Pros: Just plug them in, connect the cables, and it works. I haven't directly tested the communication speed, but it's fast enough for a Roku 3 to stream HD video. The units are plugged into different electrical circuits in our apartment, so it's communicating across the breakers. It works well enough that I'm thinking I should buy some more of these things; the WiFi bands are getting mighty cluttered these days. (A quick scan while writing this review detects 40 WAPs.)

Cons: The documentation comes on a CD-ROM, and the utilities only support Windows. You may not need the utilities (I didn't) so that's not a deal-breaker, but it's still annoying (and short-sighted). Seems like optical drives are becoming a rarity more quickly than manufacturers realize. None of the notebooks/internet-capable devices I've bought in the last couple of years came with an optical drive.

Overall Review: These start out using a default shared key for encryption. They will auto-generate and share a new (pseudo)-random key at the push of a button. (You have a 2-minute window to push the button on all the units.) I'm assuming that there's not going to be any fiddling needed with these things. If there is, I don't know if I'll even bother, since I'll have to find a Windows machine to be able to use the utilities. They should look into making the devices support SFTP or summat. All you really need is some way to move a configuration file on and off the thing.

Pros: Easy use; easy to install. Your mother can use a Roku; your grandfather can install and configure one. Bluetooth remote (no line-of-sight needed). Built-in WiFi, but also has RJ45 ethernet jack. "Just works."

Cons: Does NOT support multiple profiles in Netflix. And there's no update for the Roku 2 in the pipeline to change this. Ever. Yes, I took off *two* stars for this. This is a major usability problem that's doubly annoying because Roku 3 does support multiple profiles.

Overall Review: The more experience I get with Roku players, the more I like them. They do not do well with playing files from local storage, but for anything streaming, they're awesome. Pair them with a Plex Media Server (any old computer will do—just install Xubuntu and Plex) and they can play any video or audio file you have. I also have a competing brand of media player that does play local files well. But it freezes up on a regular basis and must be power-cycled. This Roku has never needed to be rebooted, restarted or whatever.

Pros: Let's you keep using the old AMD CPU and DDR2 RAM that were on a mobo that just died. As a replacement part, it's *much* cheaper than most motherboard, since most anything else would require you to also buy a new CPU and RAM. Supports all kinds of legacy equipment: IDE peripherals, PCI boards, and floppy drives. There's even a COM port! On-board video and 4 SATA connectors make it ideal for a command-line only home server.

Cons: Only 2 slots for DDR2 RAM; the board this replaced had 4 slots. Luckily I was only using two, so nothing lost, but had I been using all 4 it would've been annoying to have to set aside two sticks of RAM.

Overall Review: Don't think that the MSI K9NGM3 board that this replaced wasn't a good piece of hardware. It gave 10+ years of solid service. But everything breaks down eventually, and I was happy to find a drop-in replacement in this board. Only configuration change needed on my server install was updating the device name of the network interface. Other than that, it was a plug'n'play replacement.

Pros: Plug'n'play. Faster than USB 2.0. Faster than the SD card reader on a 13" Mac Book Pro Retina.

Cons: N/A

Overall Review: No, no, really: with a Class 10 SD card I get faster writes through this adapter than through the internal SD card reader on a MBP-R.

Pros: I choose this particular external drive because it supports USB 3.0 and has its own power supply. So far, it's read everything I've put into it, and burned DVDs without a hiccup (though, problems with recording DVDs are usually due to low-quality blank media, not hardware). I used it with a MacBook Pro (OS X 10.9.1) without having to install anything (IIRC). I also appreciate that it came with a USB cable, since a Type-A to Type-B, USB 3.0 cable is not something I have stuffed away in a drawer. It seems to be sturdy, and well-made.

Cons: As others have mentioned, the supplied USB cable is only about 2 ft (ca. 60 cm) long and therefore limits your options for where you can put the DVD burner wile using it. I put it away in a cabinet between uses, so I don't mind, but if you wanted it connected and available all the time, you'll probably want to get a different cable. (USB 3.0 type-A to USB 3.0 type-B required.)

Overall Review: In a quiet room, when the drive starts spinning a disc, it sounds somewhat like the jet-turbines of an airplane spooling up. Both in volume and tone. But if you want high R/W speeds, you need high RPM. It's also rather heavy. Not something you would want to carry around with you. It doesn't claim to be anything other than a drive that sits on a desk, so I don't count that as a problem. Indeed, having plenty of mass probably a good thing, considering the high-RPM spinning.