cover
Matthew B.

Matthew B.

Joined on 04/06/05

0
0

Gallery
Product Reviews
Gallery
  • 0
  •  
  • 1
  •  
product reviews
  • 15
Most Favorable Review

Good for the price. Has a strange defect.

Acer K242HL Bbid Black 24" 6ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (3000:1), Tilt Adjustable
Acer K242HL Bbid Black 24" 6ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (3000:1), Tilt Adjustable

Pros: It's a nice monitor for the low price. -All the inputs you want: HDMI, DVI, VGA -It has a nice clear image -None of the normal cheap monitor issues (bad pixels etc)

Cons: -The firmware clearly has controls for non-existent speakers. Thus when you connect it via HDMI it takes over as your speakers, and has controls in it's panel. But there are no speakers. It's annoying that every time I boot or reconnect I have to go select the speakers on my laptop, or I'm insta-muted. That's a fail.

Overall Review: It's a good piece of hardware and would get five stars if they released a firmware update (not that I'd know how to install it).

Most Critical Review

Good, but some quirks

StarTech.com SV231UADVI 2 Port DVI + USB KVM Switch with Audio
StarTech.com SV231UADVI 2 Port DVI + USB KVM Switch with Audio

Pros: Does it's job ok, and in a server room is probably excellent. I've noted littled video degradation at 1600x1200 and it seems quite reliable. Overall it's great, but it's not suitable for gaming or other high-end tasks. For your server room it's the cheese.

Cons: Does NOT support newer mice (4-5 button). Even if you plug newer mice into the USB hub rather than the mouse port (USB 2.0 vs 1.x) a five button mouse behaves oddly. Also, with vista I've experienced a lot of mouse freezes plugging the mouse into the hub rather than the mouse port. In the end, this switch only emulatese BASIC hardware. No mouse or keyboard expanded functions work. This is my experience with an M$ wireless mouse/keyboard 5000 and 3000. I also tested a logitech hard-wired 5-button mouse.

Overall Review: In the end, it's a good piece of hardware for base tasks such as server room usage. If you want to switch between a work pc (laptop) and a gaming pc then you need something better.

Ultra-fast but unstable connection

Sabrent Rocket XTRM 1TB Thunderbolt 3 External SSD (Up to 2400MBs/2400MBs R/W) (SB-XTRM-1TB)
Sabrent Rocket XTRM 1TB Thunderbolt 3 External SSD (Up to 2400MBs/2400MBs R/W) (SB-XTRM-1TB)

Pros: -As indicated by the attached screenshot this drive is very fast. -Comes well packaged including a high-end cable.

Cons: -Connection to my PC was always unstable. The device would disconnect and reconnect every few minutes.

Overall Review: I use virtualized systems for development and testing. Many of my environments are sensitive and require encrypted storage. To improve performance I was intrigued to try an external thunderbolt drive. I mean, why not double R/W speeds over my Sandisk Extreme drives right? As shown in screenshots this drive does provide the speeds claimed by Sabrent when connected to the TB4 port on my Dell XPS 13 9310. The bad news is the drive constantly disconnects! I tested it with and without windows write-caching enabled using various methods. Whether running a VMWare image or simply playing a looping video within ten minutes a drive error would occur and windows logs would indicate access one file or another was lost. Sabrent, your drive is fast, but it's connection is unreliable. I'm sure it would be fine for backups of files, but it is not suitable for my use on a windows PC. In fairness to Sabrent, this is the first thunderbolt drive I've tested. It is possible that TB technology is flaky and it's simply accepted as such. My limited experience may not reflect the blind devotion many have to apple technology standards. I'm giving this drive three stars because it probably meets the needs of those who just want ultra fast archival storage where recovery from disconnections is not a catastrophic issue.

Great build quality, but couldn't achieve the V2 speeds claimed

SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD - Up to 2000MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, IP65 Water and Dust Resistance, Updated Firmware - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE81-2T00-G25
SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD - Up to 2000MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, IP65 Water and Dust Resistance, Updated Firmware - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE81-2T00-G25

Pros: Build quality Size

Cons: Didn't get the V2 speeds. Ever.

Overall Review: These Sandisk drives are very well made, small, and all around quality hardware. I have several of the V1 models and decided to step up to the V2 because, who doesn't want to double their speed, right? I tried with multiple rigs, high quality cables, and never got more than the 1,066Mb/s speeds I obtained with the V1 drives. I'm sorry Sandisk, I really wanted it to work, I promise! In the end, I returned it. I think I cried a little bit when I put it in the box. : (

Good quality but small

7 Buttons USB 800/1200/1600/2000 DPI Wired Gaming Optical Mouse
7 Buttons USB 800/1200/1600/2000 DPI Wired Gaming Optical Mouse

Pros: Good quality Cheap.

Cons: Small Slow shipping

Overall Review: Seems a well made mouse and frankly I'd like it if it weren't so small. The two buttons on the left side of the mouse are difficult to avoid during gaming because my thumb sits over the back one. It's just a small mouse, and I have average sized hands (perhaps even smallish). I want to like it, but had to switch back to my ten year old MS ergo mouse. It's my fault. Earlier reviews said it was small and I should have paid attention. So, for those of you pondering... if you don't have little hands it's not for you.

11/28/2015

Good kit for the price

Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard And Mouse Combo For Windows, 2.4 GHz Wireless, Compact Mouse, 8 Multimedia And Shortcut Keys, For PC, Laptop - Black
Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard And Mouse Combo For Windows, 2.4 GHz Wireless, Compact Mouse, 8 Multimedia And Shortcut Keys, For PC, Laptop - Black

Pros: Affordable Very efficient with batteries Pleasant keys

Cons: Mouse is a bit small Very short range (but I'm using it on a desk so that's fine with me) Not made of sharp cheddar cheese