Computer Reviews

Despite my personal Ludditic tendencies, the one piece of unfettered technological indulgences that I allow myself is this watch. The features are actually relatively simple to learn, and this watch takes the place of a PDA for the most part.

However, it is a piece of technology that requires replacement every few years. Also, when the battery is about to die you need to send it back to Casio and pay a little. You should also do your best to avoid getting it soaking wet. I'll take it off and put it into my pocket during heavy downpours. Otherwise, it's a reliable and efficient piece of technology.

I bought this watch for the first time in Chinatown NYC in 1994. Because I scratch it after a few years (3 or 4 in average), I replace it everynow and then.
I got my last one in downtown Miami for $50 last summer.

It features, 150 phones/schedules, calculator, alarm, time zones, timer, stop watch.. nice display, nice touch. And most important, it has the iluminator buttom which displays a nice blue neon light around the plastic case.

You'll learn how to use in just a minute.

When i bought this camera, i was really mostly interested in finding a cool, little camera that would be sure to impress others with it's sleekness and not so much worried about it's features. After using it a little tho, i was pleasantly surprised to find that it's a great camera with no bad qualities as far i can tell so far. THe battery life it excellent, the LCD screen is as good as i could have hoped for and the quality of the pictures is far beyond any expectation of any need i could ever have for this camera. The ease of use is phemonminal also. Within an hour i had figured out how to use the features and had hte pictures on the computer. Speaking of taht, the included software was also easy to use and very complete. This said, if you're looking for a great, little digital camera that won't break the bank, you've found it.

Better than the EX-S2, the S20 adds a lens cover - really needed for a 'pocket' camera. Can take it anywhere without looking like a tourist. Flash is very bright. Pictures at max res 1600 x 1200 fine mode are pretty good, certainly good enough for a website or 3x5 prints. And since you are limited by the fixed lens anyways, 3 or 4 MP seems like a waste for the money. Added a 256 MB card and it holds 214 pix at max res. Only holds 6 pix without so definately get a card.

I have the Casio MS70-L; while this model has been discontinued or is no longer stocked, it is functionally almost identical to the Casio SL-200TE Solar DualLeaf, except the SL-200TE folds in half to close, and the MS70-L does not fold. For everyday household usage, this calculator is hard to beat. It has a large, easy-to-read LCD display, and a rugged plastic body.

*thinks upon the many times mine has survived being dropped*

It runs off any light-source, and the light does not have to be bright. It handles all basic calculations, and the large keys make mistakes infrequent. This calculator's ability to fold closed transforms it from desk-only to desk-or-pocket usage.

Very handy fold-able pocket calculator.

I never thought Cobra would make a decent radio but they have with this one. A big advantage over Motorola is the superior voice clarity! A host of other goodies such as a compass and weather radio are useful extras. The selectable power settings on GMRS is good. The range is good, I don't think any of these radios give you 5 miles and the best radio in terms of range and clarity were the original Motorolas FRS Talkabouts of the late 90's. Unfortunately, they ate batteries. I recommend this model of Cobra.

I researched GMRS radios for several weeks before recently purchasing the COBRA 1100 WX. I wanted a radio that would be useful in town and in the woods on runs and while hunting.

I selected the 1100WX for its claim of a 5 mile range and the NOAA alerts. I also had been advised that Cobra produced a reliable product. I found the manual very easy to read and quickly had the radios programmed for my use.

For several days I tried the radios on the way to work and back on the opposite side of town. I didn't have much luck after approximately 1.5 miles from home but this area is very hilly and there are industrial sites in town. This limited the range.

I tried them away from town. First on a 4 mile country run. At the 1/2 way point of 2 miles reception was difficult in the lowland but once I cleared the hill the reception was fine.

Next, I tried the reception at 5 miles to the parking lot at the state game lands. This was over very hilly terrain. The radios picked up a very clear signal. I ran up the mountain on the access road which is approximately 2 miles up to the top of the mountain. The signal was even better.

I would strongly recommend these radios for distances in town of l - 2 miles and outside of town from 2.5 - 5 miles. The voice activation option takes some getting used to, however, once programmed, they are simple enough for a 5 year old to use.

I saw all the other radios and i was amazed at how expensive they are, this one is very inexpensive and basic, but it does its job just fine. The reception is good, just like any other radio, the headphones are comfortable on the ear, and its lightweight, which means it wont bother you while exercising.

I've had my radio for about three years now and it's a pretty good value. The radio is quite light and is easy to carry while exercising. It comes with a belt clip or a special cord which allows you to hang the radio from your neck. Radio reception is pretty good on both AM and FM. Battery life is pretty good.
The included earphones are adequate, but you may find them to be a little uncomfortable for long periods of time as they are not "sculpted" to the shape of the ear. I personally use my own.
Overall, due to its light weight and good radio reception, this radio is highly recommended if you like to listen to the radio while exercising.

The Compaq Presario 6027us was the one brought by my Mom for the entire family use. I personally brought the Compaq Presario 6350us, because I am one of those who need cutting-edge gagets. While the Presario 6027us is a notch below the Presario 6350us, its powerful features still leaves many others in the dust. With its fast 2.0 GHz processor, doing almost anything will not be a problem. Gaming, however, was not as good as the Presario 6350us. With 80GB hard drive, storing music and other programs will not be a problem. My family has over 200 songs installed along with many other applications. We still have 70 GB left. This computer should be the ideal choice for many people in need of a new PC and should last for another 6 to 8 years. The PC also came with a design easy for upgrading graphic cards and RAM/Hard Drive memory. One could just open it and it would be easy to change. My sister, a week ago, opened it and exchanged the "Integrated Intel Extreme" graphics card for an advanced "nvidia GeForce 4." This just made the already advanced PC into a cutting edge Compaq Presario. I personally recommend this PC for its great price, however, if you don't mind paying extra then settle for the Compaq Presario 6350us or the even more powerful Presario 6370us.

I've had mine for about 10 days and I'm loving it. It's quiet, looks good, and seems to be pretty solid. I had no troubles setting it up and my PC skills are about the same as Joe Average.

I've loaded it up with my usual Office, anit-virus, fire wall and a few games and it still boots prett fast. I finally got to boost my new Castle Wolfenstein upto full settings and enjoy it the way it was meant to be.

I can't help out on the technical stuff, but I kicked the tires, drove it around the block and even took it out on the freeway for a spin (so to speak) and I have no complaints.

THIS COMPUTER ROCKS!it starts up really fast(3sec) the system is soo quiet u cannot even hear it when its on.The modem seems alot faster then my old computers modem JUST BUY THIS ONE ITS GREAT !!

This is a great choice for anyone looking for a mid to high end PC. This system has a nice array of components and Compaq's reliability is pretty good. If you are a heavy 3D gamer you may have to upgrade the graphics within a year or so, but that's true of most of the systems sold today.

Let look at what's included:
CPU: P4 processor 2.53GHz - Excellent, plenty of CPU horse power no matter what you want to do.

RAM: 512MB DDR-SDRAM - The Amazon specs list this as plain old SDRAM but is really 266MHz DDR-SDRAM. There is faster ram out there if you are a power user who wants to push the edge. However DDR-266 is a perfect fit of speed and reliability for most users.

Hard Drive: 120GB - More than enough storage for just about anyone.

Other drives: CD-RW (40x write/10x rewrite/40x read), and 16x max speed DVD-ROM. Perfect. Don't expect a 40x write speed when creating audio CDROMs. For reasons too involved to go into here, it doesn't work out that way.

Graphics: 64MB DDR GeForce4 MX420 w/ TV out - Good card but not cutting edge. If you are a cutting edge gamer you will want to upgrade this within the year. The good news is that a good upgrade doesn't have to cost you more than 100 bucks.

Ports 10/100 Base-T Fast Ethernet; 56K ITU v.90 flex modem, lots of USB 2.0 - Compaq did a good job of loading this up with all the ports you could want.

Software: Windows XP (great!), MS Works (okay), and all the usual stuff like anti virus and photo editing software.

Overall this is a good package loaded with just about everything you need. It doesn't have speakers (most bundled speakers aren't worth your time anyway). If you are looking for a LCD monitor to go with this system it is important you get one that supports an analog input. This system does not have a digital DVI output. My advice: buy a LCD monitor that supports both analog and digital inputs and upgrade your computer in a year or so with a video card that has a digital DVI output. The digital output quality is superior to the analog output quality; especially on Nvidia based graphics cards.

I have tryed a lot of hair clippers in the past and let me tell you this one has it all. Try it out you will love it.

Ciao

I just got it a few days a ago and I just used it today and I loved it. I have went throw a lot of clippers in the past and this one is the best one by far. It has everthing you need to get the job done. Try it out for your self you will love it.

Ciao

I bought these speakers along with a Audigy2 ZS. I installed the card and came across a printing error. My speaker instructions had the wrong instructions on how to hook up the speakers to the sound card. After a little fiddling, i realized the problem. The Speaker instructions had me plugging the chords into the wrong jacks. BE SURE TO LOOK AT YOUR SOUND CARD'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CORRECT JACKS. Also MAKE SURE THAT YOUR COMPUTER ISNT SENDING DIGITAL OUTPUT IF IT IS, CHANGE IT FOR THESE SPEAKERS. My comp was set to this and there was nothing at all. Other that that the setup was fairly easy other that the fact that the front-side speakers arent on red/black speaker cable making it hard to get a true 5.1 setup with the 5 foot attached chords. The back speakers are on bare wire connections and make it easy to run different wire (sold separately)to the speakers. Ther are also PLUGS NOT BARE WIRES going to the sub so i had to tape the rear wires onto the provided plug cables. After i ran the cables and fixed all of the problems MY MIND WAS BLOWN AWAY. I havent listened to as good of music quality since my parents 4000 dollar BOSE system. These speakers are monsterous. I have the volume barely on and my 10 foot cube room shakes like crazy. Very good look and easy tweaking is beautiful. Other than the few glitches in the setup, it was a beautiful purchase for 100 bucks!! Just be sure to have a sound card that can handle the 5.1 speakers. My friend loved mine so much that he bought them an d tried to run them on an integrated sound. DIDNT WORK AT ALL.

I LOVE THESE SPEAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my first sound system for my PC and I'm very happy with it. Being a music student sound is very important to me and so I made sure to hear a lot of systems and frankly most just sucked until you got to the $300-$400 range and I just didn't have that much money to shell out. So giving up on the computer stores I went to cambridge soundworks and I actually bought their Megaworks 210D it was $200. I was extremely disappointed with it, while the 150 watt subwoofer was killer, the two satellite speakers hissed which was annoying. It didn't treat all music styles equally and was easily distorted when playing music without a lot of low end such as movie soundtracks and classical music. The highs were piercing and hard on the ears as well. This was true on all music styles even with the treble turned all the way down. So I returned it the next day and bought the Creative T5400 system after talking with a neighbor who had the 5200. I was extremely pleased after I got it setup. (By the way setting it up is very easy and mounting the speakers on the walls couldn't be easier, its like hanging a picture frame. All you need is a nail and hammer.) While it doesn't have the power or the bass that the cambridge megaworks had, the 5 speakers are clear and comfortable to listen to at high volumes. The subwoofer isn't going to blow the windows out of your house but it does its job nicely and compliments the speakers very well. Mine is setup in my bedroom which is about average size and it delivers a nice balanced sound that fills the room. It's a very nice system at a very good price that does well with music, games, and movies. You definitely won't be disappointed. Whatever you decide get a 5.1 system, there wasn't one 2.1 system out there that I would recomend buying. For the same price or a little more you can get a 5.1 system. I was concerned with space as some of you might be, but don't worry about space you'll figure something out. Like I said these speakers are very easy to mount on your wall. Good luck to you! I hope this helps.

Not wishing to spend a large amount of money on my PC's computer speakers but not liking the factory speakers included on my computer I took a leap of faith and purchased the Cambridge 3-Piece system because of it's low price compared to some of the units out there.

The system includes a large woofer and 2 tweaks that can extend up to 4-5 feet. The volume is controlled by a switch attached to the speaker's wires that can stretch 2-3 feet. The bass is controlled by the back of the woofer and overall installation of the speakers is very easy.

It's amazing how much high quality sound I get from these speakers when running my computer's DVD player. Even with 3 speakers, the sound still gives you the movie theater feeling of having the sound go from left to right. I own a large TV but still prefer to watch DVDs on my 21" monitor because of the sound's quality from the Cambridge speakers.

I also own a large amount of PC games and if you're an avid gamer you have no idea what you're missing by not having a quality speaker system. Many of today's PC games were meant to have not only a good sound card, but excellent speakers that allow the user to appreciate the sound that the programmers meant to be a part of the game's atmosphere. Some games such as Clive Barker's Undying are 3x scarier with this system.

You can buy better speaker systems than this but why bother with more speakers until they invent computer screens that stretch a few feet. The 3-piece Cambridge system is more than enough for anything you may use on your PC.

I've always been skeptical of the value of speakers on a PC system but decided to take a leap of faith, and try out a "cheap" system. The SW310 was an extremely pleasant surprise. Very easy to connect, and well designed. The audio enhancement I got was far better than I could have imagined. The woofers really kick ... - I love it!!! If you're looking for an economy speaker set that delivers, this one's a safe bet. I'm now eagerly considering trying out one of the more expensive digital models from Cambridge Soundworks.