Joined on 07/16/05
Nice Drives, fast and rugged
Pros: Top of the line Seagate drives, fast and rugged. Lot's of fast storage in a compact package. Fit's neatly into most raid storage cages, with high tolerance specifications.
Cons: Fat. These are *not* the 8-10mm thick laptop units, they are every bit of 13mm thick( > 1/2 inch), so if you have a laptop, this is not the drive you want. These are for compact storage arrays.
Overall Review: Seagate drives seem to be the most compatible drives on the widest variety of smart controllers and raid systems. I've got some lower capacity constellations that I replaced for space, that have been spinning for a long time flawlessly. Wish I could say the same for the medalist stuff.
Great Monitor
Pros: So far I'm very happy, had this a week or so. The Resolution is the same as my micro-laptop. This makes things easier to deal with when using both screens, the cursor does not "stick" in a corner. I *always* want more vertical resolution. This bad-boy gives me 1600 lines. Hoo-Rah! Picture is clear, brightness is good with the Windows open (I live in AZ, It's really bright here, this matters to me).
Cons: Mostly picking nits. 12v Power Bricks - Annoying HDMI/ Connector is directly behind the post, difficult to get to, I almost broke out an HDMI to DVI cable, sheesh. Color seemed to be off even after tweaking settings, but then got brighter over time, and I toned it back down. I think the backlighting needed to "burn in" a bit. Feels a little flimsy, but hey . . .
Overall Review: I prefer a single large monitor to multiple smaller ones. This fits the bill nicely. I have an older DELL with the same resolution, I like this one better. I was going to get another but they are out of stock. I will keep my eye out.
A Favorite of Mine
Pros: This is (and has been) one of my favorite low profile cases. The latest rendition is even better than the one I got over a year ago. They've re-oriented the power-supply to give a bit more room, added a threaded pin and built-in standoffs, that align perfectly. Very unique fab, with a small footprint knob and threaded hole. This is the fastest setup for a knuckle scraper case ever. Thoughtful engineering and great air flow (they added some more top venting too) in a compact package. I hope they don't discontinue this puppy before I can get a couple more . . .
Cons: It *is* small and tight, Most of the metal edges are rounded but there are still a few "ouch" spots. It will only hold a 3-4 slot Micro or Flex ATX board. If your memory is under the CD-ROM (or a 5.25" Drive cage), you cannot have memory with the big tall heat-sinks on it, regular 1.25" high is fine, but the tall "finned" memory (2+ inch) will *not* fit underneath. The fans could be quieter.
Overall Review: The only thing that could make this better would be 2 built-in 2.5" drive bays under the floppy hole. You can cram 2 (more if you lose the floppy and CD-ROM) 3.5's in it but let's face it you didn't buy this case as a storage server, and you can get a 750GB 2.5" drive these days.
Nice Cage
Pros: Holds 13mm drives but you have to remove the cover. Fans not overly noisy ,construction is solid, No stupid keys, just a lock button and lever. Drives seat firmly in the slots.
Cons: A little tight in a CDROM hole, these are obviously manufactured to a pretty narrow tolerance, so you can cram 4 2.5's in a space 5.25 wide. You may have issues with a poorly contructed case.
Overall Review: Wish I could get a case to hold two of these side-by-side in a low profile configuration with a mini-itx motherboard. Would let me make a killer little 8 drive low profile NAS/SAN. . . I keep looking!