Computer Reviews

I recently bought a Canon Digital Rebel. When considering memory I initially figured I'd stick with the brand I used with my PowerShot S30: Viking Components. But I wanted the best, knowing that my 6.3MP photos would take longer to be recorded.

I looked at the Lexar 40x first. Lexar has a good reputation and "40x" sounds like a snappy number. For some reason, though, I liked the feedback about this [Sandisk Ultra] card more. So I bought this one and am very glad I did.

Little publicized is the fact that the Sandisk Ultra II blazes along at 60x (9 Mb/s) write speed. That translates to being able to record one more whole image per second than the Lexar, and two or three images more than SimpleTech or Viking Components. (Each card reads at the same speed, I believe -- 10 Mb/s.)

Worried about a trade-off in reliability? It's backed with a 5-year warranty. You can't go wrong with that, folks.

I recently purchased a Sony DSP F828 camera, which uses 8MP per shot, so needed LOTS of memory for it. I also wanted that memory to be as fast as possible, so as not to slow down picture-taking. The SanDisk Ultra II 1 GB CompaceFlash card was my choice (faster and cheaper than the Lexar alternatives I found), and has turned out to be a very happy one.

The only caution for those buying memory for use with the Sony DSP F828 is that its 640 x 480 movie mode is limited to 15 FPS with this memory card, whereas it can do 30 FPS with a MemoryStickPro or a Hitachi CompactFlash hard disk (the other two kinds of memory usable in this camera.) Personally, I don't see this as much of a problem, because if that matters to you, you'll need a lot more than 1 GB of memory. 5 minutes of 640 x 480 at 15 FPS used over 100 MB of memory, suggesting 30 FPS would use up 1 GB in under 25 minutes.

I received this wonderful product as a gift during the holidays. I absolutely LOVE it. If you own a digital camera, this _IS_ the card to use. Lots of room, and fast. I was shocked.
I used this card in a 5 MegaPixel camera, a 3.2 MegaPixel, and a 2.1 MegaPixel. The same results between all three cameras - fast, fast, FAST!
If you need to transfer a ton of files between two computers using a card reader, you'll be glad you've got this card.

beautiful picture, nice and lightweight; I also got the sanus 2 way wall mount which is excellent, strong and I also highly recommend

We were looking for an under-cabinet TV for a new kitchen project. We couldn't have found a better choice than Sharp's 13" Aquos.

The white model worked best with our kitchen decor (other choices are silver and black).

The Aquos is incredibly well-designed. You can set it on a surface with the default stand, or mount it to hang under a cabinet with the included mounting kit.

Installation was a little tricky. I really wanted to hide all of the wires and TV cable up under the cabinet. The under-mount includes a stylish, color-coordinated box for this purpose, but getting all of the wires inside was a bit of a challenge. I ultimately made a trip to the hardware store for longer bolts as those included were about 1/2" shorter than needed for the thickness of our counters.

With this small hurdle cleared, I was able to under-mount the Aquos, and then really began to appreciate the design. Wires and cable are completely hidden. The TV cable and electric input flows down through the inside of the swing arm to the back of the TV. The rear of the the Aquos has inputs anything you could connect to a full-sized TV. A snap-on panel reveals the inputs and hides them once you've attached whatever wires you need to connect.

With setup done, sit back and enjoy the Aquos' crisp LCD picture and clear sound. The stylish Aquos is a joy to behold, and quickly becomes the centerpiece of your kitchen.

The Aquos is not just beautiful; it's a perfect marriage of form and function. The LCD rotates 180 degrees left to right, and the swing arm folds up to stash the unit under the cabinet, thus freeing up a little extra cabinet space. I never fold it up, however. It just looks so gorgeous hanging in its normal spot. A stylish remote is included.

Even customer service is great. I had an issue that I couldn't find in the manual (I accidentally reset the audio to receive the Spanish language translation on some channels). I left an e-mail with customer service, but didn't really expect much help. To my surprise I had an e-mail within two hours that solved the problem.

Bravo, Aquos!

This is a fantastic TV! I was a little unsure whether an LCD TV would be OK in a room that gets a lot of sun, but I am most impressed by the brightness of the picture. The colors are vibrant, and the clarity of the picture is amazing. I mounted it to the wall with a Sanus VM2 wall mount, which it allows you to swing out and tilt the TV when you are watching it and push it back flat against the wall when you aren't. It looks fantastic in my kitchen and is very unobtrusive and attractive when laying flat against the wall. I am delighted with this purchase, and found the 13" was plenty big enough for viewing in the kitchen.

beautiful picture, nice and lightweight; I also got the sanus 2 way wall mount which is excellent, strong and I also highly recommend

We were looking for an under-cabinet TV for a new kitchen project. We couldn't have found a better choice than Sharp's 13" Aquos.

The white model worked best with our kitchen decor (other choices are silver and black).

The Aquos is incredibly well-designed. You can set it on a surface with the default stand, or mount it to hang under a cabinet with the included mounting kit.

Installation was a little tricky. I really wanted to hide all of the wires and TV cable up under the cabinet. The under-mount includes a stylish, color-coordinated box for this purpose, but getting all of the wires inside was a bit of a challenge. I ultimately made a trip to the hardware store for longer bolts as those included were about 1/2" shorter than needed for the thickness of our counters.

With this small hurdle cleared, I was able to under-mount the Aquos, and then really began to appreciate the design. Wires and cable are completely hidden. The TV cable and electric input flows down through the inside of the swing arm to the back of the TV. The rear of the the Aquos has inputs anything you could connect to a full-sized TV. A snap-on panel reveals the inputs and hides them once you've attached whatever wires you need to connect.

With setup done, sit back and enjoy the Aquos' crisp LCD picture and clear sound. The stylish Aquos is a joy to behold, and quickly becomes the centerpiece of your kitchen.

The Aquos is not just beautiful; it's a perfect marriage of form and function. The LCD rotates 180 degrees left to right, and the swing arm folds up to stash the unit under the cabinet, thus freeing up a little extra cabinet space. I never fold it up, however. It just looks so gorgeous hanging in its normal spot. A stylish remote is included.

Even customer service is great. I had an issue that I couldn't find in the manual (I accidentally reset the audio to receive the Spanish language translation on some channels). I left an e-mail with customer service, but didn't really expect much help. To my surprise I had an e-mail within two hours that solved the problem.

Bravo, Aquos!

This is a fantastic TV! I was a little unsure whether an LCD TV would be OK in a room that gets a lot of sun, but I am most impressed by the brightness of the picture. The colors are vibrant, and the clarity of the picture is amazing. I mounted it to the wall with a Sanus VM2 wall mount, which it allows you to swing out and tilt the TV when you are watching it and push it back flat against the wall when you aren't. It looks fantastic in my kitchen and is very unobtrusive and attractive when laying flat against the wall. I am delighted with this purchase, and found the 13" was plenty big enough for viewing in the kitchen.

The Alera Copy Cruiser... is a wonderful device. You'll double your CD collection in no time and soon run out of room to store them! Your friends will get used to you lugging this machine around, badgering them to borrow their CDs.It is very easy to operate and will copy a typical audio CD in about 5 minutes, copying at a rate of 16X, the fastest recommended speed. I also tried it with a Photo CD and it copied nicely also, so you can make copies of your Photo CDs for family members.A very sturdy and user friendly gadget. The box has handles and is a neat way to transport it around for your purposes. Can't recommend this high enough.

This product is amazing I've made 3 cds so far and theyve all turned out great. This product is well worth the money, I can make a hole cd in 20 minutes, I strongly recommend this item. The Edit track works great, Very easy to use.

This CD Copy Cruiser is simple to use. Put the source CD in the top tray. Put a blank CD in the bottom tray. On the top panel, select copy. Then select the speed (max 48x). Hit the okay button and within minutes you've got a perfect copy.

Altough there are extra features that allow you to create custom music cds, I just needed to duplicate145 data CDs for a client (two sets at that) and was finished before I knew it.

Here's an idea of how fast it is. When I started this project, I spent 16 hours and two computers and was only able to duplicate 64 CD-ROMS. When I got the CD Copy Cruiser, I was able to copy those same 64 CD-ROMS in 3.5 hours!

And the best part of this device is that it frees up your computer.

I love this item. Couldn't bring myself to shell out the bucks for the Bose and am smugly pleased I didn't. This is a must-have in my kitchen.

However, if you need a clock and presets but still want great sound, I recommend the Boston Accoustics Recepter Radio. It's got comparable sound and has similar reception and sound integrity. It also avoids over-designed buttons and "features". It runs about $50 more.

Let me agree with all of the positive comments other reviewers before me have made. As for the negatives in the 1/14/04 letter, I can assure you that the plug length and the fact one must dial past AM to reach the FM band in no way compromises the quality of the Sangean WR-1.

I also own a Bose Wave radio with CD. I've always thought it to be a a good radio with good tone. But, my new Sangean WR-1 has every bit as good tone, especially on the bass notes. And, the Sangean has superior reception of FM stations. Stations which come in fuzzy on the Bose come in clear as a bell on the Sangean, even with no external antenna.

Conclusion: If you don't need a CD player, the sound is at least equal to the Bose and reception is even better. And the Bose costs $500 vs. $110 for the Sangean. As a fringe benefit, the Sangean is more compact, taking up less room on your table, dresser or desk, and can be used with earphones. What's not to like?

I purchased this radio because of the review that stated "FM reception is good with either the built in or external antenna." We have terrible FM reception in our neighborhood.

I am very impressed with the reception from our new Sangean and we aren't even using the external antenna!

I purchased this to use with my Sony Clie. The handheld instantly registered the memory stick and I was able to use it like a zip disk. A 16 MB stick is more than enough for a handheld. Now all I need is a digital camera...

I was first peeved about having to but stuck with a predetermined Sony memory stick format. But after continued use in TRV900, TRV11 video cams and the Sony Clie PDA- I have to say I'm very happy with the memory stick's flexibility. I usually hate being stuck in a specific company format, but at least Sony did it right.

The transfer rate in the Clie is very rapid. Backing up the entire contents of the Clie takes literally a few seconds. The Clie has a program that allows you RUN programs off of the memory stick. This is not the fastest operating speed, but it is no worse than a Zip drive disk.

The size and reliability is unbeatable. Compared to a San memory card that has lost it's life after 1 year, the Sony memory sticks have performed flawlessly for pics, data, and application runs.

These smaller MB sizes aren't fair for the price. Go for the 32+ MB and up - just like a hard drive, you think a realistic amount is adequate. But once you start shooting and using, you'll wish you upgraded for the bigger stick.

The 16M card is now cheaper than an 8. The Memory stick is awesome....I highly recommend using it. It's amazing how small they can make these things.

So far these phones have been great! Very comfortable, and the cloth part is removeable and (hand)washable. The 11' cord is a plus, and it picks up details normally lost with my speakers. On the other hand it also picks up static from cheap cd players and sound cards. One of the few issues I have is a lack of mass in the music. Sometimes it seems kinda hollow. Also, with certain songs it seems to tend towards oversaturation, but once again, it could be quality issues with the rest of my equipment. Overall, an excellent choice, especially if you go with one of the zShops.

Wow, what a difference. I couldn't stand the flimsy "standard issue" headsets that come with just about every portable audio device out there. Not only the constant adjusting, like glasses always slipping, the sound was thin at best distorted at worst. These new "cans" are sweeeeeeeeeeet, extremely comfortable and the sounds are absolutely sublime. I use these to listen to a variety of music styles all stored in iTunes in my Mac. I also plan on using them as monitors for recording purposes. Brand-new they seem solidly built are handsome to look at and with a replaceable chord I expect these will be with me for quite some time.

These are awesome headphones that can easily handle all the output of any portable device. There is a fair amount of sound deadening on these headphones for i can barely makeout what people say when the volume is off, but when the using at high volume sounds and lyrics are audible across my small dormroom. These are easily the most comfortable over ear headphones i've ever tried. They play smoothly throughout the entire frequency range playing anything i listen to such hip-hop, pop, rock, and classical. These are full-size over-ear headphones but effectively do what they are intended to do. They also seem to be holding up well but i've only had them for a month in which they've been used daily.

i bought this player a few days ago and it is awesome. i curently already had sonic stage 2.0 version on my computer and over 3,000 songs in my library. all i had to do is install the new software so that my hi md player would be recognized by the 2.0 software. it was very simple to do. then i just started transfering all the music that i wanted onto the 1gb mini disc. i did not finish cuz the storage is enormous. so then i just went on and played the song that were in it already. you can always go back and transfer more if you want to or try to fill the disc in one day if you have the time. the only thing is where do i go to buy more blank 1gb minidiscs? sony.com has them for $6.99 a piece but they do not ship to p.o. boxes. so for now i can use the 80 min minidiscs which can store 13.5 hours of music which is incredible cuz the other minidiscs players can only hold 5 hours and the sound is not as good as the hi-md player is a lot better. if you are looking for something not too expensive and do not want to be limited to memory card players or skipping hard drive players, go with this sony. you wont regret it!

Very easy to use, works great, nice small package that is light and easy to take with you while working out or whatever. Easy to navigate, nice to have the 1GB storage, and is backwards with the cheaper smaller MD. Big thimbs up!

This is a fantastic device. I love the fact that you can transfer music from your cd right onto the MD player without converting it to an MP3 (or similar file) first. Not to mention that Sony's proprietary ATRAC files have been proven to sound better than MP3s that take up more memory. The transfer rate is actually suprisingly fast. 1GB of disk space is more than enough to fill your head with tons of songs. Not to mention that the player is infinitely expandable since you CAN buy more disks. I bought this player on June 31st 2004 and was able to buy extra 1GB disks right from www.sony.com (no problem with availability either... and they shipped it to me overnight for the same cost as ground shipping). So ignore the hype about availability or lack there of and dive on in on machine. You won't regret it.

These speakers sound excellent. They don't look like much but the sound speaks for itself. Enjoyed for a year until the speakers bunked out on me, otherwise it would have gotten ***** instead of ****.

I have had these speakers for about 4 years, I have went throught 3 motherboards, 3 hard drives, 2 processors, and two power supplies and only one set of speakers, Altec Lansing ACS45.2. These speakers are quilty made with a quilty sound. The subwoofer kicks, it has knock pitchers off the wall and the sound is very tight. These speakers may only be 2.1 but they out perform many high dollar speaker systems. If sound quilty is important to you and you don't have to have 5.1 or 4.1 speakers these speakers are what you have been looking for.

This set of speakers are the greatest for the price. They deliver high quality sound and the woofer hits very hard. For [price] you couldnt find a better set of speakers. I have knocked pictures off of the wall downstairs with the volume maxed out. I took this set and wired them into my TV and use them as surround sound. If you are thinking about buying them, go on its a good buy.

I previously bought a 550w generic power supply thinking that my computer may require more power. After installing it, I realized some things did run better. But after 1 month the power supply went dead, so I got it exchanged (unfortunately for the same kind). Something like this happening to a power supply while the computer is running I would think could have some kind of negative effect on your computer. After reading various articles and magazines I realized just how important a quality power supply is. So I decided to get this Antec PSU. I've seen their ad in magazines and it seemed pretty good, plus Antec is supposedly a very good brand name. One of the main points of the power supply is its silence. Previously, after buying the generic 550w my computer's noise was annoying, it just kept too much noise. After installing this Antec, I was absolutely amazed at the silence of my computer. The only way I could tell it was on is by coming within 3 feet of it. There is hardly a difference in noise between it being on or off. This is more beneficial than you think, with less noise circulating in the room, you can hear sounds, such as the speakers, better. The power supply also works very well. It has allowed me to overclock my system to a much higher stable speed than before. Everything also seems to work perfectly now. There are also many different power connectors, including two fan specific power connectors that control case fans depending on the temp, plus SATA connectors and the standard ide. With all the connectors the system can become a bit crowded but its not a serious problem. I was also a bit short on ide connectors, but thats only because I have seven devices which use ide connectors. Many people think of a power supply as one of the least important components of a computer but its actually one of the most important, so do you and your system a favour and buy a quality power supply. Try to overlook the price, a high end graphics card is way more anyway. Plus after spending alot of money on your system I'm sure you want to protect it. You can't go wrong here.

Antec PS has one of the best reputation. You can verify this by checking out their various reviews. When they rate their power supply, they give you the actual operating voltage for each connectors. This is not like the other PS that label a certain wattage, but are the maximum allowable load - not nominal (real-life) handling. While Antec really has more reserve power than their announced 550W.

Why this much? These days 550W isn't overkill anymore. Don't starve your peripherals with the needed power. You'll be keeping this for a long time.

The motherboard and CPU is the heart of the PC. So if you consider that their operation depends on the amount of power supplied to make them function, then you'd have to think again. Giving them CLEAN, CONSTANT energy means STABILITY for your system.

This unit has all the necessary connections you can ever think of, and you can't possibly fill up. But do heed their warning on the allowable maximum connection per strand of wire, which is 3 each. If you need to connect more peripherals, just use another strand. That's to ensure each component gets their proper voltage.

The only thing this power supply lacks is the new Serial ATA connection which isn't a problem since there are cheap 4-pin to Serial power adaptors in the market - also included with retial Serial ATA hard drives and motherboards.

Lastly, the PS is very quiet. The only sound I hear is the fan from my CPU. A real treat. Enjoy!

The good: has more connectors than you'll ever need (9 for IDE HDs and CD-ROMs, 2 for Fan Only) and can supply all the energy for the most power hungry systems - and nobody will hear it because it's more silent than the HDs. Looks nice too (of course, anyone who wants a power supply for the looks should try Antec's True Blue, although that only supplies 480w, it still is more than most will need).
The bad: the price? Yeah, but anyone spending big bucks on a mega-ultra-fast video card, a ultra-high-speed processor, a hyper-super-incredible motherboard and stuff should not rely on a El Cheapo Power Supply.