cover
Benjamin R.

Benjamin R.

Joined on 02/06/11

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Nice, Inexpensive Drive.

LG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo Drive Model UH12NS29
LG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo Drive Model UH12NS29

Pros: The drive works well so far, it's read speed is good, and it's write speed is decent for the price, and it looks good in my case.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: This is where it gets interesting. I bought this drive having no knowledge of Sony's completely obnoxious digital rights management on their BluRay technology. Since this drive is an OEM, that means it doesn't come with software, which normally isn't a huge deal for media drives. If you buy this drive, and it will play your DVDs, but won't play your BluRays, that means you don't have the required software to play said BluRays. IF you don't want to pay an additional $50.00 U.S. for the BluRay player software, I suggest looking up a program called "MakeMKV", it's not a perfect solution, since you have to actually install each BluRay onto your hard drive in order to play it (I play them with "VLC Media Player"), but it is a free solution. I hope this helps. But keep in mind, if your drive will play DVDs and not BluRays, the drive is most likely NOT malfunctioning, you just don't have the correct software.

Most Critical Review

Dead At 1 year

Razer Carcharias Over Ear Xbox 360/PC Gaming Headset
Razer Carcharias Over Ear Xbox 360/PC Gaming Headset

Pros: It's quite comfortable overall, I've owned the headset for a little over a year now. The external components of the headset have held up remarkably well over a year's time.

Cons: Mine died just before the 1 year mark. It started with a scratchy noise coming through the headset at about 8 or 9 months of use. A few months later it stopped working all together, I tried it on other PCs, and nothing. As for the actual quality of the audio / build, it's mediocre at best. My main complaint with the audio isn't quality, since it sounds pretty good, but the maximum volume is very low. It simply doesn't get loud enough. Build wise, it held up flawlessly, with almost no signs of wear at any part after a year of daily use.

Overall Review: I wouldn't suggest these, for two main reasons. The low maximum volume, and the price. They cost around as much as a decent (non razer) 5.1 headset, and they're only stereo.

Rosewill RHTS-8206, 5.1 Headset

Rosewill 5.1-Channel Vibrating Gaming Headset- USB Connector - RHTS-8206
Rosewill 5.1-Channel Vibrating Gaming Headset- USB Connector - RHTS-8206

Pros: The vibration has a very interesting effect on the perception of bass sounds conveyed through the headset. The headset is relatively comfortable for short to medium length sessions. It comes with a 6.6-foot long cable, which is a pet peeve of mine, I despise devices with extremely short cabling.

Cons: The primary reason I gave this headset a 2-egg, even though the sound quality is good, is because the overall build quality is, in my opinion, very poor. The specifics are as follows: When I unboxed my Headset, I adjusted the microphone boom, and it immediately fell out in my hand. It had been out of the box for around 15 seconds at this point. It didn't disconnect at the 3mm jack, as it's designed to, instead the microphone boom came out of the housing, and both of the wires disconnected (they were attached with solder, so there was no plugging them back in). I was going to do an RMA, but I decided that I didn't really have to have the mic, I still liked the headset for the audio quality alone. It took about 3 days of use before the ear pads started falling off. They are designed where all that's holding them on, is a strip of pleather, that is in a taut circle, which seats into a groove on the plastic of the ear cups. Any angular pressure on the ear pad, will pop the pleather circle out of the groove, and the ear pad will fall off. It usually took around 5 minutes to re-install one, and much frustration.

Overall Review: Sound Quality - 8/10 Build Quality - 2/10 That pretty much sums it up, unfortunately. =(

12/29/2014

Working like a charm since Feb. 2013

Manufacturer Recertified OCZ Agility 4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) AGT4-25SAT3-128G
Manufacturer Recertified OCZ Agility 4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) AGT4-25SAT3-128G

Pros: It's an SSD. They have no moving parts, therefore they're much more durable than a platter drive. They're faster as well, by a fairly large margin. I purchased this as the drive to put my OS on, for a gaming PC build that I did in February of 2013. It's now October of 2014, and I've used this PC nearly every single day since. I also wanted to mention that I have no additional cooling on it besides my case's stock fans (Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case). This SSD hasn't had so much as a hiccup since the day I installed it.

Cons: None. Works flawlessly.

10/15/2014

Not bad for 8 bucks

PC Laptop USB 2.0 Heating Fingerless Gloves Hands Warmer for Women Men Black
PC Laptop USB 2.0 Heating Fingerless Gloves Hands Warmer for Women Men Black

Pros: 1.) The fact that the fingers are NOT individually knitted makes typing in these gloves MUCH easier than doing so in gloves with individual fingers. I have a couple of pairs of "Fingerless" gloves, which have material up to the 2nd of the 3 knuckles on your fingers. Those gloves feel much bulkier when typing. These gloves feel much less so. You still notice a diffirence, but not as bad. 2.) They work well at keeping your hands decently warm, even without plugging them in. 3.) They don't look bad, even on a guy since they're black, which can be difficult thing to find in and of itself. 4.) The cable has a single USB male at one end, and has two male power plugs in a Y at the opposite end from the USB. Each of these male plugs connect to a female port on a roughly 8-inch cable that comes out of each glove. These cables can be tucked inside the gloves when not in use, so you can wear them without anyone knowing they even have cables. Which is nice.

Cons: 1.) The main reason I didn't give these Five eggs, is because the heating pad inside is only about 1.5-inches high, by 5-inches long, and it wraps around the "Pad" of your palm. Going from a spot about 1-inch below where your middle finger meets your palm (on the under side of your hand) around the side of you hand opposite your thumb, and ending somewhere around 1-inch below your middle knuckle (on the top side of your hand). So when they're plugged in, you can feel the warmth, but nowhere near your fingers. Which, if you're anything like me, is the area that gets uncomfortably cold... not my palm. 2.) I would have liked the USB cable to be a little bit longer, as it stands it's about 4 feet long or so, which is just ALMOST long enough to route it around my monitor, to my tower, and still be able to have relatively free movement, but not quite. This can, however, be remedied with a cheap "Female to Male" USB adapter. So it's not a huge deal.

Overall Review: All in all, I think these are well worth their miniscule price tag.

10/15/2014

A Must Have

Rosewill Anti-Static Wrist Strap ESD Anti Shock Wristband Bracelet (Packaging May Vary) - RTK-002
Rosewill Anti-Static Wrist Strap ESD Anti Shock Wristband Bracelet (Packaging May Vary) - RTK-002

Pros: This little guy is built to complete one very specific task, to discharge excess static electricity, ensuring you don't accidentally fry your sensitive components, and it does that task extremely well.

Cons: I can see the wrist strap not fitting on an overly large wrist, as the velcro wrist-strap isn't all that long. But it's not at all an issue for me personally.

Overall Review: Pretty simple piece of equipment, but at the price, one that everyone who does much tinkering on electronics should own.