Joined on 01/06/07
Pros: Perhaps I don't get out much, but I have *never* seen color like this on a monitor before. It's so bright and vibrant. Unlike many other reviewers, I do actually like the "Splendid" modes the monitor ships with, which are actually just setting presets (that you can change, even). The Night setting is actually very helpful on the eyes when it's dark. I've searched for dead pixels and was unable to find any.
Cons: Huge fingerprint/dust attractor. But you'll get that on anything with a glossy finish.
Overall Review: The buttons on the front are extremely sensitive. They're some sort of capacitive sensors, similar to what you'd find in a touchpad. What's really interesting is that they activate when your finger is still ~2mm away from the button, so you don't even have to touch them. Ring stand is detachable, which makes this monitor easy to carry around. I do find it odd that, even though it was shipped in a box specifically branded for this monitor, no signature was required.
Good for about 2 hours
Pros: Pretty high speed, relatively quiet.
Cons: The right hinge broke the moment I adjusted the fan angle. No force whatsoever, it just fell apart and the plastic inside the hinge snapped. Springs and screws fell out, and now the fan won't sit up straight.
Overall Review: Maybe I just got a bad fan. But this doesn't put much faith into the quality of it.
Pros: It's a motherboard. Supports DDR3, which is nice, though the max is 4 GB. SATA plugs and PCIe slots are nicely aligned so that nothing is blocked after you plug in a monster graphics card. Almost everything about your system can be tuned. Iit has dual BIOS chips: if you mess up one BIOS with a botched custom setup, it will automatically reload it with the backup chip.
Cons: Default settings left my processor underclocked, but that was an easy fix.
Pros: Bought for use on a PC. Great rumble, decent cord length.
Cons: Left shoulder button is a little less sensitive than the right, but still works fine.
Overall Review: I find it stupid that Microsoft disabled rumble on the DirectInput drivers and all-out disabled the use of the Guide button. Could be a lot more useful. However, Linux drivers do let you take advantage of all of the buttons on this thing.
Pros: It's fast. My Ubuntu system hits login in under 5 seconds, and the time from login to desktop is nearly instantaneous. Windows boots in about 20 seconds, and login a little more.
Cons: It's a little on the loud side when working hard, but for the performance and price this can be easily overlooked.
Pros: Solid case, good quality steel. Side vents can be useful if used right.
Cons: Attracts fingerprints like nothing else. Blue power LED is pretty bright, as well. I've found that the side-mounted CPU fan cover (black cylinder), while useful in keeping a CPU cool, blocks the fan in the rear of the case and the fan in my power supply. If I take the cover off while running, I can hear the power supply fan quiet down as it doesn't have to work as hard.
Overall Review: It's a great case, just some minor design quirks. The side cylinder is retractable to an extent, though you can remove it if it really bothers you.