Joined on 05/16/11
Finally Works
Pros: Cheapest 5.1 I could find with HDMI pass-through.
Cons: The menu doesn't work through HDMI? Bizarre I had to restart it about 10 times before it would send an HDMI signal to the TV. At first the image was washed out and flickering. Hopefully it doesn't return. No way to use an Android phone to play music? This is even more ridiculous. I can't use a 2.5 mm jack to play music?
Overall Review: Will probably die 3 days outside of warranty.
Terrible battery don't bother
Pros: None
Cons: It was a smaller size than the original. I expected to get somewhere near the original batteries life (5+ hours). Instead I got even less battery life and it stopped working entirely after a month.
Overall Review: Trash
Severe Problems with Ubuntu
Pros: Fixed the crashing problem I was having with my old board. Voltages seem to be the right levels and stable under load. Pretty reasonably priced.
Cons: Ubuntu does not like this board at all. I can only get 12.04 LTS to load. 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, and 14.04 all have problems. I believe this is related to some of the UEFI settings, but I haven't found a way to get around it.
Ugh, worked for a day.
Pros: Really is a silent product. I can't hear the fan at all (when it's running). According to various website reviews it actually performs at the Silver/Gold efficiency levels.
Cons: This was one of the most frustrating power supplies I've ever used. When I first put the computer together and flipped the switch on the power supply the lights on the motherboard came on but when I pressed the power switch it turned on for a second then immediately stopped. I redid all the power connections. Same problem. Decided to set the computer aside and work on it the next day. What do you know... starts working the next morning. I install the OS and hand it over to my dad (i was building the computer for him). He takes it home, it works great for a day, and then the next morning it won't start again. In trouble-shooting the computer I was able to short the green to a black wire and get the fan to turn on. At that point I thought it was a motherboard issue. I installed another power supply I had and it worked perfectly. I tried the green to black trick again and even that didn't work.
Overall Review: Hoepefully the RMA will perform better.
Terrible
Pros: Hmm, worked for a few days...?
Cons: Constant click of death. Frequently is inaccessible. Sounds like it is on the brink of failure. Tried to return it to Staples but I was outside their 2 week return policy. Spent about 2 hours on the Seagate website downloading new drivers and trying to get some kind of ticket to allow me to get a replacement. The process is clearly designed to be as slow and annoying as possible. I decided it wasn't even worth dealing with, and I would instead spend my time writing this review.
Overall Review: Only the most masochistic individual would consider buying this.
Skip
Pros: No idea. Can't plug it in without cables.
Cons: I only really bought this for an easy way to get the operating system up and running. Of course it comes with no cables, screws, hell, it's not even in a box. Wrapped in bubble wrap? Were these stolen off the back of a truck? Maybe if you are making like 20 computers and buying all the parts separate this would be worth it. If you are looking to buy one piece to quickly get your computer up an running this isn't it.