Computer Reviews

It is not jut the best Display I ever had see. I solve two other "problems" in Mac use:
It give tho more USB conectors and it have a switch to turn your Mac On.
If you can afford the price, I recomend.

I write from the college newspaper and we use this monitor to work on the lay-out for the paper each week. This monitor is great because the graphics are clear. We also run programs like Adobe Photoshop, and the graphics are awesome with that program as well. This monitor just works great. We haven't had any problems with it!

i have had mine for 4 months - no problems -- I switch it between my G4 and G5, I'm going to get a Apple 17" soon for the G4. My wife doesn;t think I need both and announced ownership of the G4.

I just installed this card to upgrade our 1999 Dell V350 which originally had 64MB. Make sure to read your manual as to which configurations are supported. Mine said it supported 128MB + 64MB, however our computer actually came as 32MB + 32MB which wasn't supported according to the manual, even 128MB + 32MB wasn't listed. I didn't try. I just installed the 128MB card by itself. Clicking in the card is easy if you follow the instructions and click at the edges and not in the center of the card.

After that, hooked the computer back up and it feels like new again! Plus it only took 2 days to get here. Plus we finally got DSL. Now we'll never get off the computer.
Definitely worth it for the computer. Will deal with the carpal tunnel syndrome later.

I recently upgraded my 64MB computer, a 4 year old Gateway, with just one of these and can not believe how much better my computer runs. I plan to install another 128MB in the near future. Installing only takes about 10 minutes and my computer runs like a new one.

Specs on HP Pavilion called for 66 MHz frequency memory sticks, but this dropped right in and worked fine.

I'v had this for three weeks and still think this is the best HD moniter on the market. The picture quality really stands out in comparison.
I looked at DLP TV from RCA - Thomson and it looked like a lower resolution display, even though they say they use the same device from TI as Samsung.
The minor things noted in other reviews;

1. not the best at standard broadcast TV. Yes, if your only watching this - and no HD or DVD - than save your money. Especially if you view from 12 ft. away or less.I have Directv HD with a Pansonic receiver and a progressive scan DVD player hooked up and use them to get widescreen and HD programs.
Play the new Digital Video Essentials DVD on this system to see how good a picture can get.

2. Minor issue with audio timing to the picture when watching cetain broadcasts using the built in analog tuner. Using the Mute button repeatedly brings this out on my set. This should be fixable with a software upgrade from Samsung - when they are ready.

3. horizontal viewing angle is great - just as they say. But the vertical viewing angle is about 90 degrees max.(45 up or down), like other rear projection TVs. Set the TV at seated eye level and you won't even notice this.

I would have been nice to get a digital TV tuner built-in. Since Directv and cable make you use their tuners for DTV, it's not worth waiting for this feature.

I have not yet used the DVI and PC interfaces. I like the split-screen display using the PIP ( two tuners) in the set. Even the PIP as a window is clear.

2.

Very sharp picture (when viewing HD broadcast or DVD). Vibrant colors right out of the box. No calibration needed.

Regular analog broadcasts, however, are inferior (which I believe is more a function of the larger screen size magnifying the imperfections of a non-HD signal).

Highly recommend obtaining HD cable service with this set. Locally, Comcast is offering HD service at $5/month. Plus they provide their own box with no charge for installation.

What a picture!!!!!!!when you watch a dvd on this baby...you will be in heaven!! I will be getting hdtv thru directv soon..and after that I may never go to the movie theater again..it is that good! The only problem i have is the set is in my bedroom and when i have it on late at nite and the volume is low i can hear the fan...but don't let that stop you from buying this t.v.

A lot of reviewers have already mentioned this camera's good points. Although I generally agree that this is a well-built camera, with tons of nice features, I was also bothered by the following:

1. The much-vaunted anti-shake feature is weak. Other cameras implement this feature much better than the DiMage A1. For example, the Canon PowerShot S1 IS and the Panasonic DMC-FZ10 both have very steady stabilization, whereas the DiMage stabilizer is only marginal. I thought this might be a defect in my unit, but when I went back to the store, other units had the same problem. This was really disappointing because the camera has good zoom capability, and takes fairly good low-light pictures. These are both cases when the anti-shake feature is most needed.

2. The low-battery warning comes on about 10 seconds before the entire camera shuts down. This is simply not enough warning.

3. The colors in bright sunlight are inaccurate. Outdoor shots are weirdly green when using the automatic white balance. I could fix this with the custom white balance options, but it was annoying to have to do this.

4. Pictures are somewhat grainier and noisier than average, even though detail is very good.

5. Overall, this camera is unusually complex. There are 5 dials, many of which do different things at different times. While this is often handy, it seems like things could have been streamlined a bit.

The Dimage A1 is capable of very good pictures because of its superb lens and high resolution CCD. However, in practice, I've gotten a high percentage of shots that were slightly out of focus, or that needed color adjustments to look right. The image stabilizer is only slightly better than nothing at all, and, and the relatively high noise in the photos offsets the benefits of having 5 megapixels.

The camera also has an additional odd quirk. If you select "auto" mode on the dial, the camera not only reverts to automatic settings for aperture, shutter, and ISO, it also causes photo numbering to restart at 1 if the memory card is cleared while in this mode. This doesn't make any sense to me.

Overall, this camera has a very good lens and CCD, with disappointing image stabilization relative to other cameras in its class, and some annoying quirks in the camera software and image processing. A skilled and patient photographer can compensate for this with all the manual controls. However, given its relatively high price (I paid $500 for the A1, and the very similar 8MP Dimage A2 goes for $999) I am annoyed the many shortcomings.

- Tom

Got this camera a month ago. Beats my friend's two-year-old Nikon 5700. Most impressive is the manual control. Very easy to use despite the number of knobs. I was able to get 80% of the functions without reading the manual (no experience with Minolta digicams before). Satisfied with the quality though people have been complaining about the noise in Minolta cams for a long time. Would definitely recommend to anybody who wants a decent camera but doesn't want to spend big $ on a DSLR.

I bought this camera and read the manual and loved all the feathers It was awesome.I spent two days going over the book and taking shots and I remember when it first came on a warning came on and after that I would take pictures of the DVD player Two Towers movie and they were awesome and all the pictures I took were awesome but then it started rolling when I pointed it at my tv screen and the LED got bright and dim and for no reason and there was nothing about this in troubleshooting in the users manual and then the battery went dead and so I recharged it and went to bed and in the morning after only a few pictures taken the battery went very low again and only after 4 or 5 pictures and I was so sad because I am not a pro by any means but I own a 3.2 nikon and it did not do any weird stuff and I have had it for almost 2 years and I loved that camera upgrade and I could have bought the nikonD100 or the top of the line cannon SLR and have all the lenses it would ever need/flashes too. But I loved this camera and all the features making it my perfect upgrade.
I am not a pro by no means but I felt it must be defective when I charged it and went to bed and got up and took some more yet,only 4 or 5 and the battery was shot again????!! I would buy that camera again because I loved it so much and I never owned a minolta but I loved everything about it . I took pictures only inside and at night and in the day and they were fantastic. But the rolling on the tv shots and the light and dimming on the LCD and then last but not least a battery going dead after charging it only after 4 or5 shots made me conclude it was defective. This was also in auto mode and I checked my other digital nikon and it did not do any of these things and as sad as I was to return it,There was no answers in the manual for these problems. If anyone reads this and has some kind of answer please speak out to me because I loved that camera and have missed it ever since the return also I if it was defective and does not eat batteries I would most definatly purchase it again. I do not no the difference between camera shake and built in stabilation but I would take the chance on re-ordering that camera again Since the problems I listed were nowhere in the manual whih I spent two full days on what else could I do but I still love it and would love to have one without the problems I have stated above. Lastly, Does this camera eat battery power that fast?? I love that camera and I have read them all so please let me know if that is a real problem. AS for the rolling pictures of the Two TOwers DVD it only happened on the minolta and my nikon was fine. If there is any help out there I want to buy this one again. GREAT CAMERA. Last what are the silver metal things on the front side of this camera for> I forgot I hope some one reads tis because I am with the possitive reviews I think this camera and all features ROCK! I loved it and I as I said looked at all the camera's on site and this is the one. JosieRyder@aol.com

Originally, I had very negative things to say about this product--namely problems with scanning chrome. Well, it took a couple of attempts over the past three years, but Nikon's support crew did a fantastic job once I convinced them of the problem, and they absorbed the entire cost of the repair (which was almost half the cost of the scanner).

In other words, Nikon stands behind its products. And you can't beat that. Buy it.

I've had this since it was first released and have found it to be a superb scanner.
As someone else has pointed out, there are occasional issues with slides, but from my experience that is a glitch in the NikonScan software and not the scanner itself. Using other scanning software (eg. Vuescan or Silverfast) has solved those issues for me.

The Coolscan IV is definitely worth the price for scanning negatives. I looked at flatbed scanners and cheaper film scanners previously, but in the end I bit the bullet and bought the Coolscan. I have no regrets about doing this. The resolution of the scanned negatives is amazing - I can see details that were not visible the original prints. What really makes the investment worthwhile is the Digital ICE technology, which "cleans up" dusty or imperfect negatives. I am in the process of converting my entire film library into digital images.

This brings me to the downsides of the scanner. It does not utilize USB 2.0, and the process of scanning negatives at high resolutions is very very slow. I basically have to devote 45 minutes to an hour to scan in a roll of film because I have turned on Digital ICE as well as the other touch-up features available on the scanner. However, this is by choice, so for people who don't want the highest resolutions, the process may be somewhat faster. The other problem is that the included software is very powerful but has a steep learning curve. I spent a lot of initial time tweaking the settings to find what produced the best images.

Overall, though, the gripes are minor since the quality of the images is so high. This has changed how I take pictures now. Since the resolution of the digital images is higher than any reasonably priced digital camera on the market, I am now shooting most pictures with a film camera and scanning the negatives. This provides the best of both worlds - a set of cheap prints as well as high-quality digital images. Now I just need to get another hard drive to hold all the images that I am scanning in...

This is a great laptop. It's light and sleek with tons of great features. I especially like the built-in Bluetooth, which lets me connect to my printer and PDA without wires. I highly recommend this PowerBook!

Finally retired my Sony Vaio (850Mhz) and made the switch to a powerbook--wanted to do that ever since I realized that Mac OS X is pretty much BSD Unix with a killer desktop. What a great machine this is. Much better than the comparable IBook...twice the processor cache for starters...and none of the problems that have plagued the 1Gz iBook. Weighs just 4.6 pounds and is very portable...aluminium case is very scratch resistant. I get GREAT range with the add-on Airport Extreme card going to a LinkSys 11g access point (there's an antenna in the lid of the unit). I'm very happy with the battery life, the operating system, and the apps I use on this machine (Office X mostly). About a month after getting and using this machine I got a G5 for my desktop and I'm quite happy. If you're looking for a gaming rig, forget Apple but if you're looking for a business-oriented machine that fits in very smoothly with a PC-based office, this is the ticket. Networks much easier than a Windows machine!

A fantastic ultra portable laptop. I bought the 12" Powerbook G4 1Ghz, and have been blown away by it. It has a good metallic design and its size is very easy to carry around, this is the major disadvantage of larger bulkier notebooks. I have had mine upgraded to 1.25 GB Ram, and the performance of applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop is great. You can even play games like Halo on it pretty well, if that is your thing. You can have up to 80GB of HD, and my advice is to buy the largest you can afford. I also have an Airport (802.11g) card installed, and it allows wireless connectivity with a pretty good range. In addition, Bluetooth built-in allowed me to use a very nice wireless mouse with it. The Keyboard is of good quality, an important feature if you have to write long documents in Word! The LCD screen is of good quality too. All in all it made a pleasant switch from my previous bulky Sony Vaio Lap. I would recommend this computer very highly.

I find this camera to take adequate photos, but the camera is made of poor quality. It has scratches on it everywhere, and in under a year, the flash cover keeps falling off. It always gets me noticed, and I might have to buy a new one because I love the size and the shape. It goes everywhere with me, I just wish that the body was stronger.

We bought this camera for my 10 year old daughter at Christmas, and have been nothing but pleased with the quality of the pictures. We chose it for it's size and ease of use for a child with the use of only one hand. I've been known to grab it, though, for quick pics around the house!

We have compensated for the additional cost of developign APS film by only getting our pics developed at Sam's or Wal-Mart...

I purchased this camera for my husband who doesn't use a camera much. We ended up using this camera all the time, as I misplaced my 35MM camera. It takes great pictures for the price. Sometimes, I have noticed red eye (it is supposed to have red reduction) and some the pictures indoors are darker in the background than outside, but overall this ...camera has out performed itself in my opinion.
I highly recommend it.

I was looking to replace an old grundig mini world 100 PE when I saw this number in the store. The price was attractive, and the in-store quick test i did seemed to indicate a good product. After I've had a few days to toy around with it, though, I have come to absolutely love it. The sound is decent, and the features are excellent for a radio of this size and price. I use it mostly for a travel radio, for hotels and B&Bs, as well as for camping or just sitting around the bonfire sw channel surfing. A great find!

i have been searching for a good AM and Shorthwave pocket radio and i have found it. the AM pull is very good and the shortwave is surperb for its size. the price is very good and nothing in the range compares. buy it

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This is one of the smallest shortwave radios in the world. It is THE smallest shortwave that I know of that has a digital readout. If you are thinking of buying one let me list the pros and cons:

Size: This really will fit in your pocket. It is a bit larger than an audiocassette in length and width and about an inch and a half deep.
Features: Sleep timer, alarm function, 12 hour (rather than 24 hour) digital clock, adequate back light (works well enough to see in a very dark room), larger digital display than most small radios (you won't need to put on your glasses to tune it), tuning light, FM stereo light comes on when you have headphones plugged in, excellent old transistor radio style fold over cover with holes to let the sound out, a bevel stand. The radio was easy to set up for time and alarms. The instruction manual was easy to understand. There is no adaptor but I can't imagine needing one for a pocket radio. Two batteries should last many weeks of heavy use. There is an on and off switch which is a plus as most radios use the volume dial for on and off.
Pros: Shortwave reception was tested after 7 PM when signals are strongest here in SE Florida. I was able to get all the big interanational broadcasts. BBC came in as clear as a bell as did Canada and Voice of America. I received lots of other broadcasts in various languages on the 19, 31, and 49 bands. I was happy with its SW capabilities. It won't do for chasing down weak signals but I am not into SW enough to bother with those. Please look up frequencies at a good SW internet site in order to find broadcast times and frequencies. If you are new to SW there is a learning curve as SW broadcasts change frequencies and signal strength throughout the day and night. It is a great hobby but a few quick lessons will make your introduction much more rewarding.
AM reception was slightly better than my other portable radios.
FM stereo through headphones was very good.
The speaker itself gives good sound. There are no bass or treble adjustments but the sound sounds equally balanced. The speaker will not fill the room with sound but this is a pocket radio not a desktop.
Cons: The volume dial is on the left side - not the most ergonomic site for right handed folks. The tuning is on the right side. This has a digital readout but an analog tuning dial. I like that as you can tune much more accurately than with analog displays (where you are never sure where you are tuning to). One problem with the G1000A that I bought is that the tuning was "drifty" on SW and AM. This means that I will tune to - say - 97.9 and it would slowly slide off to 97.6 sometimes. I would need to retune the station once in a while. It isn't a big deal and may be a result of being a new radio but it is a small negative.
Altogether, I am very happy with this pocket AM/FM/SW radio. It fits perfectly in my briefcase and I am happy with the performance. 4 stars!

Kingston - very fast and reliable service. Shipped right away 2 day shiping was free.

I have two of these cards, and use them primarily in a Canon 10D digital SLR camera. I have had absolutely no problems, either writing data to them or extracting files later. The medium capacity card is very convenient for most digital camera users. For the Canon 10D, a 6 mega pixel camera, maximum JPEG file size at the highest quality setting averages about 2.5MB, and typically about 90 images can be saved to the card. Using the card in a lower resolution digital point and shoot camera, capacity would of course be many times greater.

The card performs reasonably well even when taking a series of images in rapid succession, say four or five in two second interval. With a digital point and shoot camera, transfer speed should not be an issue. Kingston's reliable, competitively priced card should meet the needs of most users.

I purchased this card @ Dell with rebates for less than tearty backs (errors on purpose). So far, it works flawlessly. It reaches close to 1MB/s read rate when used with USB 1.1 card reader. Dpreview.com tested this card with Firewire CF reader and it read data at rate of over 4MB/s.

Highly recommended as all Kingston products. I am thinking about buying another 256MB from Viking to use as "spare tire" since I shoot at highest resolution and best quality with my A70. I can fit around 170 pictures (JPEG) on 256MB CF card.

Additionally, CF card with reader can be used like floppy except its capacity surpasses 1.44MB by a lot.

This Keyboard and its individual keys is/are too narrow to type
efficiently.
This results in your making many typing errors to go back over ( such as 'tanks' for 'thanks',etc.
On the other hand; it does connect to the receivor pretty good as long as you have an unobstructed view and they are on the same level.

The Keyboard needs to be revised badly before it can rate 5 or more stars!

Very pleased with the service, speed of delivery, and so far the quality of my new WebTV keyboard! The old keyboard only used one AAA battery; this one uses FOUR AA batteries, so speed is noticeably faster. Also appreciative of all the informative e-mails that came to me, both from Amazon and from the seller, NW ITV Dealers.

This keyboard is all that the seller said it is. I can write and write and never have to worry about another sticky or completely stuck key. I'm satisfied!!!