. It's deplorable

Overall Review: Maybe take a look at alternative - FileCenter Pro is ok, I've heard. You can find documents in Paperport with windows 'search' function - since Paperport's indexing is broken - but it's a pain - and why support a company that cares nothing about its customers?

Nice at The Price

Klipsch Icon KF-28 Dual 8" 2-way Floorstanding Speaker (Each)
Klipsch Icon KF-28 Dual 8" 2-way Floorstanding Speaker (Each)

Pros: Pretty much a steal at $150 Better than average sound Bass thundering, as they're ported on the bottom Good looking speakers - if you ignore the fake wood vinal finish (but all speakers these days have that - the black color of these speakers minimize that characteristic. But you bought them on the basis of sound quality, not aesthetics, right?

Cons: Better than average sound at this price, but not great for listening to music, if that's what is you are after The company that ships them - Ontrack, I think, is a total disaster. Arrived looking like they might've thrown it down a couple flights of stairs, with large poked holes in the boxes, crushed outer cardboard, etc. The dumbest thing about it was that they left them less than a foot almost from the center of my garage door. Like many people, when I back out of my garage, I'm looking forward to make sure I clear what's in the garage, rather than backwards, for the first couple of yards. If I hadn't noticed something brown and odd (the corner of one of the boxes) in my review mirror. I would've smacked into these, giving them a push to crash on the pavement. Dumbest delivery idea I've ever seen. Klipsch shipped them in a better-than-average protection box, with sturdy cardboard, styrofoam packing, etc. to protect them. Something poked a hole that was deep enough to scratch one of the speaker's surface. I've written Newegg that JIMHO, why would they want to work with this delivery company. The did compensate me with a gift card, which I asked for rather than the hassle of returning them, and getting another speaker.

Overall Review: This is, I think, a pretty great value on sale - $150 x 2 for mind. They'll do very well in a home theater setup. Bass thunders so much, I had to compensate for it with my receiver by lowering the bass. Used for listening to music, they're pretty average - wouldn't recommend them if that's your main purpose. But keep in mind this is Klipsch's "Icon" model series, which is/has been discontinued. While MSRP's are always inflated in almost all speaker ads (I think these 'listed' at $399) they're pretty much at the bottom of Klipsch's speaker line. They're pretty much a steal, I think, at $150. Nice to get them with an Icon center speaker if you're doing surround sound, as they of course match well with it. I'm not unhappy with these. I was coming from listening to vintage 20 year old Bose 901s, so my 'speaker palette' is, of course, somewhat compromised by sound quality.

Mixed Results

Thermaltake SMART M Series SP-850M 850 W Intel ATX 12V 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi-Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Thermaltake SMART M Series SP-850M 850 W Intel ATX 12V 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi-Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Incredibly good deal at $49 w/rebate/sale. If it works as advertised, I should have no problem with adding a 2nd cpu or overclocking. However.......

Cons: This is my first build, which I'm in the middle of putting together. The documentation supplied is simply miserable - no instructions that are usefully helpful in how to wire the computer from the PSU. Went online to Thermaltake, and the documentation there (or, really, lack of it) is equally bad - 3 diagrams showing you things like cable names and lengths.

Overall Review: Perhaps I'm just too much of a noob to be a good judge of how much documentation should be supplied so you can understand how to wire things correctly. But, at both Johnnyguru and overclockers.com, they tested a similar model (Toughpower 850w bronze) and both commented on how abysmal the lack of documentation was, altho they liked the PSU itself. I'll need to search if there is a web video for this that might help - since even on Thermaltake's site there is no owners manual. If I can't find anything useful, I guess I'll just 'plug and play' (or more likelty, 'plug and *pray*), and see if I can intuit how things need to be hooked up. Wish me luck.

12/25/2015

Price/Performance makes this a near-steal

Philips SHB4100 Bluetooth On-Ear Headphone - Black
Philips SHB4100 Bluetooth On-Ear Headphone - Black

Pros: Light weight, long battery life, respectable sound quality, comfortable, price

Cons: Position shifts if you're moving/active, small buttons, call answering not intuitive nor easy

Overall Review: I bought these probably for around $30 and was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality - it's not high end sound nirvana, but I liked listening to music on them, and the 'on the ear' position gives it a more realistic sound than speakers that go around the ear. Do not expect this to be a bose quality sound device, but for the price/performance profile, I'm satisfied with my purchase. At these sale prices, it's really a no brainer - an almost-disposable item that works quite well - buy them for all your family members. Ease of bluetooth pairing is average. The biggest problem, and it cost them a star, was the shape of them makes the ear cups slip out of place too easily if you are moving, bending, etc. Annoying in that respect. I have not tried this much as a smartphone call device. I've given up on combos that are good headphones that provide good microphone/call quality, as every one I've ever bought was inadequate. That said, scarf these up - you won't be sorry, esp. at this sale price

Meh - moved on

TRENDnet TEW-751DR N600 Dual Band Wireless Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u
TRENDnet TEW-751DR N600 Dual Band Wireless Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u

Pros: Dual-band, works pretty much as expected (except see Cons below), setup not really difficult, customer support exists

Cons: I found the range to be inadequate - upstairs signal even on 2.4 ghz not powerful enough to be stable or even provide a connection. Could get a connection in rooms closer to the router, but it was disappointingly weak. Customer service *did* respond, and tried over the phone to use Insiider software to minimize interference, and, supposedly, correct the weak signal broadcasting problem. No dice - regardless of channel used, signal not acceptable over any range. Certainly not gaming-grade by far, if that's you're streaming aim. So, if you want a dual band (think it also has a guest signal - nice touch), you're going to have to rely on it only for devices in the same room.

Overall Review: I really used this product for a pretty short time. Found a deal on a TP Link AC1750 that provided both good range and somewhat future-proof speeds. Never looked back at this item, which sites on a shelf now. But, for $20, you probably get a little bit more than what you pay for.