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Matthew G.

Matthew G.

Joined on 10/06/10

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review
IOGEAR GUC2025H USB 2.0 to HDMI External Video Card
IOGEAR GUC2025H USB 2.0 to HDMI External Video Card

Pros: Allows me to utilize a 3rd monitor, or a TV (in my case), without the 2 display restriction based on the outputs from my video card. Setup was fairly simple and consistent with other iomega products I've tried in the past.

Cons: Installation could've gone more smoothly and the additional output is not always labelled when identifying displays in the Windows config.

Overall Review: If you're expecting to use this as a way of playing 720p/1080p movies to another display or gaming, you're going to be disappointed. You'll get decent, but choppy playback - I didn't notice it on older movies when I tried it, but HD movie playback was too sluggish to be enjoyable. USB 2.0 connections weren't meant for those kinds of output, anyway. Overall, it's a handy peripheral device to have if you have no HDMI-out ports or if your video card doesn't support the number of monitors you require.

12/30/2012
Most Critical Review

Strong construction, bad design

Syba SY-ACC65057 Steel PC Stand for ATX Case with Adj. Width with Caster wheels - Black
Syba SY-ACC65057 Steel PC Stand for ATX Case with Adj. Width with Caster wheels - Black

Pros: Strong construction and assembly was quick and easy. Locks on back wheels are nice.

Cons: Length is not adequate for today's large case construction. Screw position is bizarre - you have to leave 2-3cm gap on both sides to prevent your case from resting on the screw heads and becoming unbalanced.

Overall Review: I bought this to get my PC off the ground (in case of flooding) and to provide better airflow to the bottom-mounted PSU. The other tower case holders on sale at NewEgg were of flimsy construction, being made of plastic and breaking apart (according to other reviews). Although I like the construction and quality of the materials they used, the design is outdated and the overall length is not able to properly accomodate today's larger cases. I have to leave a significant gap on both sides of the case because the screws were scratching my case and making it an unstable surface. Being able to slide the sides in and then locking it from the outside would've been a smarter design and allowed for adjustable width on the fly. It's adequate for my needs but I'm not overly happy about my purchase.

12/30/2012

Acceptable for my needs but it could be better

ORICO Aluminum Hand-held Multi-protection 16 Bay 3.5/2.5/M.2 HDD/SSD Protective Storage Carrying Box with Security Lock Support For 6 x 3.5inch HDD, 6 x 2.5inch HDD, 3 x M.2 SSD - Silver (BSC35-LSN15)
ORICO Aluminum Hand-held Multi-protection 16 Bay 3.5/2.5/M.2 HDD/SSD Protective Storage Carrying Box with Security Lock Support For 6 x 3.5inch HDD, 6 x 2.5inch HDD, 3 x M.2 SSD - Silver (BSC35-LSN15)

Pros: Outside of the case looks pretty good. Double hinges are welcome, especially since the handle and lid need to accomodate some heavy drives. Seems fairly wellmade, even though it's just aluminum with some plastic bits. Corners are metal in the event (on an unlucky day, perhaps) you drop the case. The slots fit the 3.5" drives well with very little play. Decent amount of storage capacity for the size.

Cons: Lock is almost childish in its construction - I could open this box with any thin piece of plastic or metal. Two latches instead of one would've been more practical rather than wasting time on this pathetic lock & key. The carrying handle doesn't give me a lot of confidence that it can support a full case (and if there's something you *don't* want to do, it's dropping a box full of HDDs). It also scratches the top of the case and you can't stack anything on top (whether you'd want to is a different story). Even having a small plastic clip or foam bumper on the top of the case for the handle to rest on might be nice. Is the foam inside actually anti-static? I see a mention of it on the product page but not in the documentation or the box printing, so I have my doubts. Can ORICO answer that? I tried inserting the drives within anti-static bags - just in-case - but the foam is too delicate and it got damaged when the sharp edges of the bags carved into it, so I removed them. The m2 slots seem a bit too large but I don't have any available to try. Maybe those slots would be better suited to holding some USB drives? While on that topic, having a small pouch or additional slots for USB thumb drives would be nice. It would've been good to have some adaptability included for the price. Some different inserts (if you have a lot of 2.5" drives, for example), or the ability to reconfigure the foam insert to accommodate slightly more or less of the differently-sized drives. Alternatively, offer additional options to purchase slightly different inserts for the same case. I don't want to buy another case just to fit one or two more drives. The layout of the drive slots - at first - seems pleasant and organized. You have your drives grouped by size. In reality, though? The larger drives are much heavier than the smaller drives, so the box is always going to be lopsided when holding it by the handle. It would've been better to alternate the slots... 3.5", 2.5", 3.5", 2.5", etc...

Overall Review: It's a decent way of storing my extra hard drives (3.5" HDD and 2.5" SSD), and it probably beats a cardboard box with some anti-static bags for the anti-shock factor alone, but a little more effort placed in the product design would've made it a must-by. Either way, it seems like the better option compared to GLOTRENDS products which appear terrible. It's also very difficult to find. I don't normally order from the US site but I had to this time at drastically increased cost. Is this product no longer being produced? Is it available at other stores in Canada (newegg.ca didn't have it available at the time of this writing)? They only seem to have the smaller options for drives and not this larger version.

IOGEAR GHDC1402P 6.5 ft. Black/Grey High Speed HDMI® Cable with Ethernet Male to Male
IOGEAR GHDC1402P 6.5 ft. Black/Grey High Speed HDMI® Cable with Ethernet Male to Male

Pros: Came with my iomega USB 2.0 to HDMI adapter. Good length and I like the cable sheath for its asthetics. Works about as well as any other HDMI cable w/ ethernet.

Cons: ALthough I like the look and feel of the sheath, it tends to easily catch on sharp surfaces.

12/30/2012
Team 32GB microSDHC Flash Card Model TG032G0MC28A
Team 32GB microSDHC Flash Card Model TG032G0MC28A

Pros: Works well - shows 29GB or so of usable space within my Samsung phone.

Cons: N/A

12/30/2012
Nippon Labs Black 6 ft. A/Male to Micro B/Male 6ft Cable Model USB-6-Micro 6 feet
Nippon Labs Black 6 ft. A/Male to Micro B/Male 6ft Cable Model USB-6-Micro 6 feet

Pros: Good length and works like it should

Cons: None

12/30/2012