Joined on 07/29/04
Incredible Performance! Underrated!
Pros: -Very long battery life (4+ hours) -Very nice native 1080p resolution (anti-glare!) -Low powered -High performance 2.0GHz CPU -Auto adjust lighting to environment! -Plays most games I throw at it (installed Steam) -No moving parts -Incredible physical design (solid metal, shuts completely)
Cons: -Runs hot -Not much support for 1080p native to a 13" (blurry software text) -Eats up more battery then advertise -Cannot swap battery without disassemble -Finger print magnet -Core M 5Y10 does have it's limits
Overall Review: So far this has been the best laptop I have ever own. The anti-glare 1080p 13" screen is incredible. It's pretty light for a solid metal build. And it closes completely, almost a tight rubber seal once you fold the laptop close. I spilled water on top of the closed laptop and none of it got inside. There's a special rubber lining that runs around the top part (screen) so it shuts and seals. The Intel HD 5300 runs most of my installed Steam games pretty well. This laptop was meant to play big budget games like StarCraft 2, Portal, Pillars of Eternity, Skyrim and Tomb Raider 2013 on medium settings with no AA and low/off shadows. I use it everyday to do a little gaming along with some photoshop and video editing. Handles every single process without any lag. When you purchase any laptop, make sure to install your own operating system and anti-virus. I couldn't imagine using a system fresh from the manufacture with lots of processing killing bloatware. As soon as I turned it on I went into the BIOS, changed the boot to Legacy, installed my own Windows 8.1 and a new license for ESET. After that I got full performance from this system. The only issues I have is the IPS 1080p special native resolution isn't compatible with a lot of software. When it isn't compatible, the software will run the text at lower resolutions. So software like Steam has low resolution text with high resolution images. Also the battery requires a disassembly which could be a problem with some users. I've also used much better chargers and the charging port feels fragile. It comes with a special cloth to clean off prints so I usually carry that with me everywhere I take my laptop. Overall the flaws are just minor inconveniences for me and doesn't deserve any less eggs. The heat and less then 5 hours battery life isn't a problem at all.
Feature rich, but also rich on mistakes.
Pros: SO MANY FEATURES IN OVERCLOCKING. Bought some really cheap 1333 memory and OC 'em to 1600. That's an exteme amount of doe you're saving. The OC feature on the memory alone is amazing and easy for even those who don't know about overclocking. Getting your processor faster and jacking up your GPU clock only takes about two minutes. Board looks impressive.
Cons: Read other thoughts.
Overall Review: I don't really do reviews too often and I've been with newegg for a good 8 years now. So far most of the products from newegg are flawless and eye candy to your non-computer guru, but this product is not one of them. So many features but too many errors and faults. The OC features are incredible and makes it easy for anyone to overclock MEMORY! Which only a year ago was impossible without the necessary research. That is indeed impressive. But seriously, I spotted a leak in the liquid cooling north bridge pipes and froze everytime I try to run a decent looking PC game. I probably should have RMA the board but c'mon, these boards are no joke (price wise for the most part) and more thought should be used in manufacturing 'em. However, everyone's experience is difference and maybe I'm getting a little bad luck.
Everything I throw at this becomes butter.. smooth FPS!
Pros: -works great -looks amazing inside my black and white case -all PC titles in 2023 are running perfectly on max settings
Cons: -RGB is stuck on RGB, no color controls (must be software) -Chinese card, so you might have some software issues on US Windows -very pricy, Radeon has better prices for the same performance.
Overall Review: I contacted support and they gave me modified Chinese software to help fix the RGB problem. Unfortunately it didn't work and now my card looks like a SF night club. Personally, I don't mind the bright rainbows in my room, but this could definitely be a problem for setups more discreet.
3 years and going strong!
Pros: -Detachable neck for easy wall mounting -Looks great with gaming -No dead pixels, even after 3 years of gaming -Small for mobility, large for screen size
Cons: For the price, I can't really think of any cons. Just wish it had a HDMI port but an adapter works great (I know, it's a computer monitor). If I run into any issues by now, I can say it's from wear and tear.
Overall Review: Really worth the price. It's one of the best monitors I've ever owned. I wall mounted it for the first two years then reattached the neck at the beginning of this year due to my new desk. Never had any lighting issues, no heat issues and no dead pixels. I didn't like the fact that it has no HDMI port so I needed an adapter and a 3-way switch for my PS3 and PC. Plus the component sound adapter for the audio with the 3.5mm male to female etc etc, lol. Computer monitors have always been a favorite over TV monitors so I understand. After all the setup this monitor has been doing an incredible job and I highly recommend it.
No more pulling/swapping HDMI connections
Pros: -No external power adapter needed -Affordable -Supports up to 3 connections
Cons: -Only draws power from one device -Needs to be reset after device shutoff
Overall Review: Been using this switch for over a week now and it works great. Very useful on my PS4, HTPC and Comcast setup. Before this switch I used to physically swap each HDMI cable and over time replace the broken HDMI heads. Now it started damaging the HDMI port behind my Plasma so I bought this switch to prevent swapping. The only issue is a slight inconvenience of having to restart the TV after shutting off my PS4. When I have my TV input on my HTPC and startup my PS4, the PS4 automatically switches the input to the PS4 and can no longer switch back to the HTPC without shutting off the PS4 then restarting the TV. It takes seconds so it's not really worth knocking off an egg.
GREAT on my AM3 125w Phenom II!
Pros: -Runs cool under heavy loads -Lots of air from the fan -Easy to install -Silent!
Cons: -Requires a well ventilated/cooled case -I haven't tried overclocking, and probably wont -Slightly bent the installation hooks while installing, but those are designed to be flexible.
Overall Review: I don't see anything wrong with this heatsink. It's incredibly quiet, cools off hot 125w processors, installation just required a little bending, and the price is unbeatable. I have no desire to overclock my processor sense all my PC games are running max smoothly. In the future when games become more demanding, which might be towards the end of next year, I'll just buy newer processor and heatsink. I highly recommend this for quiet setups.