Computer Reviews

These speakers are definitely classy in look and sound. I've read reviews about Harmon Kardon both good and bad but as far as these speakers go, it far outweighs any bad reviews about other products. I highly recommend these for people who want great sound for a low price and without hassle.

Absolutely thrilled with these speakers...got a great price for a superb product! Easy to set up, huge sound, and classy look. The set up was a no brainer as the five step process is explained with pictures--no words necessary. In addition, the ports and plugs are color coded to make it that much easier. The subwoofer provides a nice boom that rattles your bones without waking the neighbors (I think)!

When I first received these speakers, the speakers themselves seemed really small. But, once I plugged them in, they produced great quality audio. I could blast them up, and it sounded much better than the JBL 2 speaker set I had before.

I use these speakers for movies and mp3s. Although I'm not very picky on audio quality, I'm sure that these speakers would satisfy anyone wanting great audio who isn't a audiophile.

There's one problem I have with these speakers: there's no headphones jack from the speakers.

Other things that you might want to know if you are considering this unit:
Power button is at the back of the subwoofer.
Speakers are light and small; you can knock them over easily.
Bass and Treble controls are on the front of the subwoofer.
Volume Control is on top of the front right speaker.

I think this should be one of the best buy 3 MP camera. I have another digital camera with 5 MP (Kyocera S5R) but I like this one much more. The most striking thing about this camera (33L) is the beautiful color high resolution swivelling LCD monitor. The swivel monitor is very useful. The images taken by this camera are also real good. The balance of flash is extremely good eventhough it seems to be a bit of reddish saturation. 3D , filters , and panorama are fun to use. I used the rechargeable NIMH (AA , 2000 mAh) with no problem.
All in all , I love this one and carry it with me whenever possible. The only complaint I may have is that it lacks of date imprint mode. ( I use camera to record my work so date imprint is important for me.)

Once I got this camera, I was in love. I love how the LCD swivels. I takes picture-taking to a whole other level. If your just going to use this camera for everyday use, you can stop right here. This is the camera to buy. The software for editing that comes with it is GREAT too. It's a whole lotta fun.

This camera is great. Lots of features, super-cool LCD monitor...and a GREAT price.

However, beware of one thing. Do not try to power the camera with the "Power 2000" brand rechargeable AA batteries. I bought these batteries along with the charger from a website that suggested these batteries as an accessory for this camera. When I tried to use 2 fully charged Power 2000s, the camera would make 4 quick beep sounds and wouldn't turn on. After calling Pentax and telling them about my problem, they said I had to send it in for repair, and that it could take over a month. When I got the camera back I found out there was no problem with the camera. I was just using an "off brand" of AA battery that is not intended to power this specific camera.

I was angry at the retailer for suggesting a brand of battery that isn't even capable of powering this camera, but I was even more upset that the Pentax service rep didn't ask me over the phone which type of battery I was using. That whole problem and time spent without my camera could've been avoided if he had asked me that one simple question.

In summary, I would only use the Lithium Ion CR-V3 type battery with this camera. It lasts the longest, and now that Pentax themselves told me that it's the type of battery that is intended for use with this model, I won't try any other. It's too bad because I find it very wasteful and expensive to constantly purchase and throw away non-rechargeable batteries.

And one other thing - the reviewer that said he's had his camera "for 2 years" is either lying or accidentally reviewed the wrong camera. The Pentax Optio 33L was introduced in March 2003. It's less than a year old.

Don't let the negativity of my review deter you, though, because I love the camera. I'm just bothered by the service I got.

I just picked up this computer (refurbished) off of ubid.com. I picked it up for 600 bucks and I was a bit aprehensive. It came proffessionally packed and even smelled new! I fired it up and I have to say this thing is fast, easy to use, and forgiving considering I have not owned a computer in over 4 years! Pick yourself up one! Its totally worth it! And oh yeah, I also picked up a 17" monitor off of ubid.com for 75 bucks...the whole system shipping included in under 900 bucks! Not bad eh? -jewels

I bought this PC for my mother, (her first one) and was looking for something that was easy to use and she wouldn't have to upgrade for a long time. I have to say that this machine is one of the best I demo'd (and I looked at alot before decideing). I agree with everything the others have written about this machine, but would like to add one thing. The speakers with this PC were awesome!! When I first checked it out, I kinda thought they sounded pretty good, but then listening to all the other systems, I realized they were far better then anything else I'd looked at. Just to see i went over to where they sold Addon speakers and started playing some. Forget about... [expensive] speakers, this machine blew them away right out of the box... If this is going to be your first PC or your just looking for a good next one. For the price you will not be disappointed.

Awesome system! I was happy with my PentiumII 500Mhz 128MB RAM system for most everything, but I use Cakewalk digital recording software which can become quite a memory hog and very processor-intensive when running over 8-tracks with intense effects processing. This Sony system lets me push it to the limit. I've run over 16-tracks with lots of effects processing, and the Cakewalk software hardly shows any signs of lagging. Best thing is, I've experienced no dropouts at all. And of course, the speedy CD recorder is heaven as I burn and copy my audio CDs quite often. I definitely recommend this system.

I was iniatially sceptical of the sound quality considerning the price, but after comparing with more expensive JAMO , KEF, ONKYO, YAMAHA speakers I was totally seduced by the quality of these speakers. This truly deserves all 5 stars. I am already awaiting for my 2nd set for the office!

I put this system in my living room which is about 300 square feet and these speakers are ridiculous. The brick mortar in my condo literally flakes off the surface from the bass. The surround is awesome and you have to be pretty into music to say that the highs are lacking. I listen to music with the system and have absolutely no complaints. I recommend it to everyone.

I wanted nice sound at an affordable price. I asked for a recommendation from a family member who designs and installs home theaters. They highly recommended JBL. I didn't think I could touch the price of a JBL speaker system. And when I saw the SCS150 system I was perhaps a little skeptical as to whether I was getting a bottom of the line system from JBL. I can tell you that they are absolutely fantastic! And what does that family member think who deals with home theater every day, you may wonder? They share the same view. Don't be afraid of this system, you'll be extremely happy if you want superb sound at an affordable price!

Lexar Media stick works just fine. I'm just glad Lexar makes these so I don't have to pay the "Sony tax" for their proprietary format!

A note regarding this issue that the same size Lexar stick held less photos than's Sony's...I don't have a Sony digital camera--my Finepix uses SmartMedia. But I have noticed that taking photos at the same resolution doesn't necessarily mean they are all the same file size! For instance, I just opened a photo folder and the "high" was 804K and the "low" was 752K, with others falling somewhere in-between. A highly complex photo with lots of colors and contrasts is going to be larger than say, a picture that is half "blue sky." This could very well explain why there were fewer photos on the Lexar memory stick.

I use this stick all the time in my Sony Clie, and have never had a problem.

I purchased the memory stick after pricing the Sony brand. I got my money's worth. If you want to save money for the same quality as the Sony brand...get this Memory stick!

I've had this drive a week and it performs excellent. I did have some problems with installation. The drive cable included is a bit on the short side. I was unable to connect both my original drive and the Maxtor due to placement in my machine. Luckly I had an old 486 in the closet with a longer IDE cable. Use caution when using the EZ-Bios option. I used it when I was unable to find the key combination for BIOS setup on my machine. Also you may want to change the CD drive setting yourself in the control panel. Everything worked fine for a few days, but upon installing an Microsoft application to my new drive and doing the usual restart my new drive disappeared. Finally locating the key cobination for BIOS (oodly enough omitted from my manual) I could see that my BIOS was detecting the new drive nicely. The solution was to go back and disable ez-bios from ALL the HD's. I have no doubt of the quality and performance of this drive, but the installation program included seemed to be lacking in quality. I still have not been able to copy my original system drive to the new Maxtor drive with the program included. Despite all my problems with installation I still highly recommend this drive. We all know how finicky computers can be. If you do have problems installing the drive do not despair, stick with it. Also if you have an E-machine computer tower plan to have a longer cable. Also ALT-Page Down for BIOS settings, or alt-home etc, something like that ;) but stay away from that EZ-BIOS if you can. Remeber, if you have problems installing this drive -- learn from them.

My wife thought changing to a larger drive would mess things up for certain but not with the software and directions included.

Maxtor provides easy to follow instructions and software with the ability to copy an image of your existing drive onto the new one. While the actual process takes some time depending on the amount of data on the old drive I've experienced flawless uptime and my computer seems twice as fast now even to my wife.

The AMD K-6 333MHz accesses data twice as fast as before, loads internet content much faster and runs circles around the Intel Celeron 500 MHz I have at work thanks to the 7200 rpm and dual processors on the hard drive. Thanks Maxtor!

With the included ATA/66 cable this things rocks. It's the fastest I've seen a drive go through scandisk. Windows boots faster and twenty gigs is lot of room for all of those games I have lying around. Install is easy with a Win98 boot disk to support using it as one big drive instead of partitioning it. Maxtor once again makes a great drive at an affordable price.

"Panasonic stands for a commitment to quality, value and innovation, bringing you ideas for life." The company is now trying to preserve this promise and reputation as one of the top competitors in today's digital market. Panasonic's latest release is the DVD-LX9 portable DVD player. Let's find out how it ranks among others in the field as we put it to the test....full review @ Bytesector.com

I wanted to buy my wife a portable DVD player and reviewed several models to include "hands-on" demos and the quality of the Panasonic easily beats them all. The number one feature to consider, of course, is picture quality and the LA-9 mimics a HD picture --truly amazing for such a small unit. The LA-9 is pricy but well worth the cost. We often take plane trips lasting 3-5 hours so it got even pricier as we also bought the optional battery pack for longer play and sound cancelling earphones. The cradle is a big plus as we use it to play DVDs through our kitchen TV. All in all, a VERY flexible unit with features galore for either travel or at-home use. If you can afford it, this is the one to get.

Had this unit for two weeks and it is great. It plays all types of media list in description on panasonic.com PLUS DVD-RW. I have a sony recorder RDR-GX7 (great recorder), and it records dvd-rw. The LX9 Plays it without problems even though the manuel says it does not it does.
picture quality is great and many menu features which help tweek picture. I have not used it on battery long enough to determine how long it last but it comes with a cord so use it instead.
music cd's work great, cdr and cdrw with mp3s only. It does not take long to load up as some reviews added.
overall another qualitly product from panasonic. I highly recommond.
I used the external speakers and must admit they are pretty good. a little flimsly but sound wise pretty good.
the internal speakers are loud enough however.
if you want a unit that plays mostly any disk out there, you cant go wrong with the panasonic LX-9

The performance of this card is truly great! There is no better card in this price range. I have a friend who has a TI4200 and the 9500 is clearly superior. With the introduction of the 9600 pro, the price of the 9500 should drop considerably making it an even better value. I have even seen reviews on modified 9500's that will outperform the 9700 pro! Too Cool! The only problem I have with the 9500 is that sometimes I lose the video signal from the card. The computer isn't locked up, just no signal. This rarely happens, but I have to power down and reboot. Very, very annoying. All in all though, I would recommend this card to anyone. It Screams!

I AM a Serious, Serious Sammer!
Passed the ti 4600 thru my system.
Got me a Radeon treatment.
Read the numbers, check out the
web sites. Run the tests.
yea, yea, yea.
Your eyes don't lie.
I can see the way Croteam wanted me
to see the bangs, bursts, flashes,
flames and explosions.

This card gives me bang for the buck !
Can't afford to upgrade every time one
of them comes out w/ something new.
Dang good card.
Follow instructions and read the forums.
Dang good card.
Can't wait till the 9800 Pro 256 mg
card is within reach price wise.

I love competition.
Come on nVidia.
Top this.

Please!

This is hands down the best damn card for the money. Phenominal perfomance meeting or beating a GeForce Ti4600 card. Excelent showings agianst the GeForce FX chipsets. DX 9.0 compliant. Awesome Awesome Awesome *****

I finally took the plunge and purchased the Samsung 50" DLP. And "wow" is pretty much all I can say. The picture quality is unbelievable. I finally understand why everyone is oogling over HDTV. I hooked up the DVD player (an old Sony, non-progressive scan) and I sat there dumbfounded. I started the "testing phase" with Apollo 13. Wow. I could tell very little difference between S-Video and Component Video, and while Component gets the slight edge, you have to be picky to care because the picture quality is outstanding either way. Hooked up the digital cable box... and again, two wows! The first wow is for how bad a standard television signal looks! It was embarrassing... I can't believe we've been watching this junk for decades! The second wow is for how much better the digital signal looks.

I then ran out and upgraded my cable box to a HD box.... ok, this is a big wow! It's so good it's almost stupid. I sat there mesmerized by this almost surreal picture. Travels through Italy, Hogan's Heroes (who knew this stuff was in HD?), Three Days of the Condor, and the College World Series... it was almost like being there... actually it was better. I may never leave the house!

Hookups are great. Plenty of component, s-video, and even a DVI (which I haven't used yet, although my cable box does have DVI, hard to believe the picture could be better). As integrated speakers go, the Samsung sounds great. It has a simulated surround sound mode which I tested with Apollo 13 and, while not high end surround sound, I was quite impressed. This ain't your daddy's tv speaker. Out-of-box experience was as good as it gets. It was well packed, easy to unpack, and everything worked perfectly. The remote will not win awards for revolutionary design, but it was intuitive enough for me to get to everything I needed.

My only real world experience with big screen tv is my dad's Sony rear projection. What impressed me with the Samsung compared to that experienece is... you can't get too close (no tunneling), it looks great from the side, from the floor, and standing up.... you do lose a little brightness, but it's still very watchable. It's not as good as plasma, but it's not far off. One of my pet peeves with big screens is the finish on the glass... I much prefer the "matte" non-reflective finish of the Samsung. And when combined with the superb brightness, you can watch (and enjoy) the picture even in a brightly lit room.

It wasn't easy for me to pull the trigger... I've spent the past several years of lusting over big screen televisions... never passing up the opportunity to peruse the aisles at BestBuy and Circuit City... watching the evolution from rear projection to plasma to LCD... and nothing really impressed me (ok, the plasma did impress me, but the pricetag was beyond comprehension). But there was always something that turned me off... my dad's Sony projection is cool, but when I watch a movie on it, I can see "CNN" and "Live" burned into the corners of the screen... and then I learned that you can get burn-in on plasma as well. Yikes. Then I saw the DLP... and I came close to falling in love.

If you're thinking about going HD and you can afford it, you will not be dissappointed with the Samsung.

We Searched for the best TV and this is what we came up with.This TV hooked up to a HI Def. signal is one of the best pictures you can get.When we hooked up the dvd player I was blown away, the picture was like glass then we had the HI Def Sat. hooked up and that was even better.I sit only 7 to 9 feet away from tv and there is no blur at all, and the best thing about DLP is to bring the tv back to new all you have to do is change a lightbulb about every 4 or 5 years.(No tech. has to come to your house to realine your tubes or color like in plasma or LCD. Also there is no way to burn image in to this screen unlike plasma or LCD.(for the kids who like to play video games.) Stay at 50 to 55 inch screen anything larger will tend to strech the picture then you get the blur! All in all the hookups are great and i can lift this tv myself.

I got this from Best-Buy in January. It is about 2 months and the picture quality is great. HD channels look even better. Most of the SD is acceptable. One thing that annoys me about this TV is, it takes about 20-30 seconds to fireup. But I can wait that much to see the great picture. If you buy this from Best-Buy, make sure you enroll in their rewardszone program. you will get about $130 worth of gift certificates for your purchase price through rewardszone.

I love this TV, my husband and I really researched when we decided to buy a new television and this one is awesome. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to having such a big TV. The first time we put it on all I could think was what I'd been missing all these years. The only little problem we had was the sound, it seemed to be not up to par with the rest of the set. We hooked up an amp and some speakers and now it sounds great. It is the best $500 bucks I ever spent. If you are looking for a new TV and you can't afford to spend tons of money then this TV is the one. Enjoy!

Picked this TV up two days ago and so far I am very happy. I'm 26 years old now and this is my 2nd Toshiba TV since I was in 8th grade.
I got a deal and being I purchased the floor model from Best Buy, they gave it to me for $450 - which I think is a steal. The price was contingent on me purchasing the ESP - Extended Serivce Plan - for $100, but provides for 4 years in home service.
Overall, very satisfied - if you can find this TV for under $500, it's worth every penny. The pic is as sharp and displays computer video much better then my brother's 32" Sony.

Wow, what an awesome TV we just watched Topgun , the picture and sound blew away my 3 year old Panasonic. If you need a new 32 inch this is it. I could write paragraphs about this new model, but believe everything you read about this set in the other reviews. The back is logically set up for your connections . The set naturally is heavy and cumbersome , so u need 2 guys to lift and set it up into position . buy this unit, you'll be glad you did.