Apple Reviews

This piece of technology makes the top tier of all electronic equipment I've ever bought (assuming the ranks along with my Thinkpad 600E and my nokia phone) It fills a perfect niche for me and how I live: my apartment is modest size, primarily I wanted a replacement for my 17 inch tube monitor, but my 24 inch Sony Trinitron TV was also dying a horrible death, I don't watch much TV, don't even have cable.

In walks the 170MP. As a monitor it is great, huge compared to my standard 17 incher, the colors are bright and sharp and you can see things clearly even when off center. As a TV I wasn't expecting much especially since I just use the antenna from my TV but it's really very good. The strongest stations are extremely clear, there's no blur, shadows, or streaking, the weaker stations are acceptable especially at 7 feet or so. I haven't had any trouble with the remote, it works fine for me, even bouncing off the walls works no problem. No this isn't the best television out there, don't center your dvd home entertainment system around it. But, if you, like me, are looking to loose a clunky 50lb TV, the same for a 25lb clunky monitor, and win back about a small refridgerator's worth of space, all for something you can carry in one hand (and the price!!!), then this one is for you.

I upgraded from a flat screen 17 inch CRT to the 170 mp, and now it's a better world, at least for a computer user. The screen is big, bright, and very easy on the eyes.
Pros are: Easy set up, even the slightly awkwark connections on the back; tons of available desk space now; easy to use with the TV and the PIP; very sharp picture and wide viewing angles; the speakers are pretty good; easy to motor around in the on screen menus; and the styling is impressive.
Cons are: The full screen TV is just a touch grainy, and I can't adjust it out (this may be my cable connection though); the remote IR has a very narrow projection cone, it has to be aimed almost directly at the IR sensor on the monitor, but this is easy to get used to; it's a bit pricey but then you're getting much more than a monitor, with built in TV (and PIP), and inputs for all kinds of stuff.
All in all, if you're looking for a multifunction 17 inch TFT, this is the one.

I am working with it already 2 years and absolutly satisfied.
Very good picture, absolutly no problems.

I bought this card for my iBook, and a regular Airport card for my G4 desktop. The cards install in a snap, following the directions at the Apple website (go to Support, they have pictures, and it's truly EASY.) I ran the Airport Setup Assistant (which comes on new Macs, or you can download from apple.com), and I was online wirelessly in less than fifteen minutes.

I run my desktop and the iBook off the Airport Extreme base station, and my husband was able to get a compatible card for his PC laptop and connect it to the network easily, too. And the network's password-protected, so we don't worry about someone else signing on and having access to our computers. It's wonderful for us both to be able to be on the internet at the same time, from anywhere in the house, with no perceptible slowdowns in speed.

Can't recommend the cards (and the base station) highly enough. They're incredibly simple and offer you tons of freedom. If you're debating whether the card is compatible with your Mac (you'll need either a regular Airport card or Airport Extreme), there's a list on the Apple website that's very easy to locate in the support area. Both computers using Airport cards and those using Airport Extreme cards can connect using the Airport Extreme base station.

I recently bought the 12" iBook G4, and had an Airport Extreme card installed at the Apple Store. We didn't purchase a base since frankly, being able to be online from any room in my house would probably be dangerous for my marriage! (we're both such geeks) However, my university and local library system both have WiFi installed and it has been a godsend.
Set up was incredibly easy. My university requests that before any wireless connection is made to their system that you take your laptop in for them to set it up. They warned me how fussy and difficult the process could be, especially since they were a PC based system. But we literally turned it on and. it. worked. It's been the same when using it in the library.

My experience with the AirPort Extreme card has simply reaffirmed my faith in Apple. I literally popped the card into my PowerBook (this took all of a minute or two) and when I restarted my computer it was asking to connect to my wireless network. It couldn't get any easier. Reception is great and I've not experienced any of the problems some other Aluminum PowerBook owners have with reception. At the same time I installed this, I also installed a Microsoft wireless card on my girlfriend's Toshiba laptop. It took a good 3-4 hours to get that connected to the network due to driver issues, etc.. If you've got an AirPort Extreme-capable Mac, don't even consider using a PC Card for wireless. This card is the way to go!

A year and a half ago I bought Nomad jukebox, it was heavy, bulky, slow and sometimes it freeze like Windows. And the worst was that the batteries (4AA) doesn't last more than 3 hours...
But the 10 GB iPod... It's incredible, sounds great (it could be bettrer), the batteries last at least 8 hours. The file transfer is very fast, and even you can use it as a portable Firewire Hard Drive, Synchronisation with Jaguar (OS X10.2) is very fast and easy, just plug your iPod to your Mac and thats all. It's the BMW of MP3, everybody looks your iPod.
Don't waste your money buying other MP3 players.

The iPod, is, hands down, the coolest gadget I have ever owned. I just received it as a Christmas gift a couple of days ago, so I haven't had long term experience with it. But I haven't put it down since it charged (a simple process that took about 3 hours). Battery life seems very good. Fire Wire downloading is blazingly fast... when they say 15 seconds per CD, they don't lie (I timed it).

Only a couple complaints:

1. Thus far, I have not found a way to rip CD's directly to the iPod. You must first save them to iTunes, build a playlist, and then place it on the iPod. This is simple, but creates files on your computer that you must delete if you don't want to take up hard drive space.

2. Included earbuds sound pretty good, but are somewhat uncomfortable.

3. The shiny case picks up fingerprints easily. These clean off very easily, but it somewhat mars the appearance of this beautiful little device.

4. You can't play songs through the iPod itself while it's plugged in to the computer (in fact, you can't use any of the iPod's buttons). You can, however, play the songs on the iPod through iTunes.

Other than these minor things, the iPod is 100% fantastic. It is far superior to other jukeboxes I have seen. While pricey, it is worth the cost.

Before I start, I want to say that you should definitely buy the newer ipod (it just came out yesterday), because it is cheaper, and looks to be even better than mine (this one).

I have had the ipod for eight months now, and it is still working perfectly well, showning just how durable it is (i have put it through quite a bit). Also, the controls are incredibly easy to learn and understand, even for the technically inept. another thing that I really like about the ipod, other than the sheer quantity of music that it holds, is the size of the screen, as well as the backlight, which is very bright. The large screen makes it wonderfully easy to see all of the information about the song. The final thing that I really love about the ipod is the fact that you canupgrade the software that it uses whenever apple comes out with a new version of the software.

I bought an Apple Airport card for my Titanium Powerbook G4 and also a Linksys WAP11 Wireless Access Point. Initially, I had some trouble maintaining a consistant connection (the Powerbook would connect to the WAP11 but if I put it to sleep or restarted it, it would not find it again unless I rebooted the WAP11).

Well, after updating the firmware in the WAP11 and Airport card to their latest versions, I'm happy to say they work just great together!!! I love Apple stuff but $299 for their Airport Base Station is just a bit too pricey for me. So, I bought the WAP11 for around $150 and I'm a happy camper.

I haven't tested network printing and/or Appletalk. I think the WAP11 supports Appletalk but you will want to be sure of that if that is important to you. For browsing the web and any other TCP/IP related uses, it works just fine.

By the way, I'm using 128-bit encryption feature on both the Airport card and the WAP11. That involves entering in a "password phrase" in the WAP11 configuration software. The software then converts the phrase into a 128-bit hex number. It's a long number so you'll want to write it down.

When your Airport finds the WAP11, you'll want to the 128-bit key in the password field but make sure it is preceded by a "$" sign. After that, you should be able to connect.

One other thing to consider, you will need a PC with a USB port in order to update the WAP11 firmware. I tried updating the firmware using the Mac and Virtual PC but it would not recognize the WAP11. So, you might want to sneak into work at night or on the weekend to update the firmware...hehehe

Long live Apple!!!!!!!

Happy computing!!! :-)

I'm not a Mac guy. I am responsible for the wireless network at my place of work. We run Cisco 350 Series AP in two seperate buildings with primarily Cisco wireless pc cards.

I buy several other brands of wireless cards for testing (compaq, xircom linksys) and picked up an AirPort card as well. I have to admit I was a little confused at first, but I think the problem was my lack of understanding when it comes to Apple terminology. Airport? Is that the base station or the client?

As soon as I figured it out, I poked around in OS X and saw the settings for the wireless card. I input the SSID and the WEP key and a few other settings, and it picked up the signal, associated, autheticated and was browsing perfectly.

The true test was when I took it home to my wireless network. It switched between the two seamlessly. Even at Starbucks (at least the locations that have wireless access) it worked great. They broadcast their SSID, I associcated with their access point, signed in and was off and running with chat and email while sipping a mouth full of esspresso roast. You can set up wireless profiles, so if you go between wireless network, you don't have to make any changes. They are already stored for you and ready to use when you arrive...very nice.

So a PC guys opinion of this wireless card??? Five stars.

And just as a side not for all you Mac fans out there, the Cisco LMC-352 wireless card will also fit into your iBook underneath the keyboard as well.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

Apple has a great wireless card here with the Airport card. Installation is a snap, and Apple's web site even has a QuickTime movie for you to watch so you can view how to install it step by step. I installed this card, and installed and set up my Dlink wireless router, all within 30 minutes.

The only thing I wish is that it supported 256-bit encryption. The Dlink router I got supports 256-bit encryption, as does the proprietary Dlink card that performs the same function as the Airport card. I didn't know this until after I purchased the Airport card. I do not know if the Dlink card is compatible with Macs (Apple computers), but it would be worth checking into. However, as higher encryptions do slow down your internet connection, I have stuck with 128-bit encryption, which is the highest encryption the Airport card supports. I am satisfied overall with the Apple Airport card, as even if I had the 256-bit encryption I probably wouldn't use it. However I do think Apple should keep pace with the times and offer 256-bit encryption. Seems in this insecure world we live in that we will continue to need to add on higher encryption levels.

Back to the ease of installing the card, it literally is a snap, and very easy with the video on Apple's website. I highly recommend this product.

Let's face it, LCD monitors are unbelievably crisp in image quality and detail, but they always lacked in viewing angle and most had motion blur or hesitation when playing fast action games (the new graphics cards have really helped). Well that's not true any more! Before buying a monitor here on Amazon, I recommend you view them in a side-by-side comparison at one of the local retail stores. That is exactly what I did. I was fortunate to have all of the name brands represented; NEC, Samsung, Sony, Viewsonic, Compaq, HP, IBM, Philips, etc.; so doing a side-by-side comparison was easy. I even made sure they were running the same graphics card by recabling my final choices on similar PC's running the same graphics card and displaying the same moving and still images. I was looking for a 17" or 18" monitor (this one is 17.4" viewable and thus it's name of X-174). One monitor stuck out from all the rest with it's crisp color, excellent image reproduction, and unbelievable viewing angles, Neovo. All of this and the monitor was running in analog mode, not digital! One of my primary disappointments with LCD monitors is the viewing angle. Every LCD monitor that I viewed showed dark areas above or below dead center, even when viewed at the optimum angle of straight ahead. The Neovo monitor was the only one that I viewed that performed like a CRT monitor when viewed at less than optimum angles. Yes, their claim of 160 degrees is true! This is a very impressive monitor with an excellent build quality (a three year warranty) from a new subsidary company of AIC (I researced them on the Internet). Setup was a breeze; I replaced the default Windows XP Monitor driver with the one supplied by Neovo (it still worked with the default Windows XP driver, but I wanted to use Neovo's), pressed "Auto Detect" on the monitor, and that was it! Viewing StarWars Episode I showed such vivid colors and detail that my TV can't display and fast movement was not a problem (Pod Race). Now if only I can get a TV with this much quality at a decent price. I highly recommend this Monitor, but don't take my word for it...go out and view it for yourself.

After looking at a number of computer flat screen monitors as well as reading what seemed like hundreds of reviews, I can across the AG Neovo X-174. The images look as good as the images on my old 20" Trinitron. I consider myself as a pretty good digital photographer, so image quality is extremely important to me and the X-174 does not disappoint. The colors in photos are crisp and true and the text quality sharp & clear. Please note that the AUTO function is disabled if you use the Digital DVI-D input so make sure you use the 1280x1024 at 60 hz resolution for your best results.
So with image quality is as good as my old monitor, why spend a great deal of money on this technology? It's all about space recovered. I have gained about 200 square inches of desk space back so my life is less cluttered and I won't go blind with the monitor 3" from my face.
One last comment.... The X-174 is one cool looking monitor. It even looks good with nothing on the screen.

Based on recently published flat panel monitor reviews, I decided to try out the highly rated AG Neovo X174. I also chose to upgrade my older G4 Mac with a DVI (digital) video card to fully appreciate the monitor's capabilities. I'm delighted with the arrangement so far. The image quality is nothing less than superb. Since the monitor had an unused analog (RGB) input port, I added a View Sonic VB50 HRTV tuner and now have a really cool flat panel TV on my desk as well.

I looked at a wall of LCD monitors at the local super-store and none except perhaps the Apple 17" Studio Display even came close to the image quality of the Neovo. It costs a little more than most, but I'm satisfied that the quality and features are worth it. Plus the screen surface is non-glare glass that's easy to keep clean!

I was in the market for a portable printer to use with my Fujitsu Lifebook. The portable markey is pretty small, being that there are only a very few printers that are small enough to be called portable, but still print on full-size paper.

At first I didn't like anything available. I checked in depth but nothing out there really caught my eye. One day I strolled on over to Canon's website and what did I see, but the i70 listed as "Coming Soon!"

I decided to hold off on buying a printer until I could see the i70 in person, which I later did. It's beautiful. It's sort of a platinum silver color, with a rich blue printhead cover. It closes easily and a small magnet keeps the bottom sheet-feeder attached to the top cover (it's way cooler than I'm describing it...)

Installation was a snap. Typical of Canon. I'm running Windows XP and I have no problems in the slightest.

The first thing I noticed is that it's quiet. I didn't think it was really printing until I saw the paper coming out.

Second: it's FAST. It's the fastest inkjet printer I've ever used, beating out my HP 1120C in both speed, noise, and print quality.

It's not labled as a photo printer, but the print quality of the i70 is just amazing. If there's a difference between this and real photo printers, I haven't seen it, nor do I care. It's good. VERY good.

I have not tested the infrared communications yet... I send everything to the printer via USB, which is a breeze.

To sum it up:

Pros:

Appearence
Speed
Noise
Quality

Cons:
Not the same silver as other Canon products (such as the LiDe30) but it's still so pretty...

I HIGHLY recommend this printer.

THE GOOD:

(1) This is the lightest printer among peers. HP's 450cbi, the closest alternative in my book, is nowhere near as portable as the i70.

(2) Prints directly from a digicam. I use Canon's G3, and I can now share photo print-outs straight from my camera. No need to lug my laptop around.

(3) The battery life is great, don't believe detractors. IN general you don't need the battery -- that is only for outings, for those occasions when you just have to print out something while sitting by the lake.

(4) It is FAST! Especially for color prints, it outpaces my full-blown HP laserjet.

(5) It is QUIET. You'll have to get used to its noiseless printing. First time round, I had to check to make sure the paper was printed on.

(6) Is a breeze to INSTALL. Something you can expect from Canon, of course.

(7) Works with both Windows and Macs.

CAVEATS:

(1) The photo quality may not appeal to shutterbugs, especially if NOT printed on photo paper, but for general office workers with little desk space or for folks with a packed travel roster, the i70 is a pretty safe bet.

(2) The ink costs may sky rocket quite quickly if you print colored stuff often. If, like me, your general printing is B&W, then this is a great buy.

(3) The price, especially if you buy the battery pack. But there are deals if you know where to look.

SUMMARY:

A great overall printer, definitely if you need to carry one around. I purchase Epson's photo paper (not Canon's own) for color shots and the i70 prints more than adequately. The speed, the quality and the quietness make it one of my top printer recommendations -- all things said, even better than a regular inkjet.

I needed a small portable printer for my laptop, and after researching them, I chose the Canon i70. It has all of the attributes I needed-lightweight,super easy to use, fast as the office rumor mill, and a great print job. I highly recommend this product to anyone fortunate enough to have purchased it.

My first experience with an LCD monitor. Very sleek design, light and compact. The display colors are bright and text resolution is very good. The buttons are on the front; easy to reach but hard to read. No dead pixels that I could tell. Seems to work well with Medal of Honor. Downside: text will blurr while scrolling vertically (such as internet search results). Also, the white background seemed to have a slight pinkish hue but to be fair, I didn't try using the color adjustments. All in all, an excellent monitor at a very reasonable price.

I've been sitting on the LCD fence for desktop use. Even though I'm not a big gamer, I dislike the ghosting on slow LCD's while scrolling web pages, etc. Also, I learned about native LCD resolution the hard way after purchasing a close-out Thinkpad T-series direct from IBM which did not indicate SVGA+ with native resolution of 1400x1150 on a 14" screen (talk about your small fonts!!).

I've adjusted, though, and when my desktop CRT started acting up I decided I could live with 1280 x 1024 on a 17" for desktop use. I use the Opera web browser which provides for easy "scaling" up of web pages. This can be the biggest surprise for LCD newbies; LCD's only look sharp in their native resolution, you can't really scale up/down like a CRT (and stay sharp).

My priorities for a desktop LCD monitor, in order, were:

o) sharp text display
o) limited/no ghosting (16ms)
o) some reasonable probablility of no dead pixels
o) high contrast
o) thin case bezel

I have not been disappointed in any regard with the 1760; no dead pixels at all that I can see on this unit. Of course, this is somewhat the luck of the draw, but I understand that NEC is fairly stringent with this. The monitor is also very "bright". I am running the brightness around 75% which is plenty for me.

This LCD is not a "wide view", but that has not been a big issue for me; the base does tilt/swivel. If you're not familiar with this aspect of LCD's search the net; LCD's that have around 170 degree viewing angle don't "dim" as you move your viewing angle off-axis. Dell Ultra-Sharp is an example (most of which are made by Samsung). I believe NEC offers several wide-view LCD's as well as do other vendors.

I was somewhat wary of the included LiquidView software, but it actually works pretty well in limited use - increases desktop icons to a "comfortable" size. For those that aren't used to the 1280x1024 native resolution for desktop icons and such it is an added bonus ...

The NEC 1760 hits the size/performance/cost LCD sweet spot quite nicely, imo, and I have been very satisfied so far. I have no doubt LCD prices will continue to drop, but you have to take the plunge some time.

...

Was a bit concerned about ordering an LCD monitor sight unseen but all those fears were put aside once I unpacked it, made the connections and turned it on for the first time! My first impression? "WOW!" I'm primarily a laptop user and my most recent is a Compaq Presario 3045US that I purchased for 2 reasons: first, the price was right for the computing power (less than $1000) and secondly, the 16" screen was awesome for watching DVDs, playing games and basically replacing my desktop at work. Why do I mention this? Simply because I purchased a new game recently ("City of Heroes") and it isn't capable of running on my laptop. I knew the day would come when I'd find a game that didn't run on the integrated graphics chip but I didn't think that day would come so soon, and so my hand was forced...I'd need to build a desktop capable of playing the new game and with that, I'd need a new monitor. Was a bit skeptical of going with an LCD for a graphics intensive game because, having owned many laptops, I know that pixels tend to blur during action sequences. Went around to many stores comparing monitors before realizing that under their flourescent lights, all the LCD monitors looked just about the same. So I spent many hours a day, for about a week, reading reviews online and comparing numbers before deciding on the NEC 1760V and I'm glad I did! Refresh rates are quick with minimal blurring, the colors are vibrant and pictures look sharp in the native resolution. OSD buttons are difficult to make out but once the settings are set, there's really no need to go back to them. Other's complain about NEC's pop-up display warning about running games in non-native resolution but I hit "exit" button once (on the display) and the warning disappears without coming back. Biggest fear was dead pixels BUT I figured there's no difference between ordering online or picking the monitor up in a store. If you're going to get a dead pixel, you'll get a dead pixel regardless of mail order or in store pick up...though my monitor was 100% beautiful with NO dead pixels on arrival! And compared to the 16" screen on my laptop? This NEC simply blows it away!! My only complaint is the brightness level of this LCD monitor...it really *is* bright. Turned it down to about 30% and upped the contrast a bit though and all is good. While not the highest contrast ratio of the pack, this monitors has blacks that appear black and vibrant colors that appear true to life! Overall, an extremely worthwhile purchase!!

While the Airport mightn't have all the bells and whistles of some of the competition, it is the absolutely the best solution for Mac users. I use it at home to support a mixture of Macs and PCs, and found it a breeze to set up and use.

It's also really easy to upgrade, unlike some other wireless routers I've used. Apple keep adding new functionality that you can download for free...(e.g., 128-bit encryption, PPP dial-in, and PPTP support).

N.B. - If you use a Windows PC to access your office network over a VPN, then you will need to check the Apple website to get the latest version of the Airport software (version 2.0.4). Earlier software versions don't support Microsoft's PPTP tunnelling protocol, but the latest version works just fine (you also need to be running MacOS X 10.1.5).

Upgrading is a breeze, after you install the update on your Mac, you just have to hit the "update" button in the Airport confugration tool! No messing around with setting up tftp or serial connections.

The Apple AirPort Base Station is extremely easy to use. The ABS software from Apple is designed with the same Apple Macintosh simplicity. This product includes security features that are easily understood, robust and fully standardized. The ABS is configurable via both Mac OSX and OS9 with support for computers running the Windows OS and third party PC cards. I can easily roam anywhere in the home and still maintain internet access.

Check out B0000899ZA and B0000899ZC, the new Airport Extreme. Much faster and lower prices.

I found the sony digital cam photo printer online by accident while holiday shopping, read the reviews and decided to make the purchase. The product is a good value, cost wise, and is so easy to operate and the pictures are superb! I've only used the product twice- just recieved it 5 days ago and I haven't hooked it up to my pc yet (but that wasn't the point of my purchase anyway because I have an inkjet photo printer and printing software) but have used it on my home tv and the software program is just great- right from the TV I view all prints, can add text to the print, change the print to B&W, adjust tint, brightness etc and print however many prints of each photo I want. I even printed out an index photo of all the pics on my memory stick- awesome. The picture quality is so much better than inkjet prints and you can't tell the difference between these and professionally printed photos. The quality is remarkable. I highly recommend this product to both experienced and inexperienced digital camera users- it's great to have a device like this on hand to print pictures out immediately to share with others (modern similarity to poloroid cams in that you're able to share immediately right from your home TV or others- did I Say how easily PORTABLE this is-but SO MUCH MORE) The reviews here helped me so I'm hoping I can help someone else in making a decision.

I bought this printer a week ago and am extremely satisfied with its quality. The photos come out in about 90 seconds, and are impossible to distinquish from photo-lab prints. Pictures were taken with a Sony DSC-P5, a 3.2 megapixel model. I've read complaints about photos not coming out so well on this model... I imagine they are not using a Sony camera. It's got a memory stick reader for a reason =)

This printer is all you need, and its the cheapest one offered by sony right now. I did some research and all three currently offered printers use the same printing technology (dye sublimation), it's only the features that effect the price. The $500 model has an lcd screen, the $250 is extra tiny but can only do 3x5. this $200 needs a television or your computer, tho.

Cons: noisy whine while machine is off. doesn't come with usb cable for computer hookup (manual claims using a computer disables the "fine print" option).

pictures look real this printer is excellant

Harman Kardon is selling this item for 25% less on its own website! buy it there!

Hooked it up to my flat pannel iMac running OS 10.2 and it didn't seem like it was working at first until I figured out that the defalt for the iSub has the mute box checked. I was also surprised at how loud it can actually go. I think it works best at about half it's potential volume with the pro speakers. It's really not worth [...] but I had a gift certificate and got half off. Look online for amazon coupons before you buy this one.

No complaints about the sound or looks here. Both are of course amazing. My one problem with the iSub however is it's USB interface. Because of this, certain things do not work as expected. Pluging in headphones will not mute the subwoofer, and neither will pressing the mute button on the keyboard. To turn off the iSub I have to unplug it, or go specifically mute it in the system preferences. This is extremely annoying to me, as I often hit the mute button to answer phone calls, and plug in headphones so I can continue listening to music when my roommates are studying or going to bed.

The problem is listed in apples support webpage as this:
Symptom : You connect headphones to your computer, but the iSub speaker's volume does not mute as you may expect.
Solution : The iSub is a subwoofer-type speaker designed to be used in conjunction with a pair of speakers. Your computer does not distinguish between analog headphones and analog speakers when you connect either to the computer's analog sound output port. Therefore it is the correct behavior for the iSub not to be muted. The iSub is muted if you connect USB headphones. Alternatively, disconnect the iSub when you do not wish to hear it.

I own the PowerMac Dual 867 running 10.2.4. My iSub is working alongside the apple pro speakers. If this problem may annoy you as well I would suggest looking at the JBL Creature Speakers.