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Carlos A.

Carlos A.

Joined on 03/08/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

Best option at this price for a presentation projector.

Acer X1161P SVGA 800x600 2700 Lumens 3D Ready DLP Projector
Acer X1161P SVGA 800x600 2700 Lumens 3D Ready DLP Projector

Pros: Used mostly for presentations and occasionally to display videos, amazingly visible in a well illuminated room, minimal difference between ECO and normal mode so you can go ECO mode in any condition, cool feature to adjust light output to compensate wall paint color (so you can convert any wall into a real screen), 6000 hours lamp in ECO, low noise, very good scaling of non native resolutions tried 1280 X 800 and 1650 X 1080, brilliant colors, lamp replacement around 120 USD, small footprint for a 2700 lumen device, very good option for a data projector at this price.

Cons: * No audio. * No buttons, the remote control slides in the projector housing to be used as the button station, so if you lose the remote you will suffer, so better keep the remote attached to the projector. * Only 1 year of warranty, all other Acer projectors have 2, not sure why, however for less than 40 you can add 1 year of warranty.

Overall Review: Acer is doing very good electronics at affordable prices, I have an Acer AMD laptop (4 years old now) almost indestructible and very reliable, 2 23" LCD monitors bought for less than 139 each, very satisfied with Acer, Keep the good work .

Most Critical Review

Mixed results

Kensington K39552US PowerBolt 2.1 A Micro USB Car Charger for Kindle Fire, includes one micro usb cable
Kensington K39552US PowerBolt 2.1 A Micro USB Car Charger for Kindle Fire, includes one micro usb cable

Pros: It's really small, cable can sync too, price is good, plenty of power to charge almost any device.

Cons: Once that you install it in the power outlet is quite hard to remove it mainly because is so small that you don't have a good grip to pull it, not sure why but mine didn't charge my Samsung SIII Mini, tried with different cable NO success, tested on a LG 840 and it worked.

Good to use it as main OS host **Updated January 14, 2016 ***Unreliable***

ADATA Premier SP600 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ASP600S3-128GM-C
ADATA Premier SP600 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ASP600S3-128GM-C

Pros: * Price<br>* It worked just fine out of the box<br>* Makes a difference in OS loading times even in a SATA II system

Cons: **** Unreliable. After 8 months of very light use (I use the drive as main OS disk in a HTPC, I use the PC just once or twice a week) it crashed and i wasn't able to recover the drive, I just submitted a RMA request to AData since it has 3 years of warranty. Unfortunately it will be very hard to rely in the brand again. It's a pain restoring the data to a new disk and the downtime waiting for the replacement. Not good. * I had some issues with the cloning process<br>* Weird 9mm adapter, has sticky tape to glue it to the SS disk

Overall Review: I had some issues cloning my old drive to the new SSD with the Acronis Full Version Software, for unknown reason during the restarting the system didn't return to the Acronis app but to the main OS and the cloning stalled. I ended doing a backup and restarting the system with the recovery (rescue) disk and then retrieving the backup to the new SSD. It took more time but worked pretty well. The SSD is being used as the OS disk in an AMD htpc, despite my system being Sata II the loading/starting time is noticeable faster than my previous normal 3.5" 7200 RPM hard drive. Let's see how it behaves in the long run... 4 eggs because the cloning process issue could be a big issue for someone not very experienced.

Great to install in an old system

ZOTAC GeForce GT 720 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x8 Low Profile Ready Graphics Card ZT-71202-20L
ZOTAC GeForce GT 720 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x8 Low Profile Ready Graphics Card ZT-71202-20L

Pros: Installed in an 8 year old HP pavilion (Core Duo to Xeon converted with Windows 8.1) desktop become silent, processor load was reduced. It's a very good option for mobos with PCI Express 2.0. Absolutely ZERO issues with installation, OS found it right away.

Cons: It takes 2 ports, despite the compact design of the card; the port that is close to the PCI Express 2.0(16) is now unusable because the passive cooler is blocking it , consider this if you are planning to add expansion cards to your system.

Overall Review: It's 4.5 eggs, the fan-less design ends with the passive cooler being large but is understandable and not enough to discount a full egg of the qualification.

Just better than expected and cheap...

Sewell Xpand 4-port USB 3 PCI Express Card
Sewell Xpand 4-port USB 3 PCI Express Card

Pros: Cheap, i did put it in my old HP system running Win 8.1, no drivers needed it's working I hope that lasts for a while...

Cons: NO low profile adapter.

Overall Review: Be advise that you will need a SATA power connector NOT the normal 4 pin for IDE devices, so you probably want to be sure that you system has one available or buy one. Mine came without disk but drivers are available in their site, however Win 8.1 just found it and installed the OS stocked drivers.

A 500G HD for PS3 replacement, Yes!

Seagate 500GB SATA DVR Expander STAP500403
Seagate 500GB SATA DVR Expander STAP500403

Pros: Seagate quality 500G Good Construction Price Great if you have a spare FreeAgent Adapter

Cons: You need a Seagate FreeAgent Adapter to use it as is sold, currently those adapters are discontinued, but.... Read other thoughts below...

Overall Review: I own 2 old Seagate AgentFree Disks so I have 2 adapters one USB 2.0 and one is USB 3.0 and this performs great just needs to be formatted or... I bought this one to use it as a PS3 HD replacement, it's quit easy to pull the disk from the enclosure just with a small slotted screwdriver, you can separate the two parts of the shell case by inserting the screwdriver in the middle joint. It's a 500G 2.5 HD for under 35, you can't find a HD at this price. it's cheaper than a 500G refurbished. Mine is installed and working.