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Erik P.

Erik P.

Joined on 06/22/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 12
Most Favorable Review

high quality, no problems

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750 W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Pros: quiet modular power cables come in a black vecro pouch energy star silver rating solid caps high temperature rating 140mm fan comes in fake-velvet bag nice paint finish comes with cable ties, mounting screws, corsair sticker good foam packaging shrink-wrapped shut to clearly show it's a new item manual goes over each power connector

Cons: nits, really. power-cable socket has the slightest of wiggle to it. manual is for 2 products (the 750 and the 850). sata power cable end could come in upside down version so the cable could power a dvd unit and a hdd without twisting.

Overall Review: Happy with my purchase. First time spending on a case without psu, and finding a quiet quality power-saving psu with modular connectors to reduce amount of case clutter was important to me. My last computer was frequently on for long hours and died of a combination of over-draw on the psu and overheating inside. I was going to spend 200 on a different brand's gold energy star rated psu, but saw this guy for 50 bucks less, and of similar quality. Estimate my annual energy savings over the next 4 years (my current computer replacement cycle) makes this well worth it. Building out my computer was a snap. Used a separate power cable for my dvd drive only because flipping the sata power connectors to also fit my hdd would bend the cable in a bad way.

Most Critical Review

could have gone home

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders

Pros: allows you to download and install the xp disc image and virtual pc supports 8gb of ram I bought lots of ui slickness added easy driver support and network printer adding homegroup sharing is easy enough dx11 less intrusive uac than vista64 has a timecapsule-like easy backup system. I haven't trusted or tested that yet.

Cons: costs 140 bucks as opposed to debian linux (free) or win7 home (100 bucks). the only feature I really wanted that x86 xp doesn't have but vista does is the 'start menu -> search programs and files'. And the x64 ram addressing. virtual pc only runs in x86 mode, not x64. (free-as-in-beer virtualbox with usb features allows x64 and num processors, for example, and also includes a unity mode for apps). So win7 home + virtualbox of my old xp license would have been cheaper and superior.

Overall Review: just griping, not product drawbacks. newegg oem policy is not returnable: turns out I know an ex-microsoft employee who could have gotten me the ultimate version for less than the cost of home. If I had saved myself the 140 bucks, I could have virtualized my old xp install within linux and spent 140 on a new battery backup or 2tb backup drive.

Simple, works

TUDIA Slim-Fit MERGE Dual Layer Protective Case for Motorola Moto G 3 (3rd Gen 2015 Release) (Mint)
TUDIA Slim-Fit MERGE Dual Layer Protective Case for Motorola Moto G 3 (3rd Gen 2015 Release) (Mint)

Pros: Fits 2015 3rd gen moto G. Easy to put on. Looks good (mint/blue as pictured). Just dropped my phone on a tough street today, and kept it from shattering. Comes as one integrated piece, with the color being not rubber / slightly firmer. Buttons work ok.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: I bought this because my wife has the exact same phone, and I need to differentiate them. I'm really happy about the fit and price. If my phone broke, I would just buy another sub-100$ handset. I have to take this case off to use my headphones (music) and/or stereo line in (baseball games over house speakers). But I have over-the-ear headphones, and a huge stereo cable for line in. It might fit your headphones if you have ear buds instead of studio headphones. Not waterproof, but isn't advertised as such. Also the moto g has a huge set of speaker/mic holes, so probably nothing to do there.

Buyer's remorse

Patriot Torqx 2 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PT2128GS25SSDR
Patriot Torqx 2 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PT2128GS25SSDR

Pros: Way faster, quieter, cooler, and less power draw when either idle or active, than the WD raptor I am replacing in my desktop. 25 dollar rebate cart brought it down to 200 bucks. Bundled with Acronis home edition for extra 20 bucks made cloning my boot drive pretty painless! Supposed to have native TRIM support under Windows 7, but I haven't tried to confirm or configure.

Cons: Costs as much as an OCZ vertex 2 of the same size, but interwebs say it is almost half as fast as the OCZ vertex 2; it doesn't use the currently popular SSD controller. Does not come with any brackets for mounting in a standard desktop. A bundle with a bracket would be nice wink wink. Advertised both on newegg and the product page on the patriot site as having a 3 year warranty, but the back of box and box liner say it only has a 2 year warranty. There's no explanation on patriot forums or in the box about enabling TRIM commands, or what drivers to use. Maybe it will just work out of the box.

Overall Review: Windows 7 told my wife that my Raptor was throwing SMART errors. I figured this was a great time to buy an SSD and then go RMA the Raptor. Coworkers recommended the OCZ Vertex 2, but the prices were slightly higher, and every 5th user review complained about their OCZ bricking in a few months. My motherboard doesn't support 6gb throughput, so I wasn't sure it would matter. Using the Torqx 2 with Windows 7 Ultimate and 8gb ram, startup times are much faster on boot, and app startup time when logged in is perceptually snappy. I didn't measure before and after speeds. I used a large black metal binder clip to hold it in place in a quick-change drive bay. Seems to work ok, with very little extra pressure. In order to clone the boot drive to the SSD, I fixed bad drive sectors with windows disk scan, moved the page file off the boot drive, purged more files so the drive would fit onto the SSD.

so far, so good

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-955Q (1191) TV Tuner Stick / Hybrid Video Recorder with Remote Control
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-955Q (1191) TV Tuner Stick / Hybrid Video Recorder with Remote Control

Pros: plays and records digital over-the-air TV, turning my living room computer with lcd display into a TV with DVR for the family default captured videos in .ts format play back ok on my xbox using windows 7 x64 pro and windows media center found my regional stations scheduled capture of weekly series using provided winv7 software comes with usb cable extender so crowded usb ports aren't blocked by anything has an additional s-video input cable for capturing videos from external devices. Sweet.

Cons: maybe 20 bucks more than its competitors

Overall Review: doesn't give me you free cable tv - you have to pay for cable. seriously, somehow I spaced and got super excited to hear that this unit could capture unencrypted broadcast cable channels. If you have cable, this probably works fine for you! That's not a con, that's me being dumb. I have no reason to be unhappy yet with this purchase, and it works as advertised. I'll have to buy an antenna or signal booster because my reception in that room is poor. Adjusting the provided antenna's location to pick up each station is working just fine for now. haven't tried the remote yet, it looks pretty cheap though.

cheap and functional

Rosewill RCR-IC002 - 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader with USB 2.0 Ports & Extra Silver Face Plate - Fits 3.5" Drive Bay
Rosewill RCR-IC002 - 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader with USB 2.0 Ports & Extra Silver Face Plate - Fits 3.5" Drive Bay

Pros: super cheap. alternate brick-and-mortar retailer was selling an internal kit for 35 bucks, that was too high for me. 9 pin usb header (10 pin block with safety knockout) reduces my desk clutter by going inside my pc comes in black with silver faceplate, includes mounting screws

Cons: blue power indicator led keeps burning electricity sd card slot is upside down sd card doesn't have spring ejection mechanism no front port firewire 1394

Overall Review: the last time I needed a card reader, it came with a floppy disc in the same tiny format, for like 15 bucks all told. That must have been 8 years ago. I was looking for a similarly cheap bare bones internal reader, and that's what this is. In my antec p180, the usb cable connects ok from the bottom bays to the gigabyte microatx p55 usb pins, which are on the bottom edge of the board. It fits flush ok, test the various screw settings of the p180 quickmount rails with the included 3.5 drive bay adapter. I gave it 3 eggs - everything went together ok, but I was surprised that the sd card slot didn't have an ejection mechanism, and disappointed that it's going to burn electrons on my monthly electric bill just to tell me it's connected. I can already see that from windows!