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Kevin M.

Kevin M.

Joined on 09/03/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 7
Most Favorable Review

Good product after rocky install

QNAP TS-201 2-Bay, RAID 1 Hot Swappable All-in-One NAS
QNAP TS-201 2-Bay, RAID 1 Hot Swappable All-in-One NAS

Pros: Very quiet, low power, relatively compact design. Operates very fast on gigabit network. A modern device with an emphasis on data security & reliability. I bought it for the convenience of accessing from my laptop wirelessly or one of my desktops, as well as providing a secure data store (RAID 1). It performs both of these tasks very well. Hardware installation was a breeze. Fairly good documentation.

Cons: The quick install wizard failed even though I used recommended disks: Seagate 7200.10 320GB. No response from technical support yet. However, I circumvented the problem by manually formatting the drives as two single disks, and then formatting them as RAID 1. Everything has been flawless otherwise. Another con is that I hoped to replace my print server with this, but the print server only supports one printer and I have two. There are two USB ports in the back so perhaps with a firmware upgrade, someday it will support multiple printers. Documentation does not have a troubleshooting section.

Overall Review: I highly recommend this product, hopefully for others the Quick Install Wizard will work correctly as described in the documentation.

Most Critical Review

Fails, low customer support

QNAP TS-201 2-Bay, RAID 1 Hot Swappable All-in-One NAS
QNAP TS-201 2-Bay, RAID 1 Hot Swappable All-in-One NAS

Pros: Has a lot of features, shows promise. Seems to work OK 90% of the time. Low power and quiet.

Cons: Quick install wizard failed even though I used recommended disks. I worked around this bug by manually setting up. Firmware will crash unexpectedly requiring a reboot (happened >5 times in a month). Does not actually perform as a gigabit device, performance is slightly worse than 100MBit (using RAID 1). Customer support has not answered any of 3 support requests. Supports only 1 printer as a print server.

12/13/2006

What could be better?

Antec earthwatts EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Antec earthwatts EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: Fit in case, 80Plus green supply, quiet operation.

Cons: Can't think of any.

Overall Review: Was put into a Cooler Master Centurion 541 case with a Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H motherboard, everything is working flawlessly.

Wonderful deal

GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Tons of features. Easy to use BIOS. Stable. Nicely laid out and labeled.

Cons: Can't think of any.

Overall Review: With a Cooler Master case and Antec Earthwatts power supply I ended up with a fantastic green system that performs very well.

Excellent case

Cooler Master Centurion 541 RC-541-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Cooler Master Centurion 541 RC-541-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: Very nice looking, stylish. Very easy to open and service. No surprises or clumsiness. Plenty of ventilation.

Cons: No fans supplied, you have to figure out fans yourself.

Overall Review: I put in an Antec Earthwatts 380 power supply plus a 120mm fan, and ended up with a sharp-looking and highly functional case.

Very good monitor

ViewSonic 20" Active Matrix, TFT LCD WSXGA LCD Monitor 5 ms 1680 x 1050 D-Sub, DVI-D Optiquest Series Q20WB
ViewSonic 20" Active Matrix, TFT LCD WSXGA LCD Monitor 5 ms 1680 x 1050 D-Sub, DVI-D Optiquest Series Q20WB

Pros: No dead pixels, bright display, DVI input.

Cons: Controls are odd and clumsy: buttons are on bottom edge and you push upwards; power button is in middle away from power LED.

Overall Review: Overall a very good value for a bright and large widescreen monitor.