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Christopher S.

Christopher S.

Joined on 08/08/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 19
Most Favorable Review

Surprisingly solid

ASRock Z87E-ITX LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel I217V Lan 802.11ac WiFi Intel Motherboard
ASRock Z87E-ITX LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel I217V Lan 802.11ac WiFi Intel Motherboard

Pros: Feature set and price. mSata + wireless A/C really rounded this out for me. Headphone amp is a nice plus, though I haven't played with it much yet. Looks nice, and boots about 2x faster than the Rampage IV extreme it's replacing.

Cons: A few nitpicks. The A/C antenna has thin junk wires. Would suggest replacing with direct antennas. Only 2 fan connectors onboard. NO SWITCHABLE GRAPHICS! I was kinda sorta aware of this after I made my purchase, and I'm not sure why they elected to leave it out. Not a deal breaker but was a little disappointed.

Overall Review: I built this to get out from under a power hungry kitted out 3930k build, and at 50w idle it's drawing about 1/3rd the Sandy-E system. This is @ 4.2 on stock voltage. I've had vdroop and power delivery issues with Asrock boards before, so i was a little nervous about giving them a second chance, so having a solid experience was kind of a nice change.

Most Critical Review

If only it read

PNY 128GB Turbo USB 3.0 Flash Drive (P-FD128TBOP-GE)
PNY 128GB Turbo USB 3.0 Flash Drive (P-FD128TBOP-GE)

Pros: Capacity, read/write speeds

Cons: See other

Overall Review: This is the second unit I have purchased, and I've had the same issue with both: When formatted with exfat or OS extended journaled, the drive simply starts to not be detected after a few days. My PC will only detect over USB 2.0, and on my mac it will only stay up for about 20 seconds, just long enough to corrupt anything I'm trying to move from one machine to another. I figured the first one for a fluke, but it's now official: I can't say how it works under NTFS, but I have a multi OS component that essentially requires EXfat, and for whatever reason this drive has issues with that.

Surprisingly serviceable, with a few caveats

ASUS MB16AC Dark Gray 15.6" LED Backlight IPS Portable Monitor 220 cd/m2 800:1
ASUS MB16AC Dark Gray 15.6" LED Backlight IPS Portable Monitor 220 cd/m2 800:1

Pros: Size, portability, and single cable operation. Carrying case/stand included. Comes with it's own PEN!

Cons: Takes a lot of fiddling to get the colors decent [subjective]. Contrast levels are weak for 2018. Included carrying case only seems reliable in one configuration.

Overall Review: So the biggest issue with this monitor is not brightness [granted, it's not 1000 nits, but it's decent for inside use] but the weak contrast keeps the whites relatively grey, and if you try to push it too hard it gets over-contrasted, which washes out the screen. Calibrated, it does a pretty decent job for videos and games, but the lack of contrast makes it look dimmer than it is. For the price, though, and the portability, it's not bad. Had I known about the Magedok 4k, however, I probably would've gotten that one instead. As far as usability, I bought this in prep for a hades canyon nuc I'm gonna take on the road as a portable desktop rig, but in the meantime I have it running as a second display for my 15" Surface Book 2, and it's a transformative experience. I have a modern keyboard with the clipboard reversed into artist mode, and I really feel like I'm on a full fledged multi screen desktop without having to mess with boatloads of wires. I've moved them around and run Overwatch on the MB16a, and at high/ultra settings at 1080 it stays well over 100FPS. It's not my Asus 27" 165Hz monitor, but It fills the need. Overall, for what it is, it's pretty amazing kit. I think it's about $50 overpriced for the contrast ratio, but I can forgive that given it's amazing portability potential. Room for improvement, but good foundation ^^ Kudos Asus

ZOMG! It's OVERWATCH!!!!!

Overwatch Software - PC Games
Overwatch Software - PC Games

Pros: It's this. . like. . . video game thingie. . .and it comes with lots of extra stuffs!

Cons: It's WAAAAAAAYYYYY super expensive, and unless you're a huge fan of the video game thingie in question [or a fan of the company that MADE said video game thingie] you're probably mega better off buying either the origins edition or even the $40 base edition.

Overall Review: On a more serious note what you get here vs Origins edition is a relatively decent sized statue of soldier 76 made out of some kind of semi soft plastic and the typical wonderful "art of" [game thingie] book. All the digital content I'm PRETTY SURE comes with the Origins edition for half the price. So again, unless you're a HUGE fan of Blizzard and/or Overwatch there are MUCH cheaper alternatives to jump into the game. For the collector, however. . you probably didn't even need to read this: you know what you're getting already. The only thing missing from this set vs previous Blizzard Collector's dedition is a mousepad. I don't use them ANYWAY, but it was a little weird to not see one in the box.

Absolutely amazing!

Definitive Technology Incline Desktop Computer Speaker with DAC - Pair (Black)
Definitive Technology Incline Desktop Computer Speaker with DAC - Pair (Black)

Pros: Amazing sound, built in DAC. 3.5mm jack, optical in

Cons: Proprietary speaker cable to attach speakers to each other, and it's not really all that long. Back panel covers 3.5mm and optical in ports and is . . . . attached EXTREMELY securely. If you use USB connection, it's not an issue.

Overall Review: Bought these on clearance from a local blue and yellow colored retailer, as they were priced to sell. Honestly I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from "audiophile" grade computer speakers. . Ive run M Audio monitors, the mainstream "high end" Klipsch Pro Media 2.1s, and at the price I got them and the description of the design, I was intrigued. I got them home, plugged them in, played with them for awhile, let my ears adjust to them [my current audio solutions are very treble heavy] and relaxed. After several days, I don't want to get up or shut them off. THE SOUND IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I dunno if I'd pay the original price of $400, but if you can get these for $250 or less, and high quality audio experience is important to you, DON'T HESITATE!! They're clean, they're warm, they're amazingly forgiving on placement. . they honestly sound like speakers 2x their size. The passive radiators add plenty of low end, and it's as tight and responsive as you'd expect from a sealed passive rad setup.

10/31/2014

Awesome set of headphones

Razer Adaro Wireless - Bluetooth Headphones
Razer Adaro Wireless - Bluetooth Headphones

Pros: Clear vibrant sound, [mostly] well constructed, long battery life.

Cons: Charging port cover is delicate enough that it came off the second time I attempted to pull it back. I was as gentle as I could be, but I guess it was more delicate.

Overall Review: Going into and coming back into sleep mode while these are attached can cause the audio to get muffled. . like a headphone cord that's half unplugged. I cannot determine whether this is an issue with my notebook or the headphones, so I'm mentioning it. Overall, sound quality and general build quality are 5/5. Battery life is 5/5, range is 3/5 [SOMETIMES they go long distances, other times 4 ft away they start breaking up. Overall the product probably deserves 4.5/5 starts or so. So why did I only give it 3 eggs? When you turn on and off these headphones you get a nice verbal statement from a very european sounding female voice "your device is connected" Upon shutting down, you get "your device is disconnect". From ANY OTHER COMPANY this would not be worth mentioning, but this is Razer. It is a premium product developed by a private company that went out of their way to make sure the audio was spoken in EURO English, yet you get "device is disconnect". Yes, it's a nitpick. NO it does not affect the general performance of the sound from these headphones... but it drives me nuts every time I shut them off.