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- First reviewNovember 23, 2013
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- First answerNovember 23, 2013
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Bring bold color to your gaming hobby with this Razer Kraken analog headset. Thick padding and a lightweight construction make it ideal for extended wear, and the fully retractable microphone lets you adjust the device to meet your needs. This Razer Kraken analog headset has a long cable that provides flexibility of movement as you play.
Customer Rating
3
Nice Headphones for the money
on April 3, 2017
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
What I like:
- Roomy ear cups
- Clear voice
- Compatible with my laptop, gaming pc, and Xbox controller, and ancient apple products
- Long y-cable for my gaming computer’s sound card. Thank you!
- In-line volume and mute control
- Sturdy, aluminum construction
- Retractable Mic
- Roomy ear cups
- Clear voice
- Compatible with my laptop, gaming pc, and Xbox controller, and ancient apple products
- Long y-cable for my gaming computer’s sound card. Thank you!
- In-line volume and mute control
- Sturdy, aluminum construction
- Retractable Mic
What bothers me:
- No inline voice feedback
- Fabric ear cup options not included
- The cups put direct pressure on my jaw. Those with TMJ may find these uncomfortable for extended sessions
- Music and game sound feels muffled and range limited
- No inline voice feedback
- Fabric ear cup options not included
- The cups put direct pressure on my jaw. Those with TMJ may find these uncomfortable for extended sessions
- Music and game sound feels muffled and range limited
First off I have to confess that I don’t use headsets much for gaming. I use them mostly for work. I’ve used many “office” grade headsets over the years including popular brands from Plantronics and Logitech. The problem I have with both is that my communication needs have shifted from a traditional phone with headset to Voice over IP. This includes Cisco Softphone, Skype and FaceTime, TeamSpeak, and Xbox Live. I have owned several gaming headsets over the years and finally decided to give a gaming headset a chance. I picked up the Razor Kraken Pro v2 from Best Buy a few weeks ago to see if they would suit me needs. To be clear, my primary need is voice communications for my work but I do listen to music, watch videos, and play games.
The headphones have a single, combination stereo plug with mic. This is perfect for my laptop and my tablets. It also comes with a y-splitter cable that is long enough to comfortably reach my sitting position to the back of my Sound Blaster Z sound card in my floor standing computer tower. Since my computer is the best audio source in my office, I decided to fire up some music and a few games. Razor claims that these are a full range headset so music should sound great on these, right? Well, kind of right. I played a variety of music from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto to Meghan Trainor to something called Electro Swing which is a mash up of heavy base riffs, swing, and jazz. The highs felt constrained and the base felt over stated. The music also felt muted in such a way that I felt like there was something between my ear and the music. Then again, these are not $300 Bower and Wilkin headphones. These are gaming headphones so on with the gaming.
Next, I fired up my Xbox One and put in Titan Fall 2! This game has voice, heavy base, and lots of nuanced sounds that you would other miss unless you had a good gaming headset or a great home theater. As expected, the little sounds such as the clicking of equipment coming on line, the scuffing of boots on the ground, and the sounds of changing ammo clips all came to life. The in game voice was strong and clear. And the pounding of Titans landing on the ground were powerful. The experience gaming was better. However, it still sounded like something was between me and the speakers.
Finally, the one thing I used the headset for on a daily basis: voice. Vocals are clear and strong in all applications. The inline mute button is a necessity as is the inline volume control. The mute button is especially useful if I need to cough, sneeze, or in-politely disagree with someone I should not in-politely disagree with. Those of you with office jobs know exactly what I’m talking about. The headset does put pressure on my head which makes the headset difficult to wear for hours at a time. I feel if Razor had used memory foam in their ear cups, this would not be as much of an issue.
The one item that I find bothersome is the lack of voice feedback in the ear cups. Headsets, especially gaming headsets, used to include this feature. The feature simply plays back your own voice in the ear cups so that you can gauge how loudly you are speaking. This feature is not terribly important with fabric covered ear cups because the sound of your voice can make its way into the ear cup. But, these foo-leather ear cups seal you ears and muffle most outside sounds. This gives my voice an underwater, muted effect which makes it very difficult to tell if I’m speaking or shouting. When I’m gaming, it is usually at night when everyone around me has gone to bed. I cannot be shouting with my buddies for fear of having my head lobbed off by family members.
The one item that I find bothersome is the lack of voice feedback in the ear cups. Headsets, especially gaming headsets, used to include this feature. The feature simply plays back your own voice in the ear cups so that you can gauge how loudly you are speaking. This feature is not terribly important with fabric covered ear cups because the sound of your voice can make its way into the ear cup. But, these foo-leather ear cups seal you ears and muffle most outside sounds. This gives my voice an underwater, muted effect which makes it very difficult to tell if I’m speaking or shouting. When I’m gaming, it is usually at night when everyone around me has gone to bed. I cannot be shouting with my buddies for fear of having my head lobbed off by family members.
There are several other pros and cons that I’ve listed above. They are a good headset for the price. If you are in the market for a new headset, my recommendation is that you head down to your local best buy and visit the gaming headphone wall. Good headphones is a much subjective as it is feature driven. Based on other headphones I’ve owned in the past I would rate these average. The higher end headsets do sound better but they also come with greater weight and higher price tags. If you are looking for something inexpensive that will give you a good experience, then these may be a good fit.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Power through your weekly carpet clean with this Shark Rocket with DuoClean complete upright vacuum. It eliminates particles both large and small, and the deep-cleaning bristle brush breaks through embedded dirt to ensure a deeper clean. Plenty of space for debris ensures this Shark Rocket with DuoClean complete upright vacuum is practical for your everyday cleaning needs.BR>
Customer Rating
5
Happy wife sounds tell the story!
on September 28, 2016
Posted by: ITJim
Have you ever heard the high pitched, involuntary, little girl giggle of pure heaven that the women in your life make when something truly exciting and satisfying excites their senses? That is the sound my wife made the first time she used this vacuum. Me, on the other hand, don’t tend to get too excited about vacuum cleaners regardless of shape, size, or gimmick. I’ve owned traditional uprights and shop vacs from various manufactures over the years, including Shark. After using the Rocket, I have to admit, I too smiled to myself. I didn’t make the little girl, giddy sound. Not that I could if I wanted too. But it did get the job done, was easy to move around the room, picked up all visible dirt, and left me with a greater overall experience than my traditional Shark upright does. I was really impressed when I was able to lay the whole vacuum parallel to the floor and clean under my futon. Normally, I have to move it out of the way. It saved me a lot of time and reduced the risk of the futon’s legs scratching my floor.
The Rocket is versatile. I can remove the handle and use the attachments to meet different needs around my house. I can attach the waste bin/motor housing to the pet multi-tool and clean the cat fur off my pillows and then use the upholstery tool to pull the dirt off of my leather couch without leaving any marks. I can detach the vacuum head and use the pole as a wand to get too hard to reach, high places. And the under appliance wand is pure genius! I think my wife made two happy sounds when she was able to vacuum under our stove without having to move it!
The Rocket does feel really good in my hand and my wife’s hand. It is not balanced enough to stand upright on its own. So, be careful when you let the handle go. You may bruise a toe or damage your floor. And don’t be cleaver and lean it up against the wall. It will still fall over. But the weight is in all the right places for exceptional control when in hand. The pivot on the head is excellent! I cannot praise this enough. Maneuverability has been an issue with every vacuum I’ve owned. This one is done right. It is easy and effortless to move this around corners and furniture. When you want to store it, simply remove the motor and mount it to the bottom of the wand and head. Or, if you really want to minimize the storage space, the unit does come with a simple wall mount which allows the Rocket to hang flat against the wall of any room you want. My suggestion is to replace the drywall anchors with something more substantial. The included wall anchors seem a bit underwhelming for the weight they need to handle.
Not everything is all peaches and cream. This is an excellent product if you us it specifically for what it was designed for: light housekeeping, spot cleaning of high traffic areas, and quick cleanings. The reason I say this is that the dust bucket on the handle looks fairly large. The max fill line on the bucket is only half of the bucket. My wife’s first room with the Rocket was our 17 x 12 Livingroom. With furniture, the actual cleaning area is much smaller. We do keep a clean house so the amount of dirt should have been fairly light. She filled the bucket to the fill line within minutes. It is very possible that the Rocket did an amazing job picking up the dirt that our upright simply missed. And that may be the truth of the matter. But I feel that the bucket should offer more capacity for longer working time between bucket cleanings.
My next gripe, and this is something I haven’t taken up with Shark yet, is that the wand does have a dent in it. This product is new, in box, and showed no signs of shipping damage. And yet it passed inspection from the factory with a dent. The damage does not impede the operation or performance of the product so I haven’t much of a stink about it.
My next gripe, and this is something I haven’t taken up with Shark yet, is that the wand does have a dent in it. This product is new, in box, and showed no signs of shipping damage. And yet it passed inspection from the factory with a dent. The damage does not impede the operation or performance of the product so I haven’t much of a stink about it.
There is also a plastic clip that attaches to the wand to hold to accessories. The clip does leave a mark on the wand. I don’t really know why since the plastic is softer then the metal wand. Another thing I’ll be discussing with Shark shortly.
My overall impression is that a lot of good engineering and innovation went into this product. At no time did this product seem overly gimmicky or overly engineered like some competitor products I’ve auditioned in at Best Buy. Every feature feels well thought out, useful, and simplified in form and function. Like I said at the beginning of this review, I don’t get excited about vacuum cleaners. This one did get a little smile out of me.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Connect favorite peripherals to this Acer Aspire laptop. Four USB ports let you connect accessories, transfer files or charge a cellphone while you work, and HDMI outputs make dual-screen functionality possible. Access nearby wireless networks with this Acer Aspire laptop and stream videos or upload your own images captured with the built-in HD webcam.
Customer Rating
4
Good replacement Laptop with solid feature set
on July 13, 2016
Posted by: ITJim
My last laptop is five years old and desperately requires replacing. I use my laptop mostly for office type applications, viewing photos, email, and internet activity. I wanted my upgrade to include a touch screen along with two-in-one capabilities. What I really wanted was a Surface 4 though I could not justify the steep $1k entry price point. So, I decided to look for something that had many of the features I liked about the Surface 4 at a more reasonable entry price point. And maybe get a little something more that the Surface didn’t offer such as a 15-inch screen and an included keyboard.
I chose to go with The Acer Aspire R15. As far as I can tell the entire case is metal. At least the screen housing and the keyboard cover are metal. I cannot tell if the bottom of the case is metal because it is covered in a rather nice rubberized material. The design reminds me of an ultra-book aesthetic in a large form factor. And this large form factor comes at a weight premium. I do not know the exact weight of the laptop but I can tell you that it is heavy in the hand. You will not be holding this laptop for long with one hand; even in tablet mode. I was actually surprised by the weight. Luckily for me, this laptop will spend most of its time either on my desk or my lap. I won’t be spending much time walking around with this thing in tablet mode. If you have a need to walk around with a 2 in 1 in tablet mode for long periods of time I suggest you opt for either a light ultra-book or an MS Surface.
With an i5 Intel processor and 8GB of memory one would think this laptop would perform like a superstar. Unfortunately, the system was as slow as a snail out the gate. Whenever I purchase a new system I expect that the manufacture balanced performance with the junk-ware they’ve pre-installed. This laptop was no different. The first thing I replaced was McAfee Anti-spyware. I am super happy that the laptop came with something to protect the laptop however I’ve always found McAfee to be a performance bottleneck. It doesn’t eat up a lot of system resources so I’ve often scratched my head as to why performance and McAfee don’t mix. I deployed Norton, which I already own licenses for, and saw an increase in system performance. The second thing I did was disable Adobe Flash in Control Panel. After both changes were implemented I noticed an immediate improvement in performance. One other major change I made was change the Paging file from System managed to static. There are other tricks that you can employ to improve system performance on any computer you own that I also implemented on this laptop that I will not get into here. A quick Bing search will net you many performance improvement tips.
However, two tips that you will not able to employ here are the replacement of the hard drive with a solid state drive and increasing your memory. Since this system is based on an ultra-book all in one case design, all of the external doors have been removed. So, the only way to upgrade the system’s HDD and Ram is to open the entire case which may void your warranty. The good news is that the system comes with 8GB of ram and a 1TB drive. If you need more speed in the storage department, or require more memory, then either purchase a higher end Acer Aspire or seek out a system with a pre-installed SSD. Truly, two of the best performance upgrades you can make to any computer is more memory and a solid state hard drive.
I do love the fact that I can flip the screen 360 degrees and use the large 15-inch screen as a full tablet. I can have multiple windows open at the same time. The only thing this screen is missing is the stylus capabilities of the MS Surface. The glass covered LCD would make an excellent writing surface. Maybe Acer will include this in a future product.
Acer includes a utility to reduce the blue light coming from the back lighting. Blue light, if you didn’t know, is attributed to eye strain during long computing sessions and is also linked to sleeping issues. I’m using it with MS word while I’m writing this review. The blue light filter can be found in the Acer Quick Access application. The feature is either on or off. When you turn it the screen takes on a greener characteristic. Blues are still blue but with a greenish tint. I’ve seen other screens implement this feature but with a warmer coloration which cast a reddish tint to the screen. The greenish tint is a bit odd but comfortable. However, I would have preferred a leaning closer to red than green. If you not convinced that this feature is useful I recommend turning it on for about an hour while you type your FaceBook posts and then turn it off.
The back lighting on the screen is uneven and dominates the lower corners of the LCD. You can really see this when the screen is predominantly black such as when the machine is booting up. Or if you are looking at dark colored content. It is easy to adjust the back lighting so you can compensate for this effect. For daily activity the uneven back lighting is unnoticeable. Whites are really bright when the back lighting is turned up to the highest level. For most web pages and office applications I do not notice the uneven back lighting at the lowest lighting levels. Over all it has not proven an issue for my activities or needs. But, if you are purchasing this laptop for graphics arts type activity you may want to check this machine out on the showroom floor purchase deciding to purchase.
Typing on the keyboard is comfortable and quiet. I did find that I had to reduce the touchpad sensitivity. When I type my thumbs and palm have a habit of touching the touchpad. At the default sensitivity the touchpad would accept those random touches and move the mouse cursor to random places on the screen. There is nothing more annoying than the typing cursor to jump around the page while I’m typing mid-sentence. The back lighting is not the best implementation that I’ve seen. The light does bleed around the keys and, when the laptop is on my lap, I can partially see the LEDs under the top row of keys. It’s not distracting but it does remind me that I’ve seen better implementation on other laptops. However, those laptops tend to cost twice as much. Taken in context of my price point, I feel this is a fantastic feature that has proven very helpful. For example, I’m writing this review from my couch in my dimly lit living room. With my old laptop I would need to use the overhead room lighting at full brightness. Since the keyboard is back lit I can keep the lights comfortable low for this time of night and enjoy typing. It is a feature I never knew I needed until I had it. I am glad that Acer was able to include the feature on this laptop at this price point.
The Dolby Audio software is a total embarrassment for Acer. This app should help make my audio experiences come to life within laptop audio reason. It may have helped somewhat if the app was not so limited in function. What you get is an equalizer with zero labeling and no presets. Both are basic, minimal features. Acer should be embarrassed to call so much attention to their TrueHarmony and Dolby Audio features but have this garbage as an interface.
The screen resolution does make most of my images look great. If I’m looking at a dark image, then the uneven back lighting does degrade the experience. For my needs it is good enough. Video, on the other hand, is hit or miss. Netflix is grainy. Other video sources have also proven less than stellar reproduction. YouTube did a little better but the images were not sharp. Running video in a smaller window seems to help however decreasing the size of the image also decreases the fidelity of the image and defeats the purpose of having such a large screen. I hope Acer or Intel addresses this issue with an upcoming driver update. If you are looking for a Netflix/YouTube, or even video editing then you may want to look for something with either a higher end Intel graphics processor or an AMD or NVidia discrete graphics processor. This laptop gets by in some situations but, for now, it struggles.
Finally, battery life. I love new batteries because they give you the most life. I did run this machine for a full eight-hour work day without needing to charge it. This included running Microsoft Word, OneNote, and whatever websites I was using to support my daily activities. This included sites with integrated audio/video and information that includes real-time updates/refreshes, throughout the day. The back lighting for the keyboard was on and I was performing all online tasks using the 802.11AC WIFI features of the wireless adapter. I suspect that, over the next year, the battery charge will become less and less as is normal for batteries in general. I have experienced battery degradation on every laptop I’ve used. My only concern is the battery is not user serviceable. Meaning, I cannot simply replace an old, worn battery with a new battery.
There are many more things to discuss with this laptop that I’m sure other reviewers will cover. Over all, even with the negatives, I really like this laptop. I do use it several hours a day. It has most of the features that I was looking for within my budget. So, I cannot slight this 2 in 1 model for not having X feature when X feature is only found on $1k plus machines. Some deficits should be addressed by Acer with future drive updates. Considering my 5-year old laptop cost me this same amount of money 5 years ago simply shows how far computer technology has come and how much manufactures have pushed the prices down. If Acer can address the few of the issues I have pointed out, which they can with software updates, then I would call this machine a real solid performer at a reasonable price point.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Take your work and entertainment with you with this Acer Iconia One 10-inch tablet. The large screen is powered by 1GB of RAM and a quad-core 1.3 GHz processor for high efficiency, and 32GB of flash memory gives you plenty of file storage. The 5-megapixel rear camera lets you take photos using this Acer Iconia One 10-inch tablet anywhere.
Customer Rating
5
For the price this is an Excellent Value
on May 21, 2016
Posted by: ITJim
I needed a tablet for day to day activity such as email, web surfing, reading, Netflix, and social media type activity. I spend my work day sitting at a computer and don’t want to spend my entire night sitting at one just to check email, news, and what’s going on in my social circles. And I am going to be sitting around I would much rather do it from my couch. This tablet is fairly lite, portable, and can maintain a strong network connection to my home WI-FI network. The 10-inch screen is big enough for me to comfortably read my email, news, and social media threads.
The screen is bright enough that I can see just fine in a well-lit room. Depending on the situation the screen can actually be too bright. But I can turn down the brightness to suit my needs. I was hoping that this tablet had an auto brightness setting like other tablets but it does not. Maybe in some future patch Acer will figure out how to use the camera to measure the ambient light and then auto adjust the screen to match. It is a nice feature to have but not required. The screen is also very colorful. I’ve found that turning the brightness up half way is a good balance between brightness and color reproduction. I tested this by loading up an application called Marvel Unlimited. It is Marvel Comics reading application. The comics looks sharp at the screen’s 1280 x 800 resolution. The colors looked good. And the tablet had no issue download each comic. The images look good and colorful. I was able to pinch and zoom each page without issues. And the tablet was very responsive as I swiped through each page.
One final point regarding the screen. When I opened the box I found something unexpected. The screen had a screen protector pre-applied. That saved me $30 right there. Nice value-add by Acer. Just be careful when you pull the tab to remove the protective film. If you pull up the actual protective film, then you run the risk of pulling in dust that will ruin the pristine factory application. I made this mistake but didn’t realize it until I had already pulled in some dust under the screen. The good news is that the mistake is where I normally hold the tablet.
Web surfing and social media work almost as expected. Pages load quickly. Things look as they should. The only issue I ran into is when I did a search for web images. Scrolling through images caused some rendering issues. The images, when fully rendered, looked just fine. It took five seconds on average to render each image. Five seconds isn’t a lot of time until you multiply that by the number of images you need to go through. In my case I’m doing research using an infinite number of images. Five seconds an image is a lot of time. There are a number of factors to consider here that may or may not be due to hardware performance. Unfortunately, all I can report are my actual experiences.
Battery life is very good. I ran this tablet on and off for three days before it required a charge. This could be due to a quality battery on Acer’s part, the CPU the tablet is using, or some power management features built into Android 5.1. Most likely it is some combination of all three. Either way I found myself focusing more on my content than my battery charge. Which is a good thing. Some other manufacture’s may want to look at what Acer is doing here and follow suit.
The cameras on this device are blah and will get you by when you need to snap a photo. You won’t be bragging about your photos but it will take them. WI-FI connectivity is really good. The device found all of my networks without any issues. And setup of the device was easy. Acer includes a wizard to get you setup both with your Google account, if you have one, and an Acer BYOC account. BYOC stands for Bring Your Own Cloud. I didn’t dig into this simple because I have other cloud services that I prefer to use over Acer’s own offering. But it is there is you do choose to take advantage of it.
The cameras on this device are blah and will get you by when you need to snap a photo. You won’t be bragging about your photos but it will take them. WI-FI connectivity is really good. The device found all of my networks without any issues. And setup of the device was easy. Acer includes a wizard to get you setup both with your Google account, if you have one, and an Acer BYOC account. BYOC stands for Bring Your Own Cloud. I didn’t dig into this simple because I have other cloud services that I prefer to use over Acer’s own offering. But it is there is you do choose to take advantage of it.
Can you game on this tablet? Probably. I didn’t test it simply because I am not a tablet gamer. I prefer a good old fashioned computer or gaming console for gaming. Tablet gaming is, well, great for playing a game of Risk in my opinion. But not much more than that. Netflix and YouTube worked well. Again, set your expectations appropriately. This device does have two forward facing speakers. But don’t expect Hi-Fidelity playback. The audio was ok and the video played smoothly. It’s about what I would expect from a small portable device.
The storage on the device is adequate. And Acer does give you the option to add your own SD card. Which is great if you have a lot files, moves, music, or photos. The system memory is another matter entirely. Where the Icona One 10 comes with 32 GB of storage it only comes with 1 GB of system memory. I often got messages about low memory. The good news is that the Icona One comes with a utility that allows you to monitor memory and to clear or adjust the efficiency of the memory. I think Acer knows that 1 GB is not going to be optimal in all situations so they mitigated the risk via this utility. I think this will be more of an issue with a power user or a gamer. Otherwise it didn’t prove much of an issue for my daily usage.
Over all my experience with this tablet has been positive. There were a few issues that I ran into that a higher end table or iPad would not have had. My opinion is if you need more power then buy more power. Just don’t make the mistake of comparing this to an iPad, the latest Samsung Galaxy Tabs, or the Microsoft Surface. The Icona is not aiming for the premium market with this tablet. But for what it is, in the budget friendly space, it is really good.
Thank you and I hope you found this review useful.
Thank you and I hope you found this review useful.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Your household is busy streaming media, working online, and playing games every day. This Linksys Wi-Fi Router will expand your network coverage, send signals directly to your devices, and deliver a lag-free connection, even when you’re all online at the same time.
Customer Rating
5
A Beast of a Home/Small Business Router!
on May 16, 2016
Posted by: ITJim
This is by far the most macho networking device I think I have ever had the privilege to integrate into my home network. To give you some context, my home network consists of multiple phones and tablets, laptops, desktops, two TVs, two network enabled audio receivers, an Xbox, Wii U, multiple 1GB network switches, a network area storage device, multiple smart BD players, guests that come over to borrow my bandwidth from time to time, and a bunch of other stuff that I’m probably forgetting about. My home isn’t quite a “smart home” yet but with the Internet of Things taking hold it won’t be long before we all will be investing in beefier networking equipment to keep everything connected. That is where the Linksys EA9500 AMX-Steam comes in.
Before I go much further I was asked to give an honest review of this product by BB and I’m going to do just that. Physically, this device is massive. It is the largest piece of networking equipment I’ve seen for the Home/Small Office space. I’ve had a lot of home networking products over the years and this one wins on weight and size. The antennas are industrial looking and strangely attractive as far as antennas go. Be sure to pick a roomy, stable location for this device. The box had plenty of packing to protect it during shipping. My device arrived in a box that looked like it was kicked a few times and then run over. But the device and its contents didn’t have a scratch.
The initial setup process was fairly easy and straight forward. If you are part of the set and forget crowd, then simply follow the four-page quick setup guide that comes with the device and you’ll be up and running in about five minutes. For once the marketing matches the experience. However, if you want to dive deeper into your router for a more custom installation then you are looking at 30 minutes minimum setup time. I am impressed with the amount of work Linksys put into consumerizing the graphical user interfaces. It is fairly straight forward and accessible for a network device. I used the quick setup feature first and then did a deep dive into the advanced features. My network is fairly complex with a few older pieces of tech that simply would not work without some additional customization.
Setting up my wireless devices was very easy. I gave each network a name, set the password, and then added the information into each one of my wireless devices. I did have one challenge with a Samsung TV. The TV was incapable of speaking to an 802.11n that also leverage the 80hz band. I don’t know why since the router should have stepped the frequency down to accommodate the TV. The solution was to split the 5Ghz networks in two, assign one to a 40hz band, and then assign the TV to that WI-FI network. The other network was set to 802.11ac with an 80hz band for future technology. Maybe some future firmware update will address this issue.
My wired devices were easier. I have a pre-existing 8-port 1GB switch that most of my network runs through. My old router had a 1GB switch built in, however, it didn’t have enough ports to support my network. It was also a poorly performing switch. The separate switch removed the network load to behind the router so that the router could focus on internet and wireless communications. This setup served me well for over a year. The EA9500 comes with a built in 8 port GB Switch. Since Linksys chose to brag about how much of a beast this router is I chose to challenge their marketing gods. For my test I used a music library containing 43GB of uncompressed FLAC formatted music. To put this into context, a 3 minutes MP3 is about 7mb. A 3 minutes uncompressed FLAC music file is about 100MB. In find the larger files easier to monitor and measure. I chose to move the folder over the wireless and the wired networks using the router for all wireless communications. I started with the wired devices.
All devices performed admirably and in line with what I was expecting. At 10/100 speeds I was pushing 98mbs or roughly 11.3 MB/s. At 10/100/1000 speeds I was pushing 800mbs or roughly 92 MB/s. This is from source to my computer. To confirm my results, I hooked my 10/100/1000 network switch up (no router this time) and ran the same tests. I got the same results. The end result is I retired network switch and am using the router in its place. One less network hop on my network should improve performance slightly and now there is one less device that I need to manage. Win/win!
Performing this same test with my wireless network I found that my 802.11g 2.4gz connection was maxed out at 98mbs. That is better than the 56mbs 802.11g specification at this frequency. I also have several 802.11n devices on my network that range in top speeds from 300mbs to 450mbs. Both tests came in about half of the max specification. One thing to keep in mind is that network speed is governed by the slowest connection. In general, I have found that the 5ghz frequencies are not as consistent as the lower 2.4ghz frequencies in both distance and reliability and is completely dependent on location. The location for my router is in the worst possible place for my home; the basement. For these tests I was in direct line of site of the router but there is a lot of stuff in the basement that can generate interference such as electrical wires, my furnace, copper pipes that pick and absorb RF, concrete walls, the floor above, and boxes full of stuff that will often degrade and block signals. My disclaimer is that your personal experience may be much different from mine. Over all though I am happy with the results because the performance is already better than the router the EA9500 replaced.
I could not test the 802.11ac performance. I do not currently own any devices, other than the router, that are compatible with the 802.11ac specification.
One feature that is a head scratcher is the LED screen on the top of the EA9500. I haven’t figured out why Linksys wasted its time or treasure on this feature. It displays their logo and a bunch of white bars. When the router boots up the white bars are accompanied by some little blue bars. And that’s it! It’s pretty, but other than that it doesn’t server any purpose. The router does have a feature that allows the lights on the router to be turned off. I chose to turn this feature off. No sense in wasting electricity on a useless function.
There is a novel network map in the router’s interface. It is nice to see all of the active devices on the network. However, I would have loved to see a bandwidth meter of some kind showing how much bandwidth each device was eating up. This way I could tell who, or what, was killing my connection to my favorite game. On my old router I could tell at a glance if more than one person was streaming video or music. It may seem like a silly feature but it does come in handy. Once you’ve had it with other products you learn to rely upon it for valuable information about your network behavior. It can also help in finding trouble spots on your network.
Some of you are probably asking if you can stream movies and play games with the EA9500. I have a 15mb downstream connection and 1mb upstream connection. Definitely not the best. I streamed a Netflix movie on my computer, another Netflix movie on my tablet, a constant stream of full screen video from YouTube to my laptop, Pandora to my home theater receiver, put the wife on Facebook with her laptop, and then loaded up my favorite 24 player, multiplayer video game. The game showed a few moments where my ping was over 200ms but for the most part it was steady at 50ms. 50ms is average latency when this same game is the only traffic on my network. Under my own router the above scenario would net me a 400ms to 900ms latency. In the world of online gaming this is huge and is often the difference between a great game and terrible experience. The EA9500 did an excellent job of managing the network traffic and available bandwidth.
Final thoughts. Can I run a sophisticated, Internet of Things, home of the future with this thing? Yes. Can I operate that fancy new Samsung, uh Android, uh cool refrigerator that Best Buy sells? Without a doubt. Can I setup and satisfy the needs of a small office with this? I work from home a lot and do video conferencing, Voice over IP, remote server connection, and remote collaboration with my colleagues via a secure, encrypted VPN connection. So, yes! Do you need this? If you are a power user like me, have a family with high bandwidth demands, or have an eye towards future proofing your technologically advanced lifestyle then yes, I think you are the target audience for this device. If you have a small office with limited space, then this device will also fulfill your needs. If you live in a one-bedroom apartment with a laptop and a cell phone then no, this product is definitely overkill for you. You can get away with a smaller, less powerful model.
I went into this product skeptical that it was more snake oil marketing fantasy and came away a believer that this product is what it claims to be. It will be interesting to see what others have to say about. My experience thus far has been very positive and will recommend this for anyone who has a big home, small office with a few employees, or high bandwidth demands and a lot of old and new wireless technology that needs to coexist.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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First launched in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, Pokémon Sapphire Version brought you compelling stories that made you thirst for more. Now, you can continue immersing yourself within the Pokémon franchise with Pokémon Alpha Sapphire — the latest in the catch-'em-all legacy. Experience a heart-pounding journey that challenges you to collect, battle and trade Pokémon as you fight to stop a nefarious group determined to alter the Hoenn region forever.Delve into a thrilling 3D world of action with Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Travel to the Hoenn region, a land of stunning natural beauty, where a mysterious cave reveals a scene described in legends. Unleash the awe-inspiring power of Primal Reversion, a brand-new transformation experienced by Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre. Uncover the mind-blowing mysteries of Mega Evolution as more and more Pokémon achieve this ability. Experience intense, strikingly realistic visuals thanks to the 3D capabilities of your Nintendo 3DS. With so much to explore, you'll happily spend hours playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire.
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
I purchased this for my daughter. She is a massive Pokémon fan. She played the last game X/Y and couldn't wait to get your hands on this one. My daughter gives this game three thumbs up.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Iron Man 2 [Blu-ray/DVD] [Includes Digital Copy] [2010]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1659/1659555_sa.jpg)
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Iron Man 2 picks up where the first movie ended. The movie is a lot of fun and has plenty of action. What I didn't like about the movie was the laser focus on Tony Stark. Mickey Rourke was under utilized in this film and I found that to be a shame. The scenes he was in were fantastic and much more interesting than Tony struggling with his daddy issues. I wish Marvel would learn that developing a bad guy can be a good thing.
The introduction of Scarlett Johansson was great. She was sexy, smart, and tough. Everything you want to see in a female version of James Bond.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Learn more about Magnolia Premium Installation Equip your home theater with 400W of low-frequency power using this powered subwoofer that features a bass-reflex enclosure with a down-firing port for punchy, full-bodied bass tone and a variable 40-120Hz low-pass filter for customizable sound.
Customer Rating
5
Great Subwoofer
on March 2, 2015
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
This is my very first home theater subwoofer. So I really don't have anything to compare this too other than what I heard in the store. Comparing both sound and price this was the best for both. The sub was on sale for $300 and sounded great with the B&W speakers I purchased with them. How could I go wrong? My movies sound amazing. Movies rock my house and music sounds amazing. I did listen to the B&W 10" sub but didn't like the punchiness. Not to say it wasn't a great sub. It simply didn't align with what I wanted in a base. Either way I am happy with my purchase.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Learn moreabout Magnolia PremiumInstallation Experience vibrant sound with this Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series HTM62 S2 FP35378 center-channel speaker, which features two 5" DuPont™ KEVLAR® fiber woofer cones for crisp audio and a 1" decoupled double-dome aluminum tweeter for vivid highs.
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
My first center channel was a sound plate from LG. LG has nothing on this center channel. The voices are clear, crisp, full bodied, and are audible at all volume levels. I matched these up with a pair of B&W 685 bookshelf speakers. Amazing sound.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Enjoy your music with these Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series 685 S2 2-way loudspeakers, which feature 6-1/2" woven Aramid fiber woofer cones for clear sound. The 1" decoupled double-dome aluminum tweeters deliver crisp, pure highs.
Customer Rating
5
Amazing Speakers
on March 2, 2015
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Where I live my choices for quality audio are limited. So I took a trip to my closest Magnolia store in the neighboring state. I brought with me a small selection of music and a few movies so that I could audition the speakers. I understand that how it sounds in the showroom is not exactly what I should expect in my home but it would give me some idea of what the speaker's themselves can handle. I told the Best Buy rep what my goals were. He brought me into the higher end sound room and let me audition the whole room. After trying out a few systems he steered me towards the B&W line. I had never heard of these guys but after the first demo it became my baseline for comparing everything else to. The sound was clear, full, and essentially my ears loved them. After about an hour of playing around with music, movies, and matching center and subs I finally settled on the 685s. They fit the balance of size and price I was looking for. I have not regretted the decision. They sound just as wonderful in my living room. I chose to match this up with the HTM62 S2 and the Energy ESW-C10 which was on sale for half the price of the B&W Sub. Music sound wonderful compared to my old Bose 321 system. And I find myself leaving the radio running all day now that music doesn't have that cruddy Bose sound. Movies are full and rich at all volume levels. When I finish building out my home theatre they will be with additional B&W speakers.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
I would recommend this to a friend!
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B&W PI5 true wire-free headphones are attractive, well-built, and they deliver a refined sound quality. Featuring Bluetooth 5.0 with Qualcomm aptX technology these earphones ensure reliable connectivity whether you are streaming from your smartphone, tablet or PC. Allows connection of up to two devices at the same time, however, only one device can be used to play or make a call at a time. Download the Bowers & Wilkins free headphone app, available for Apple and Android for further control of the sound and noise cancellation, right on your phone. The PI5 headphones feature the latest innovations in adaptive noise cancellation along with 4 built-in microphones that pick up ambient noise and cancel it with an equal, but opposite, audio signal and enhance the call quality. There are three levels of Adaptive Noise Cancellation – High, Low and Auto, that can be controlled either by the multi-functional button on the left earbud or via the app. Similarly, the touch-sensitive button on the right earbud allows you to enable voice assistance. The buttons also allows you to control playback and phone call functions with single (play/pause, answer call), double (skip forward, end call), or triple presses (skip backward). Another stand-out feature of these headphones is the intuitive detection sensors that put the earphones on standby or reconnect them depending upon whether they are removed or put back on. The PI5s come with a sturdy and attractive charging case for charging the earbuds when not in use. The case is equipped with two 350mAh rechargeable batteries. Each earbud has a rechargeable battery which provides up to 4 hours of wireless playback. Including the charging case, the PI5 can provide up to 12 hours of continuous playback.
Is there an App to set the equalizer?
With the 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processors enabling up to 8-cores and 16-threads of multi-threaded performance, the latest generation of Alienware m17 goes beyond its predecessor. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 with Ultimate performance for gamers and creators. Realistic ray-traced graphics and AI-accelerated DLSS. Our latest thermal technology, Advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech, is an engineering approach where an Alienware system’s gaming performance is never compromised by means of electrical and mechanical methods while maintaining system stability during the highest performance states.
Is this a per-key RGB keyboard or a 4 zone?
With the 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processors enabling up to 8-cores and 16-threads of multi-threaded performance, the latest generation of Alienware m17 goes beyond its predecessor. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 with Ultimate performance for gamers and creators. Realistic ray-traced graphics and AI-accelerated DLSS. Our latest thermal technology, Advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech, is an engineering approach where an Alienware system’s gaming performance is never compromised by means of electrical and mechanical methods while maintaining system stability during the highest performance states.
Is the display having G-Sync?
For the 300Hz screen:
From Alienware's site:
"15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 300Hz 3ms 300-nits 100% sRGB color gamut"
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/alienware-m15-r4-laptop?~ck=mn
I do not see any indication of G-Sync on/off in the nVidia driver settings.
From Alienware's site:
"15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 300Hz 3ms 300-nits 100% sRGB color gamut"
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/alienware-m15-r4-laptop?~ck=mn
I do not see any indication of G-Sync on/off in the nVidia driver settings.
3 years, 1 month ago
by
ITJim
With the 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processors enabling up to 8-cores and 16-threads of multi-threaded performance, the latest generation of Alienware m17 goes beyond its predecessor. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 with Ultimate performance for gamers and creators. Realistic ray-traced graphics and AI-accelerated DLSS. Our latest thermal technology, Advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech, is an engineering approach where an Alienware system’s gaming performance is never compromised by means of electrical and mechanical methods while maintaining system stability during the highest performance states.
Is the ram upgradable?
From Alienware's user's guide:
Onboard system memory
NOTE: The memory is integrated to the system board and
cannot be upgraded after purchase.
You can find the user's guide on Alienware's support site.
Onboard system memory
NOTE: The memory is integrated to the system board and
cannot be upgraded after purchase.
You can find the user's guide on Alienware's support site.
3 years, 1 month ago
by
ITJim
HP OMEN Gaming Laptop: A thin and light premium gaming experience in an elevated design so you can play everyday. With an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics and cooled by OmenTempest Cooling, it makes you think how it all fits into such a tiny little package."
Can this output 144Hz over hdmi?
Yes it can. I am using the HP Omen X 25f over HDMI as an external monitor.
Just be sure to use a HDMI 2.0 or newer cable.
Just be sure to use a HDMI 2.0 or newer cable.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
ITJim
HP OMEN Gaming Laptop: A thin and light premium gaming experience in an elevated design so you can play everyday. With an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics and cooled by OmenTempest Cooling, it makes you think how it all fits into such a tiny little package."
Does it have Gsync?
This is not a Gsync monitor. At least I cannot find any information online or in the system drivers that tell me otherwise.
You can connect the laptop to a Gsync monitor and take advantage of all the features of Gsync with that monitor.
You can connect the laptop to a Gsync monitor and take advantage of all the features of Gsync with that monitor.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
ITJim
HP OMEN Obelisk by HP Desktop: Play graphically intense games with this HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer. You can easily store large amounts of media and other data on the 1TB hard drive and install games and programs on the 256GB SSD for fast access. This HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer has 16GB of memory for multitasking effectively, and the Intel Core i7-9700 processor handles resource-intense programs efficiently.
How many cores are there in this pc
8 physical cores. This processor does not support 16-way multitasking.
4 years, 10 months ago
by
ITJim
HP OMEN Obelisk by HP Desktop: Play graphically intense games with this HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer. You can easily store large amounts of media and other data on the 1TB hard drive and install games and programs on the 256GB SSD for fast access. This HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer has 16GB of memory for multitasking effectively, and the Intel Core i7-9700 processor handles resource-intense programs efficiently.
Is there a gtx 1660ti installed or not? What size pwr supply?
It says in the name that it is a GTX 1660ti. I can confirm that the video card is exactly as described. It is the 6gb version of the card. The Power Supply is 500Watts.
4 years, 10 months ago
by
ITJim
HP OMEN Obelisk by HP Desktop: Play graphically intense games with this HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer. You can easily store large amounts of media and other data on the 1TB hard drive and install games and programs on the 256GB SSD for fast access. This HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer has 16GB of memory for multitasking effectively, and the Intel Core i7-9700 processor handles resource-intense programs efficiently.
Does this computer have a memory card reader built in?
HP OMEN Obelisk by HP Desktop: Play graphically intense games with this HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer. You can easily store large amounts of media and other data on the 1TB hard drive and install games and programs on the 256GB SSD for fast access. This HP OMEN Obelisk desktop computer has 16GB of memory for multitasking effectively, and the Intel Core i7-9700 processor handles resource-intense programs efficiently.
What is the operating system for the pc, and does it come with a virus protection app
Windows 10 standard. It ships with 30 days of McAfee.
4 years, 10 months ago
by
ITJim