Computer Reviews

I like this setup over most others for many reasons. One is that you can stack them and they lock into place with each other. You can also mount them. Even better is that you can fit any odd sized jewel cases in them. The slotted towers that most people sell just don't let you fit in those old-school, fat double-cd jewel cases, but this does! Plus, these save so much room that the towers don't. Also, when you run out of room, you can just buy more units and add them for very cheap. I've been using this storage unit system for 10 years, and I own 60 units (for my 1500 cds). Not one has broken on me. This system is a bargain, not only for its utility, but its just outright cheaper than most other storage units.

These racks snap together and stack better than any others I've seen. It is so much better to slide in a CD without having to align with slots. You can slide them from side to side and they will hold their position by plastic fingers built into the rack. They will hold 25 normal CD jewel cases or 50 of the slim jewel cases in each rack. I bought 4 at a local dealer a few years ago and then could never find them anywhere. The Allsop website listed many dealers but no one had them in stock. I ordered through Amazon and bought them at half the listed price from J&R Music World. Hope this helps anyone who is considering this item.

If you have a lot of CDs you probably try to organize them to avoid the long search thru tons of cases for that CD you want to hear. If you do organize your CDs, then you know what a pain it is to have CDs racks with slots, 'cuz any time you buy a new CD you have to pull 'em all out to make room for the new one. That ... big time! Another bad thing about slotted CD racks is they don't let you organize your double-CD cases in with your single-CDs...the double-cases won't fit in the slots. Those slotted racks might give you a few extra wide slots on the end, but you either don't have enough extra wide slots, or you have a lot of rack space that's wasted on wide slots you don't need.
Sooooo.....
Take a look at this rack from ALLSOP. It's cool because it holds the CDs vertically WITHOUT slots. Even if there is only 1 CD in the middle of the rack the CD doesn't fall over! AND ON TOP OF THAT, you can slide the CDs back and forth to make room for a CD anywhere in the rack. INSTANTLY! Great for organizing 'cuz you just slide 'em over and insert the new CD in the right place!!!
The racks are very compact, they each hold 25 singles (or the equivalent number of singles, doubles, or slim cases in any combination!). The racks can be stacked, or hung on a wall, or whatever. I have bookshelf full of these ALLSOP racks! AND THE PRICE IS [inexpensive]! I will never, EVER, buy another slotted CD rack again...I am sold on these ALLSOP racks!!!

no complaints. i play a lot of counter-strike. ok at 1024x768. at 800x600 the frame rate/response/refresh/update(whatever you want to call it)gets out of the way of the game. the 3D environment on the screen goes as fast as i can move the mouse. i also just got a viewsonic A90f+, another great value at [$$$].

if you have rare widescreen monitors(such as plasma or LCD rear-projector with VGA input). this card is a perfect match. This card supports three wide screen resolution. text won't look stretched nor blur. I use it on my 50inch Sony w9000 and the screen never looked better. highly recommand this video card.
BTW: pick up manufacturer's rebate from compusa website while at it, before it's too late.

I build my own computers, which has proved to be a mixed blessing....

Since I install nothing but Microsoft Operating Systems (OS) on my computers, I have learned to rely on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), to ensure that all the hardware I purchase is supported in some way, shape, or form, by Microsoft. ...

I have build three computers since that experience, and I have used the ATI Radeon 7000 AGP 4x for all of them, because its on the HCL. For my needs the Radeon 7000 AGP offers the best bang for my buck! ....

What is AGP?

All of the motherboards I have purchased over the last two years have had AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slots. If you have an available AGP slot in your computer (it is usually the small black or brown slot in close proximity to the processor), you'll want to select an AGP video card over a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) video card, because AGP offer much faster throughput. But what is AGP?

The AGP standard was originally designed by Intel for Pentium II based motherboards. AGP can deliver a peak bandwidth 4 times greater than then PCI using advanced bus-mastering techniques. AGP is designed to enables the graphics cards to execute texture maps directly from system memory instead of forcing it to pre-load the texture data into the graphics card's local memory first. As a result AGP presents a much smoother frame rate and the ability to display 3D graphics and video that is much more realistic and much at a much higher quality than heretofore found on a PC. Such performance used to be limited to high-end graphics workstations.
Though AGP is geared towards the Pentium class processor and its Dual Independent Bus (DIB) architecture, you do not need a Pentium processor to take advantage AGP, since the use of AGP doesn't depend on the CPU type.
The ATI Radeon 7000 offers full AGP 4X (Version 2.0, 1.5 volt) implementation for a 1GB/sec data transfer rate, sideband addressing, pipelining and AGP texturing support. AGP 2X (3.3 volt) operation is also supported for systems / motherboards which do not offer 4X compatibility. PCI versions of Radeon 7000 are offered in both 32M and 64M DDR memory configurations.

The Radeon 7000 is available with 32MB or 64MB of onboard Random Access Memory (RAM). The older models sported SDRAM while the newer models come with high performance DDR. Unless you plan to use the card for serious game playing the 32MB version of the Radeon 7000 should be sufficient to meet your computing needs.

Installation

Installation of the Radeon 7000 is pretty straightforward; the included instructions from ATI are logical, well written, and easy to follow. Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP detected the card and installed the software drivers (written by Microsoft) for it. ATI includes a CD-ROM with better drivers and utilities designed to get the most from the card. I would skip the installation of most of the software because it offers little in the way of functionality and clutters the desktop.

First Impressions:

I love this card! Even without the installation of the ATI specific drivers, the cards performance was exceptional. The picture was clear and crisp; the colors were vibrant and true to life; the text was sharp and in-focus; and the monitor flickered not a bit. After I installed the included drivers, I noted little difference in performance, but I was able to control the functionality of the Radeon 7000 down to the smallest detail. Though through use I will probably never need to manipulate them the cards many functions and controls, it's nice to know they are there.

I am not a gamer, nor a graphics designer, so I come nowhere near to putting this card through its true paces, or realizing the full potential of the AGP technology. Video and DVD playback are both outstanding at the standard size, but predictably becomes choppier as the images become larger. It is hard to know what to attribute this to: the card or the mediums used to record them. It's not a bothersome problem, but I'll be happy when the technology finally matures.

Conclusions:

I like this card for three reasons: 1. It is on the Microsoft HCL; 2 it's affordable and; 3. it offers outstanding performance for my money. ATI is one of the oldest and most trusted names in computer hardware, and the Radeon 7000 continues their tradition off offering superior products at a reasonable price. If you are looking for a Windows 2000, or Windows XP video card look no further then the ATI Radeon 7000.

Buy this printer now! I can't say enough about how incredibly good this baby performs, and for less than $100! You basically get a printer with the specifications and features of a machine that would normally run $200+. The ability of direct printing via memory cards, and print resolution that rivals most high-end printers make this a no-brainer.

My only issue is with this listing, i wish Amazon would be a bit more competitive with their price.

I have fallen in love with this printer! It is extremely easy to set up and use, and it comes with all kinds of extras. And the photo print quality is just amazing! NO MORE BUYING PRINTS!!!! It prints out all sizes. And wow is it ever quiet...I had to go look to see if it was done printing cause I couldn't tell!
EXCELLENT printer!

This is the best printer ever!!!!! It definatly lived up to my expectations. I always used to use just a regular printer for my photos and i hated the lines that were left on the pictures from the printer. This makes the pictures sooooo clear, from only a 2.1 MP camera! The best part is it prints directly from memory cards so you don't even have to go through the computer to get the pictures. It works with Compact flash, smart media, memory stick, secure digital and mulimedia. It is also extremely easy to use! I thought the directions were very easy to understand. All in all if your thinking of buying a photo printer buy this one!

While this medium is becoming increasingly irrelevant, it's still vital for Windows users needing to create a backup of vital program files in the event of a system crash that leaves your CD drive useless. The average home user of Windows (who backs up program data on Zip disks, CDs or tape) will not need more than 10 disks to back up her system. Colored disks are an especially smart way to back up your critical program files because you can create a more ordered backup environment. And the neon colors Imation puts out just look cool. In a crisis, your life will be made a little easier by the few extra pennies you spend on these colored disks.

My criticism of these disks is limited. First, I would have preferred having one more disk of each color, or the ability to buy a smaller pack consisting of a single color. That would have made color coding a little easier. Second, for especially heavy users of this media, this 10-pack is obviously not cost effective.

But these are truly minor qualifications. For most home or single computer users of Windows, this is the smartest way to backup core Windows (and some third party utility) elements for a rainy day.

I'll shamelessly admit I bought these only because Amazon's system "recommended" them to me when I ordered a Sony digital camera (and I happened to need some disks anyway). They work just fine--is that high enough praise for a computer disk? Oh, and the colors are pretty.

These floppies are very high quality and provide excellent storage. I use the floppies today exclusively for picture storage with the Sony Mavica FD-88 camera. Many floppy brands are troubled by causing very slow storage from the camera onto the floppy. The Imation does not have this problem. I get 2 sec storage time using these disks. I cannot recommend them highly enough for use with the Mavica line. And the bright colors, in addition to being fun, make the disks easy to spot among the huge pile of old disks in my desk.

I recently bought this hardrive for my Sony laptop. Although setup was a little tricky at first (took me a while to figure out that the partition size must be less than 30GB for FAT32 file type), everything else worked out as, if not better, than expected. The drive is very quiet and well designed. As long as the drive doesn't crash in the future, I would have to say I'm very pleased with it so far.

The Lacie external hard drive works great with my Macintosh iBook right out of the box, with no installation or set-up necessary.

It comes with all the needed power and FireWire cables, so I just had to plug it in, and my computer immediately had another 200 gigabytes of space.

It runs quietly, its metal case does not get too warm, and saving files is as fast as on a built-in hard drive.

After a month of hunting storage for my laptop, i narrowed my choice, Maxtor or Lacie. I chose d2 for several reasons,
* Less Noisy (external drives, drives you mad!)
* Speed
* Vertical
* Transparent connectivity
* It looks cool too! :-)

I own an Inspiron 8100 and got this as external storage for my media files and back for large application, so far its going very stable and smooth. Five stars for Lacie.

I would just like to say thanks to all the great people who take time to write such excellent reviews. I just bought this Lexar JumpDrive based on the reviews it got, and am completely bowled over by this tiny gadget that holds so much stuff and is so easy to use. Thanks, everyone!

I wrote a rave review about this product on 8 Dec 03. I continue to rate this product 5 stars even though the last 6 weeks I had problems with it. I want to share what I discovered with whoever purchases this product....I am an experienced communciations engineer. I work in the field and right now I am in Asia - its always dirty where I work. Second, my JUMPDRIVE started giving me problems and I wrote 8 messages to Lexar support asking for help/advice..I got back 1 message which was a "canned" message and did not even reference my problem. Do not count on their support group for help. I tried everything to repair it (new USB drivers, new USB hardware ports, different computers, reformats...) but the problem was intermittent sometimes it would work and sometimes not. The FINAL day before I was going to end its life with a hammer I discovered the problem. I decided to open it up and look for bad solder joints...but before I did so and as I was looking where to crack it open I realized that the "write protect switch" (which is a very small opening)had collected some dust in/on it. I moved the switch back and forth with a few times with a paper clip to clean the contacts and BINGO! It works perfect again. I have since put a single wrap of black electrical tape over the write protect switch to keep out dirt/dust. I recommend doing this depending on your environment... Nevertheless, it is a great product but very, very bad support for it....probably because it is so good.

I saw someone use one of these and bought one on Amazon the same day. Now everyone that sees mine runs out to buy one! Imagine carrying something on a key change that stores the equivalent of 350+ floppy disks! I have used this to transfer all of my files to a new laptop and to copy them over to my home PC. Our color printer blew up this week, so with a deadline approaching, I put several large files on this JumpDrive and took them to a local print shop. I also had a presentation to give with several other presenters. Rather than swap out laptops during breaks and rewire them to the LCD Projector, we just stuck our oversized Powerpoint presentations on JumpDrives and plugged them into the same computer. You just stick it into the USB port of any computer and you're in business! Can you tell I love this thing?!

I have had a Canon S630 for over a year now, and I love it. After having problems with Epson and HP printers, I tried the Canon and was astonished with the print quality. The only down side is I got my S630 before they came out with the larger format version, which I would have wanted. Certainly not Canon's fault there. I have printed 8x10s from a 2 megapixel Olympus digital camera, and was pleased with how close it came to 35mm for the price. Since 35mm has considerably more resolution than 2 megapixels, obviously there is a clear difference. However, this printer did a fine job of substituting for the One Hour Photo average picture taking level, and has saved me a ton of money.

I also do not recommend generic or refill inks for printers, as I had an HP printer ruined by them. I prefer the separate tanks for each color as well, for the simple fact that they don't make you waste ink. I have gotten over 40 8x10s out of one set of ink tanks, but it varies widely with color saturation and picture content, so I don't think it is possible to give any accurate figures for usage. Another plus for Canon is that the print head is not a part of the ink cartridge, so you don't have to pay to replace that every time you replace ink tanks, unlike some other brands of printers. While there may be some value to that kind of system, Canon's system is less expensive to the user.

The ink doesn't seem to dry out very fast with long periods of inactivity, although it is better for the printer to use it regularly. I also like the fact that the low ink warnings give enough time so that one can plan one's usage carefully to maximize what you have left and not run out of a color in the middle of a critical print.

I have been using Canon inks and printers for years and awhile back, I decided to try out some of those generic ink tanks and ink kits (you know, the ones with the syringes?). Both ruined my printer, after awhile. They seem to work initially, but you can tell the colors are off. Sure, the generic inks are so much cheaper, but the costs of getting a new printer are going to make up for those few $ you saved on ink. Trust me on this one, buy Canon OEM cartridges!

these are nice refills to have. not expensive, last a while
and OEM.

I bought my camera the day I was on my way to Disney World(Magic Kingdom) in less then 1 hour I was taking pictures. this Camera is simple to use and takes great photos. I love my Camera and I have recommended it to all my family and friends. I think that day I took 120 picture (5 rolls) and all of them came out GREAT!!!!! It was GREAT indoors and outdoors. And the motion setting was great for in the car....

I bought this camera in the summer of 2003 which was when I started my photography endeavor. This camera has been awesome for everything that I have done from practice portraiture, landscape, close up, and everything that I was able to thow at it. I still constantly use this camera as it still continues to intrigue me with its abilities.

Many, and I say MANY people complain online about the lense that is given in the kit. For the work that I have done, and the work that most amature to "prosumer" photographers do, you will not be so extremely dissapointed about this lense. I do have the EF 50mm f/1.8, which is awesome!

The Rebel GII is also extremely light to carry around, especially when compared to older manual type SLR's. Sure, its not as light as a point and shoot but its NOT a point and shoot, its a great SLR. As I advance more in Photography, by December 2004 I'll be buying the Elan 7Ne to meet all of my photo needs. Due to the weight though, the Rebel will be my more rugged body for those shoots that I don't want to risk ruining the Elan. Great camera overall, go buy it!

I just got my camera for Christmas and I love it. The quality is great, and it's so lightweight! Gotta have it if you're into photography...great starter camera.

This very affordable camera is a quality product in every respect. It was purchased to replace a 12 year old 8mm unit that no longer operated and it is fully compatable with the standard 8mm tapes.
This compact unit has many features that are not listed in the specifications. Besides the full menu of options, two very important features are a variable speed zoom control and an s-video output connection. I highly recommend this camcorder.

This camera is very user friendly. It has a wonderful clear, crisp picture as well as sound on the video. This little camera comes with alot of little features that would please any beginner.

This is my first hi8 camcorder, though I've had a couple of the old VHS ones before. I was waiting to get one of these until the value caught up with the technology and I could get a high-quality camcorder at an affordable price. Then this little number came along.

The thing I like most about this camera is its color viewfinder. To me, that is a good tradeoff for not having a larger LCD screen, because those typically drain your battery much faster. This was a good compromise--I can see things in color without cutting my film time short.

This camcorder is loaded with special features, and has a 700 power digital zoom! With it you can get as close to something as you want. You only need to rest your filming arm on something or get a tripod--otherwise you won't be able to hold the picture steady.

A Canon is always a good bet for a camera or camcorder, and they have definitely not let me down with this one. If you're looking for a good bargain but still want a respectable brand and some special features, look no further than the Canon ES75.

Let me first say that all DVD players are not created equal. I once thought so until I bought a top-of-the-line 57" HDTV rear projection television.

I tried an older JVC DVD player and a newer Sony Progressive Scan DVD player, and both players performed poorly...neither had video processors srong enough to carry a sharp image across a large screen area.

I decided to go with the Harmon Kardon DVD-25; the picture was and continues to be extremely satisfying, and it is a nice looking unit. As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the HK DVD-25 plays a variety of formats.

I would be lying to you if I told you it was the best; there are other DVD players out there that go for even more Benjamins than DVD-25 and likely perform better (such as Denon models and some Onkyo models), but if you're on a budget and you need a high-end DVD player that can muscle a sharp image onto a large HDTV, then Harmon Kardon is the way to go.

I have used several DVD players but this is by far the best quality of any. Don't believe it when someone says that all DVD players have the same quality picture, it just isn't true.

This machine is solid, performs well, and very easy to use. I highly recommend if you're sick of spending hundreds of dollars on equipment that seems as if it was made in a toy factory.