Pros: These drives offer a good combination of capacity, price, performance, and warranty coverage. Benchmark performance is approximately 30% higher than the previous generation of WD Black drives. Real world, subjective performance is better still. Loading 200+MB images into Photoshop is noticeably faster from these drives than the older generation. In all, the WD2003FZEX offer a relatively inexpensive way to add some much needed storage space. On the noise front, I could not hear any difference between the new FZEX drives and older FAEX series ones. Both were quiet. There was, however, less vibration emanating from the new drives. If your case does not have isolated drive mounts, this feature will likely translate into reduced noise. Over the last year, Newegg has improved their shipping for bare drives. All drives are packed into form fitting, air-cushioned bags. For an order of just a single drive, the cushioned bag arrived in a perfectly sized box. A second order, with two drives and other items was packed sensibly as well. The drives were bagged and boxed together inside the larger box. The bad old days when Newegg simply tossed bare drives in a large box with other items appear gone for good.

Cons: I would not recommend these drives for use in a RAID array. WD trumpets their improved error correcting algorithms and "Corruption Prevention Technology" on the FZEX series. All good things for single-drive usage, but likely will cause the drive to drop from a RAID array when triggered. Newegg's packaging prowess unfortunately does not extend to their handling of the drives on the way from Western Digital's bulk packaging to the single-order bags. One of the three drives we ordered had a crunched corner where it appeared the drive and anti-static bag whacked into something. This same thing happened on our previous hard drive order from Newegg - also for a trio of drives. Out of eight 20-packs of bulk WD drives we have ordered from other vendors, every drive was in pristine condition, so I doubt the mishandling occurred at Western Digital's end.

Overall Review: On the warranty front, Western Digital gives very good service. Yes, hard drives die. Whether yours will in the span of the 5-year warranty is a matter of luck. WD offers free pre-shipping of exchange drives in the event of a failure or, more importantly, when diagnostics detect SMART pre-failure indicators. Other drive vendors only ship a replacement after receiving the bad drive. That translates into two to three weeks without a drive. Across all our systems we have several hundred hard drives spinning away (we're a photography outfit for multiple Fortune 100 companies, and generate all too many TB of data). We see a failure rate of about 10% in the first 18 months and, on older systems, an additional 10% after 4 to 5 years. Granted, our systems don't live in large, dedicated data data centers with optimal cooling, but the failure rates we see are close to what backup providers report. In other words, plan for failure. Running WD's full diagnostic tests before using a new drive is good policy. For a 2TB drive, it the extended test runs about 3 hours. If you are paranoid (a good thing in this case!) also run the "fill with zeroes" test to check writing each and every byte. If the drive fails, contact WD directly. When we have found a DOA drive or one that failed initial testing, WD has shipped a new (not refurbished) drive and provided a return postage paid mailer for the old one.

Pros: This computer sits right in the middle of the entry level pack in terms of price and features. Within a $25 range you will find comparable machines, some that trade a smaller 1TB hard drive for a 3.5GHz processor, while others may offer a small SSD. Two items that make the Acer stand out from the pack, and gain a second ratings star, are that Windows arrives without any bundled bloatware. That's refreshing. The other is that the installed RAM is a single 8GB stick rather than a pair of 4GB modules. This allows you to purchase a single 8GB stick to get to a more reasonable 16GB.

Cons: As the majority of previous reviewers experienced, the PC I was shipped had an invalid, already used Windows 10 Home activation key. Contacting Acer support resulted telling me to reset Windows and other read-from-the-script nonsense. I hung in long enough to access a more senior level of support who assured me that this was the first time this issue had occurred (see reviews below or check the 50+ one star reviews on another shopping site). I was first told that this was a problem with Microsoft - true only in that Windows is a Microsoft product - and that this was all Microsoft's problem and I would need to work out matters with them. Well, no. I tried to see if the tech could be guided to dive into the Windows settings and find the necessary information to activate Windows over the phone to no avail. Finally I was told that I could return the computer to Acer (at my expense) and they would send me a new (refurbished?) one. All told I spent over an hour on the phone to get nowhere. I have no idea why one would spend money for this level of silliness when any number of other manufacturers are willing to sell you a similar or better computer for the same price. On to the computer itself. The hard is noisy and the chassis acts as a resonator, amplifying every clunk and grumble. You can certainly tell when data access happens. The DVD drive is impressively flimsy, particularly considering how hard you have to shove to close it. Expansion capacity is about what you would expect for a small motherboard. One PCIe x16 and one x1 slot. The BIOS refers to a third SATA port, but the motherboard only sports a pair of SATA headers. If you want a second drive, the DVD has to go. Speaking of the BIOS, the computer would not even boot reliably until I flashed the latest update from Acer's website. Finally, the power button is large and located front and center on the top of the case. Perfectly positioned to bump it and turn the machine off by accident.

Overall Review: The computer arrived with a mouse and a TKL keyboard. Both were as basic as possible. Usable if you have no other option but no more. I have not had this computer long enough to comment on reliability. I scratched my head trying to think up a reason why I would recommend buying this computer. I failed. Spend your money on another option instead.

Pros: The Unifi Mesh Pro offers many features to recommend it. Start with a weatherproof housing - it holds up to driving rain as long as the ethernet ports are sealed carefully. Wireless range is excellent. Other APs have strong transmitters; the Flex HD also includes a sufficiently sensitive receiving antenna that it can pick up the much weaker responses from your phone or other device at long range. The specs state a 600 foot range. Optimistic? Yes, of course. Nevertheless you can expect 300+ feet of useable WiFi coverage in most directions (see below). The 3x3 MIMO allows fast (>300Mbps) transmission to multiple devices simultaneously. A single device can get just under a Gbps download.

Cons: One quirk in the Flex HD Pro is that the radiation pattern has a dead spot directly in front and below the unit (a search for "UAP-AC-M-PRO radiation pattern" brings up the relevant plots). In practical terms, this means that the antenna should not be mounted high above the area you want coverage for. With the Flex HD mounted ~25 feet up, there was no signal directly in front of the device. Move a few yards to either side and the signal improved dramatically. Lowering the Flex HD Pro box to eye level solved that problem.

Overall Review: Ubiquiti's product line provides near-enterprise functionality at a comparatively low price. I do not recommend them for business use except for very small SOHO applications. Support for the most part is limited to what Google reveals and SLA is not in Ubiquiti's vocabulary. For non-critical use, however, Unifi gear can be outstanding. The Flex HD Pro is an example of this. Far superior coverage, weatherproofing, and client capabilities to the non-Pro version. Wireless mesh support works, although throughput definitely drops.

Pros: Anyone looking for a competent gaming laptop that does not break the bank has a limited set of choices. The Asus TUF line slots in below the ROG series in terms of performance, features and, most importantly, price. The question is whether cost-cutting compromises still produce a worthwhile laptop. I found the FX505DT impressive for the price. You’ll spend several hundred dollars more to get a significantly better machine. Asus does many things right with the FX505DT. The Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU is a great addition. Similarly priced laptops typically ship with GTX 1050Ti or outdated Radeon GPUs. Using a modern Turing graphics card significantly improves performance. The Ryzen 7 R7-3500H CPU performs comparably to new Core I5 processors; however, it costs less and uses less power. Wins all around in this market segment. I was pleasantly surprised by the FX505DT. Performance was good – not what you get from spending twice as much or more – but workable for both gaming and day-to-day use. The 120Hz screen gives beautifully smooth response for non-gaming applications and for games that do not tax the system overly much. Neither the CPU nor GPU are capable of 120 FPS in graphically intensive titles, so don’t get your hopes too high. The color range of the display is limited; our in-house measurements showed a color gamut slightly less than 60% of sRGB. The IPS panel, however, provides improved viewing angles and color constancy that the TN panels usually found on gaming laptops in this price range. Asus also uses a single 8 GB DDR4-2666 memory module, but the FX505DT has two slots. Upgrading to 16 GB is not costly. The SSD is a 512 GB Intel 660p NVMe drive. Asus comes through again, as competitively priced alternatives offer only 256 GB. My first impression of the keyboard was negative but improved with use. It has deeper key travel than most, a soft feel, and light feedback. It is not exceptionally responsive for gaming use, but actually proved to be quite good for typing. Basic RGB is provided, but not per-key color control. System cooling is improved from other lower-end Asus laptops. There are switchable modes for Silent, Performance, and Turbo fans. Silent lives up to its name, however both the CPU and GPU throttle when heavily loaded. Performance mode is nearly silent in normal operation, with the fans spooling up with intensive tasks No throttling occurred and total noise never reached obnoxious levels. Turbo mode only serves to add noise. No improvements to maximum performance nor lower normal operating temperatures. Just constant fan drone. Asus deserves praise for a few more minor features. The power supply has a detachable cord rather than a wall-wart. Only a few bloatware programs need to be removed and none require more than a simple Uninstall. At 4.5 lbs., the laptop is not thin and light, but it isn’t so heavy you dread carrying it when necessary. Under load, the vents can produce a toasty exhaust under the screen, but the airflow path prevents the keyboard, trackpad, and hand rests from becoming unpleasantly warm.

Cons: Not all is perfect with the Asus FX505DT. Starting with the processor, you will find games are limited by the Ryzen 7 CPU more often than on a similar Core I5. Likely this is due to less optimizations for AMD processors than Intel, and improvements should come. Still, you will find yourself using 30 to 60 FPS most often. Battery life is adequate at best. I saw 4+ hours when browsing the web, editing documents, etc. Run programs (e.g. the games the system targets) and you’ll drain the batteries in not much over 2 hours. Gaming on batteries can’t be recommended on this system not only because of the limited run time but performance also drops. Benchmark scores drop by 30-40% when disconnected from AC power. Port selection is outdated and not well thought through. All ports – power, ethernet, HDMI, headphone jack, and USB crowd together on the left edge. Other manufacturers distribute the ports on both edges and often spread them out, making for a more flexible configuration. There is no Thunderbolt port, which is not unexpected in this price range. More perplexing are the pair of USB 2.0 ports but no USB-C. Given that this laptop arrived in mid-2019, that is a nuisance. Because there isn’t USB-C, the charger uses a honking-big barrel connector. The touchpad/click pad is, thankfully, precision enabled. Mouse button areas have enough travel to give feedback when they are clicked. The rest of the touchpad is weirdly clunky, and the bumpy surface makes precise mouse movement difficult. I occasionally ran into a problem that owners of the Asus VivoBook series are all to acquainted with. The GPU can overheat, causing a blue screen. Unlike on the VivoBook, crashes only occur rarely and are not predictable. The FX505DT handles prolonged, heavy loads with no drama. It is only when there is a short spike of graphics card usage (HTML5 graphics on web pages were the culprit each time) that you can be rewarded with a BSOD. The case is strange. I’m not sure if Asus thought heavily patterned plastic would look like brushed aluminum, but it doesn’t. More along the lines of scratched ABS drainpipe. Although the plastic is a fingerprint magnet, it is functional

Overall Review: If you are looking for a gaming laptop with a budget comfortably under $1000, the Asus FX505DT is a strong choice. Performance and packaging are no match for higher end laptops, but the price more than reflects this. Considering all you get, the FX505DT is a bargain. Buyers of this laptop will benefit from picking up a compatible 8GB DDR4-266 memory module. This is an effective and inexpensive way to improve performance across the board. You can get a range of compatible modules here on Newegg, including the one Asus uses: a Samsung M471A1K43DB1-CTD. I can verify that a Crucial CT8G4SFS8266 module is fully compatible as well.

Pros: I bought this memory as a second module in a laptop. The OEM memory was a Samsung M471A1K43DB1-CTD, which is comparatively expensive, difficult to find, and often only sold by third party vendors. Crucial's memory advisor claimed this module was compatible with the laptop in question. It works perfectly. Indeed it was. It works perfectly.

Cons: None

Overall Review: A perfectly acceptable alternative to scarce OEM memory to boost your laptop's performance.

Pros: Nvidia’s 2070 Super hit the price/performance sweet spot for my needs. The only question was which card to buy. Good past experience with both Asus and EVGA guided my search. I wanted a video card that offered top performance when necessary and quiet operation otherwise. This system is primarily used for numerical calculations, with occasional excursions into blowing up bad guys. EVGA’s 2070 Super FTW3 works perfectly for my needs. Even heavy CUDA calculations only cause the fans to spin at under 40% speed. Better still, EVGA controls the GPU, memory, and voltage regulator fans independently so only the component actively being used has a running fan. The result is inaudible when the case is closed. When running a demanding game such as CoD Modern Warfare with ray tracing, etc. enabled you can occasionally hear the fans spin up but only rarely. Performance is at the upper end of the 2070 Super range. I dialed in a moderate overclock of 100MHz, as the card ran cool and stable with no added voltage. You can certainly improve performance further with higher Vcc, but this comes with added power draw and fan noise.

Cons: The only con is that this is a fat card - nearly 3 slots. If you use an older motherboard with a PCIe x1 slot close to the top PCIe x16 slot, you lose access to it.

Overall Review: If you want a dead silent, high performance video card, the FTW3 should be on your short list. Getting better performance:noise ratio requires custom watercooling. The FTW3 outperforms OEM video cards with integrated radiators, including EVGA's own line. If your case and bank account have sufficient room, you won't go wrong with the 2070 Super FTW3.

Unlike all to many third party sellers, these folks shipped promptly.