Computer Reviews

I played with the similar models from HP (3330), Canon, and Samsung at my local store. Brother seems most solid. Plus definitely has the best engineering pedigree. I think each model/year brother has gotten more robust. Don't trust the first efforts of the other companies.

In the office it's great. No jams, efficient ADF, fast and flawless laser printing, fast ADF copies too! Hope to get good toner performance based on others experience. Certainly they seem to be more fairly priced than the competetors drum/toner cartridges that all and unstated or mediocre capacities.

Very satisfied so far.

For our small office of 6 people, we have been looking for an office machine that is easy to operate, reliable, and cost-effective. The four contenders are HP 3330 MFP, Canon D680 imageClass, Brother MFC 9700, Brother MFC 8820D. They are all 4-in-1/5-in-1 machines(Fax, Laser printer, Scanner, Copier, Data/Fax modem) priced below US$800. Brother MFC 9700 is cheaper but comes with a 14.4k modem and only 8MB memory and a smaller flatbed; as the result it faxes and prints slower than MFC 8820D. The remaining three candidates all have excellent "pedigrees" and are well designed and built. However Brother MFC 8820D won at the end for the following outstanding reasons:

1. The 'D' in 8820D stands for Automatic duplex copying and printing: It prints on both sides of papers seamlessly and effortlessly. It is not necessary to remove the paper tray manually (a really tedious process in other machines). Duplex "fax receive" saves 30% to 50% in papers by printing faxes on both sides automatically. Now one can have some break from the cost of receiving junk faxes. This feature can be disabled if one-sided printing is desired

2. 32MB memory: This is more than enough for holding a lot of copies and faxes. Very good for large unattended jobs. The best part about this is again about cost. No immediate need to spend more money for upgrading the memory as is required for Canon D680 (measly 2 MB).

3. PC fax software for computer data/fax needs.

4. Expandability for network interface.

5. Digital paper count to indicate the no. of copies made and faxes received: good for cost management and safe guard against potential abuse of the machine by employees for personal uses.

6. Excellent ADF (automatic document feeder): we have not had any paper jam so far.

7. Very easy to program and operate: simple to use for beginners and sophisticated features for users who demand more advanced functions.

8. Last but not the least is the cheaper cost for its toner on a per page basis.

There are only two minor drawbacks for us:

1. MFC 8820D's ADF/scanner does not scan a page from edge to edge. However this is true of all machines in this price range. Canon D680 omits the least at both margins. HP 3330 is the worst.

2. Large footprint. We had to relocate it to a different room in the office where there is enough space instead of putting it at a more convenient place where there is easier access. Nevertheless it's not too bad considering that it replaces 4 separate machines all at once. Besides it forces us to walk down the hallway and get some exercies!! ;--]

I went through a slew of hp printers. I experienced lousy, "outsourced" technical support, and had two printers fail in the same year. This on the heels of my friends brand new color laser fiasco, which was three failures in one year (also HP). They used to be the best, with printers like the 4050n and other tireless workhorses, but I think other vendors are now making significant inroads, especially in this middle ground space. You'll find HP laser printers to be profoundly expensive for what they buy, with high print costs, and low ram. The 1300 is a fine example of where HP has gone wrong.

So, we took the plunge on this 8420 (we got the "one up" D model, which includes duplexing -- works like a charm, and at about 1c a page (as the cost of paper) it will pay for itself quickly).

The upsides:

1) Very cheap toner. Especially the high yield. 6k pages for 90 bucks, which is more than any other cartridge we could find (and you get get those cheaper than 90 some places)
2) Very convenient. You've no idea how awesome a 50 page sheetfed scanner with OCR actually is until you need it. ;-)
3) Comes with a full toner cartridge. My hp's came with 1/2 full "intro" ones.
4) Best-of-breed. For it's downsides (below), it really is the best you can buy for the money.
5) It doesn't jam.

The downsides are:

1) It's a little slow to copy
2) High end color scans are not that hot. A little flat. If you want high end color scans, drop 60 bucks and buy a Scanjet 5300c. The scanner is really designed for document processing, at which it excels.
3) It's a little pricey to buy in. The high end models are overpriced for what they buy (duplexing for ~100 bucks, network for another 100-150). Yikes.
4) The software is a little "clunky", but it works
5) The warranty pretty much stinks (1 year). If you can get an extended warranty, it's a [really] good idea. With so many components, all-in-ones have that much more of a chance to fail, and they do. ;-)

Remember, inkjet printers are sold practically at a loss by their manufacturers (especially cheaper ones). They are designed to make up their money in ink cartridges. This is important when you are comparing all-in-ones.

Despite it's minor downsides, I'd highly reccomend this ot a friend. If you need something to get your business off the ground like we did, and don't want to spend a fortune or worry about being in constant IT mode keeping everything configured and working smoothly, this is the way to go. Faxing is a breeze, scanning is easy (50 docs at a time is a LOT btw), and printing is very high quality.

We combined this with a cheap bubblejet, and now we have the best of all possible worlds. We reccomend this route!!!

I've come back time and again to Amazon.com for this toner cartridge. Their price has been the lowest I could find anywhere time after time. You can feel confident if you purchase it here, you're getting very close to the rock-bottom price.

No problems with these, and great price at amazon.

The cartridge is easy to install and lasts a long time... haven't had it botch any print run in two years of operation, in fact, the brother printer that uses it, just hummmms along tackling any job my small business needs... a winner! and the price at amazon is a winner, too.

Yeah, yeah the extra battery is overkill but this baby's best feature is the ergos.....the easy to find & use buttons when you take vertically oriented pix. No fumbling to find stuff. The grip also makes holding the camera more comfortable.

Go ahead, get it! You won't regret it.

With the battery packs that are available for the Digital Rebel having a grip just for more power is shear over-kill. Not that it is a bad thing, it's just that most people don't have enough flash memory to even take advantage of one battery, much less two. A 512mb chip holds around 150 photos on the best JPEG setting, a single battery will last you more than 400 photos! Unlike many other digital camera's the Rebel sips power even with a lot of photo review, so don't feel you need this add-on for a day of shooting. On the other hand if you like a nice solid feel to your camera and have big hands and find most digitals a little toyish, then you'll love the extra grip and weight the battery grip provides.

If you're going to buy just ONE accessory to your Digital Rebel then you're looking at it: it HAS to be this one. Additionnally to longer shooting time (batteries not included) it gives a great sense of balance and ease of vertical use. Yesterday I grabbed a friend's digital rebel without the grip and it felt like a toy in my hands. This is a MUST.

This lens is simply an AMAZING - fast, quiet, great picture quality and color, and MACRO. If you don't already have a Macro (and not the pseudo-macros like the 28-135), you should strongly consider getting one, you'll be quite suprised by the difference it makes.

Ive had this lens for quite a while and used it in several EOS cameras without one single complaint. I was excited when Canon rolled out the Digital Rebel, since it would allow me to use this fine lens in a digital setting. The results are quite good, with fast focusing and excellent image definition. Using it with the Rebel requires some work in Photoshop (unsharp mask) to obtain superlative results. Overall it is one of the finest macros (if not the finest) that I have ever used.

This lens without a doubt deserves the "L" label that Canon only puts on their 'best' lenses. Not only are the pictures *incredibly* sharp, but the focusing is fast (includes a USM motor with overridable manual focus), quiet, and the lens is constructed like a tank. It's my favorite lens and I highly recommend it.

Can't beat the price and service...I received via free shipping in 4 days for a great price.

This comes highly recommended. However, print your most important pictures at the beginning of the cartridge, because as it runs down, the picture quality decreases.

Pictures turn out very well so long as your camera is set on a high resolution.

I notice another reviewer called the Speedlite 220 the perfect companion for your G1; I thought of it as the perfect companion for my G2. Whichever camera you have, the Speedlite 220 is indeed the perfect way to get better illuminated flash photos and extend battery life in your G-series camera.

The single most important thing you can do to get rid of red eye and insure that your flash photography subjects don't have that flat, pasty-faced, deer-caught-in-the-headlights look is to seperate the camera from the flash. (You'll need Canon's off-camera extension cord for this) You can shoot with the camera in one hand and hold the flash in the other, or use a bracket to hold them. Or you can get creative, bouncing the flash off the walls, lighting behind your subject, etc. It's great for providing fill flash on sunny days, lighting shadows- and with digital cameras it costs you next to nothing to experiment with lighting and get immidiate feedback.

The 220 talks to all the G-series cameras (as well as all modern Canon SLRs) so you can concentrate on lighting and composition and let the camera worry about exposure. Add a couple sets of rechargeable AA cells and a small charger- cheap these days- and you have an inexpensive but powerful lighting studio. Some may recoil at the price- after all, you can get a tiny flash unit for half or a quarter the cost- but the ability to integrate withe the camera electronics are well worth it.

I loved this flash. I think it might fall short for the pros but I am not a pro. If you want more flash then the one that comes on the camers this does a great job.

Having just purchased a Canon PowerShot G1 digital camera a few weeks ago, I felt the built-in flash to be of OK performance, but it was far from what I was used to using with some of my older SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras.

After reading the review here on the 220EX, I decided to go for it. I have seen the other EX offerings, and they are really big flash units. Since the G1 is pretty compact, I figured the 220EX would be the best fit. And after having used it for a while, I know I made the best choice. With 4 AA batteries in the flash, it's pretty heavy (especially in addition to the already somewhat heavy G1). Throw on your lens(es) of choice, and you have a camera of substantial size and weight.

But getting back to the flash, it's so user-friendly that you'll be taking great pictures in minutes. The real light metering works wonders, even in conditions where the subject you're taking a picture of is in complete darkness. I was really happy with how well this flash lit up rooms, evenly and naturally.

This flash is a great value, and comes highly recommended, as is the camera that I bought it for, the PowerShot G1.

These speakers are well worth your money, especially with the price that they are selling it for. The speakers and subwoofer maybe be small compared to other speaker systems but this is good in the fact that you can put it almost anywhere. Although, it is small it has a lot of power. Just half volume and it's already intense. It's excellent for Gaming, and Music. Especially with CounterStrike, and other multiplayer games. Gun shots, grenades, and all other effects are very crisp and intense. As for music goes it is one of the best I have experienced in Cambridge porducts (knowing that I have good knowledge in what speakers supposed to sound like). The Subwoofer surprised me because I didn't expect all that much power to come out, out of that small sub. Overall, I really enjoy the FPS 1600 and it is a very good investment that is well worth your money. I mean you can spend $...+ on other speakers that give you the same quality and power but for a higher price.

bought this set of speakers about 2 years ago and up to date it has never disappointed me.incredible value.size of the speakers are very small.but don't be fooled!!they will sound exceptionally well for their size.nice crispy highs,good mids and a thumpy(but not very low)bass-thats the summary for this system.they wont get very loud still enough to fill a small to medium sized room with excellent sound.great!!!!!

These little guys sound great! I use them for heavy, loud gaming, and am totally pleased with the performance. crisp highs, nice midrange and the low end (while not as low as it would be with a larger woofer) is thunderous. For the money, theyre killer little speakers.

i am a 16 piano lover, and i am lucky enough to own a beautiful piano. yet, that piano happens to be in the center of the house, much to my family's dislike. As i said, i love piano, and tend to practice a lot. This keyboard was perfect for those times when my dad had a headache, or my mom was trying to watch tv, of my sister was sleeping. The sound is beautiful, it's easy to use, and the headphones i bought in addition are wonderful. this keyboard has many additional aspects to it, although i haven't quiet figured them out...lol. the ones i use are the recording, where you can even store songs you've recorded (great for finding your trouble spots and wrong notes in pieces), and i also use the metronome. Also, it's a lot of fun to play around with the different sounds you can use, there's some really great ones. The display is very clear and displays the intrument largely.
BUY THIS!!!

This keyboard is phenomenal for the money!
I recently bought a Yamaha DGX-202, (a comparable unit), returned it then bought the Casio.
Casio blows the doors off the Yamaha.
The sound is phenomenal. (Much better than the Yamaha's)
The fuctionality is excellent.
The styling is beautiful.
And for the street price ($...) it's an incredible deal.
Get one immediately!

This is a surprisingly [inexpensive] piece of equipment for the kind of power it contains. With 232 tones, (32 which you can create yourself) some excellent demo songs to showcase it's power, and over 100 rythms (20 which you can create yourself) this is a powerful piano impersonator. I've things like this that were basically ... batteries. Expensive, bulky, meek, weak etc., you get the idea. This masterful musician's amigo is only 200 something dollars and is EXTREMELY poweful. To get the best out of this equipment, get the computer Music starter pack (or some kinda name like that) from cakewalk to create bigger, easier to compose songs. I'm only 14 and I can make I own music easily with this dynamic digitizer. You won't regret it.

This lantern is great for camping and power outages because you don't have to mess around with propane, especially important with small children around. I noticed that this one offers a 110 recharge, ours doesn't. Only 12V. It would be even better with the 110 option. One downfall - I have had a difficult time finding replacement bulbs. I recently found some to get it ready for this summer and the price of the two bulbs was almost as much as buying a new lantern.

Works well and holds power for a long time. We used it on a 3 day camping trip, recharging it during the day twice, and the power never ran out at night. Very sturdy as well, but lightweight.

I didn't want to use a propane or other fuel lantern, they seem so dangerous and they are so noisy. I was also tired of buying D sized batteries. When we found this lantern, we were thrilled and it was great when we were camping. We used it every night for at least 3 hours a night and it hasn't needed recharging yet. We plan on buying at least one more for our next trip.

Performance:

The Conair Metal Pro 1875 works great. The dryer is full size and feels a bit heavy when you pick it up to use it. However, when the dryer is turned on, it balances out perfectly in your hand. It actually feels like you are using a much smaller hair dryer. The professional length cord is also nice because it allows you to maneuver around your dressing area. There is also a nice little clip on the bottom of the handle that can be used to hang the hair dryer from a hook.

The 1875 watts of drying power can be effectively managed using the Conair Metal Pro's three heat and two power setting controls. For heat control there is a "cool", "warm" and "hot" button. The power control consists of a "low" and "high" setting. By using the different combinations offered by these controls, the hair dryer can be configured match anyone's preferred drying settings. These controls are located on the handle and are easy to read and adjust, but they are positioned so that they can not be accidentally switched from one position to another while using the unit. The control features also include a cool air button that causes the hair dryer to emit cool air when depressed no matter what the heat control is set on. This allows for instant cool air during styling without having to stop and adjust the controls.

How many minutes or hours have you spent trying to "pull" lint out of the back of your hair dryer? Well, the Conair Metal Pro 1875 addresses this problem by incorporating a removable air filter on back at the air intake. This facilitates quick and easy cleaning of the air intake and prevents overheating, thus prolonging the life of the hair dryer.

Appearance:

Most hair dryers are made with a plastic body, but the Conair Metal Pro 1875. The body portion of the hair dryer features an attractive chrome metal housing. While this is pleasing to the eye, it is also very easy to clean with a damp cloth. The handle of the dryer is a durable black plastic that compliments the chrome body well.

Review of Features:

-Full Size
-1875 Watts of Drying Power
-Chrome Metal Housing
-3 Heat/ 2 Speed Settings
-Cool Shot Button Locks Style in Place
-Removable Air Filter
-UL Listed
-Two Year Limited Warranty
-Professional Length Cord

Affordability:

At[the price]..., you cannot find a better hair dryer for the money.

Recommended
Yes

I've had this dryer for about a year now... and it has worked great for me. I bought it mainly because it's made of metal and not plastic as most hair dryers are... so it will last longer. It is almost like the professional hair dryers they use at hair salons but a lot cheaper. It's a great value for the price.

Love the fact that this dryer has so many speed and heat settings. It has a sleek contemporary design also. I like it so much I am getting one for my mothe-in-law for her birthday. Removable air filter makes it easy to clean.