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ITJim's Reviews
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Immerse yourself in an engaging gaming experience with this HP OMEN Mindframe headset. FrostCap technology provides thermoelectric cooling for comfortable use during long hours of cyber battles, and the 7.1 virtual surround sound keeps you alert when any virtual enemy attacks. Real-time voice feedback and an on-ear cup volume control add essential functionality to this HP OMEN Mindframe headset.
 
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
I love this headset!
on December 15, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Look and Feel:
I have owned multiple gaming headsets from Turtle Beach, Razer, Microsoft, and Kinston over the years. This has got to be one of the coolest gaming focused headsets I have owned. The headset is mostly black. The cable that connects both ear cups acts as an accented racing stripe that runs along the middle of the head band. HP even made the channel this wire runs look aggressive. Nice touch. Each ear cup has an LED lighted square that can be changed from a static color, rotating color, or a randomly assigned color synced to whatever sound you are playing through the ear cups. The primary head band of this head does not touch your head. Instead, HP is using a secondary head strap that self-adjusts the headset to the size of your head. I was not sure if I would like this feature or not. I think HP did it right. The secondary band covers a flexible plastic strip that is attached about one inch above each ear cup. The secondary band can travel all the way to the top of the primary head band without any issues. My only concern is the durability of the plastic strips. The headset feels sturdy. I guess time will tell if the self-adjusting strap can go the distance or not.
Comfort:
This headset is very comfortable. The earcup padding is about 1 inch thick. Super soft. Breathable. But, is not sound proof. You will be able to hear any ambient sound in your gaming area. This does not bother me because I want to hear what is around me during my gaming sessions. You can always turn up the volume if you are the kind of person who does not like ambient sound invading your gaming sessions.
The USB cable is 6.5 feet long. I do not feel trapped at my gaming workstation with this length. I can at least stand up, reach for a drink, a book, my cell phone, or can stretch without worrying about pulling the cable out of my computer or causing some other calamity to my gaming station. The cable is covered in a fabric mesh to give it some additional longevity from rubbing up against surfaces while gaming. The rubber finish on the USB connector gives the cable that final premium touch.
Finally, the boom mic is short, easily folds up into the headset, and does not interfere with talking, rubbing my chin when I am thinking, or get in the way when I put food or drink to my lips.
Gaming:
I did try this headset with a few games. I found out quickly that 7.1 surround sound only works with games that support surround sound. I did spend a few hours using this headset with Fortnight. There were several times where loosing my life, or taking my opponent’s life, came down to the positional audio. I could hear the footsteps to my left of an enemy playing trying to sneak up on me. I could also hear the sounds of gunshots in the distance from multiple directions. I have had other 5.1 and 7.1 headsets from multiple manufactures but never did they live up to their reputations. To my surprise, this headset delivered the goods.
There must be a DAC built into this headset because the cable simple plugs into a standard USB port. I don’t need a fancy sound card or external DAC box to run the signal through. Highs are good. Bass is good for a headset at this price point. Machine gun bullets sound like machine gun bullets. Explosions sound like explosions. Voices, engines, and environmental effects sounded lively and meaningful. Over all, I think I found my new gaming headset!
How do I sound to other players? They can hear me. Unfortunate, the HP Omen Command Center does not have a built in playback and adjustments page to monitor and tweak the microphone. People can hear me during my games. I guess that is what is really important.
The volume control is a rotary control nob located on the right ear cup facing the back of my head. I can, and have made, quick volume changes throughout my review period. HP made sure any changes to the nob controls the Windows volume level. Just be careful with the volume control. These headphones are loud. I cannot understate this. You will damage your hearing if you play these headphones at full volume for any length of time. Hearing damage is cumulative. I am surprised that HP did not add a decibel limiter. I have the headset set to six on the 100 point Microsoft Windows volume control screen. Anything higher simply hurts my ears. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself speakers if you want your games playing at elevated decibel levels.
Frost Cap Technology:
HP incorporated a Peltier in each ear cup. It is a black piece of metal covering the speaker. The plate has holes in it to allow the sound to travel from the speaker to your ear. One side of the metal plate is cold and the other is hot. The side in the ear cup is kept at a lower temperature than the plate on the outside of the ear cup. I turned this feature to high and grabbed a heat gun to measure the inside and outside temperatures of the ear cup. The metal plate inside the ear cup was 64 Degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature on the outside of the earcup was 90. That is some difference! The tips of ears were really cold. Now, I am testing these in December when it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I’ll know if this feature really keeps my ears cool when we get into the summer months.
Omen Command Center:
Windows 10 automatically downloaded the Omen Command Center from the Windows Store as soon as I plugged it into the computer. I tried this on three different Windows 10 computers. Quick, easy, and required zero skill. The software itself is simple and straight forward. The Mindframe section has pages for lighting and cooling. The lighting menu allows you to control what color you want the LEDs on the ear cups to display as. There are also three special affects you can apply: Static, Color Shift, and Audio. Static and Color Shift are self-explanatory. The audio setting allows the LEDs to react to the sound passing through the ear cups. The Cooling section allows me to set the cooling ability to Off, Low, Medium, or High. You can tell the difference between each setting.
I would like to have seen some additional features here. For example, I would like to see a microphone adjustment screen that allows me to adjust the sound quality, mic boost settings, and a playback mode for mic checks. I know that these tools do exist in Windows 10 Sound Control panel. It would have been nice to see a unified settings page in the Omen Command Center.
Finally, the Omen Command Center settings you make on one computer do not persists between Windows 10 computers. One would think HP would have employed some of the sync features in Windows 10 to make the transition between Windows 10 machines seamless.
Final impressions/Comments
I like this headset. These are my new go to headphones for gaming. They are comfortable, flexible, have a long cable, and has a easy access volume nob. It is a commanding piece of gaming hardware. I recommend that you check these out if you are looking to upgrade your gaming audio experience. If you are going full Omen gaming then definitely pick these up. You gaming space will look sharp with all your gaming hardware conforming to the same aesthetic.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
 
Enjoy totally immersive gameplay with this bold and powerful HP Pavilion gaming desktop. Lag is nonexistent thanks to AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics, while high-speed performance is provided by an AMD Ryzen processor and 8GB of DDR4 RAM. Interior expansion slots allow for upgrades that ensure your HP Pavilion gaming desktop remains up to date.
 
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Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Great Entry Level Gaming Desktop
on December 5, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Gaming:
This is an entry level gaming desktop. For the price, it is a solid performer. I started by running the SuperPosition benchmarking software. It scored low when compared to Unigine’s public benchmarking score board. However, when I put in my favorite game, Mechwarrior Online, I was scoring between 40 to 110 fps at highest detail settings. I averaged 60 fps. For comparison, my two-year-old Nvidia 970 scored a little higher on the SuperPosition benchmark but can only average 40 fps in this same game at medium graphical detail settings. Goes to show that benchmarks only tell part of the story. Playing this game on the AMD RX 580 was like playing a whole new game.
For the first time in years, I can see the dust and particles thrown into the air by every mechs footfall. I saw fireballs falling through the air and impacting the sides of volcanic rock. Things that are meaningless to the actual game but increase the impressiveness of the game and my overall enjoyment of the game.
Next, I tried Batman: Arkham Asylum at full resolution and the graphical settings maxed out. Smooth as butter. I am also impressed that the Radeon software recognized my HP 25X gaming monitor that is FreeSync enabled. I do believe this had a lot to do with the frame rates hitting higher than 60 fps. My impression? This is a great choice for a budget gaming machine. I cannot wait to throw more games at it.
Setup:
Unpacking the system was easy. The computer comes with a mouse, keyboard, power cable, the computer, and a quick setup guide. The first two pages of the setup guide shows how to setup the computer using easy to follow pictures. The rest of the guide does have some troubleshooting information, basic system care instructions, and a section on where to get additional help from various HP support options. Setup for me took minutes mostly because I replaced this system with a pre-existing system. It may take 15 minutes or more if you are putting together a new space with all new equipment. Just keep your expectations reasonable.
Look and Feel:
The system is black with a dark grey, brushed metal finish. There is a small slit running along the center face of the case. A green racing stripe appears when the computer is powered on. When the power is off then the stripe is imperceptible. There are six USB ports on the back of the system, two on the front, and a USB type C connector on the front. The computer also has a memory card reader and a laptop style DVD Writer drive. The AMD RX 580 has a single HDMI connector and three DisplayPort connections. The computer is currently driving two monitors with a third on its way. I typically pick a single monitor for gaming while using the extras to post information, web surf, or perform some other task while I wait for levels to load.
For some reason, HP chose to go with the Ryzen 5 2400G. This is an APU, meaning it has an integrated graphics processor. The integrated Vega 11 graphics processor in this APU is not being used. To further drive the point home, HP bolted a cover over the motherboard’s HDMI port. During testing, the Vega 11 graphics were never used regardless of the system idle or content. I own a laptop with the same processor and the AMD 560 mobile processor. The driver’s on that system will swap between graphics processors depending on workload. So, what is the point of adding an APU to this system if there is no intent of leveraging it? No idea. I did not remove the HDMI cover to test the port. I do not have the special screw driver bit to remove the cover, yet. I plan on testing this sometime in the future.
The computer does come with a mouse and keyboard. Both are cheap, period. The keyboard narrow from number keys to space bar, nothing to differentiate it as a gaming computer’s keyboard, and adequate enough for typing. I would game on it if I did not already have a dedicated gaming keyboard and mouse. The mouse is not even worth talking about. It is my opinion that HP cheaped out on the mouse and keyboard to give us a nice mid-tier graphics card. I will take the trade-off. Plus, you can always save up for a better mouse and keyboard.
Finally, HP chose to place a white sticker on the side of the computer case. This is basic system information. No idea why HP chose to do this other than for their own needs at the factory. It does ruin that initial “wow, I’ve got a new gaming computer at Christmas!” feeling. HP could have chosen a different route on this one. Half the meal is eaten with the eyes, HP!
Inside the Case:
All gamers I know love to tinker with their rides. So, I tore the system apart. I also included two photos. The computer case is not a screwless design; meaning, everything is screwed in and secured in some fashion. Thankfully, the system will come apart with a simple flathead screwdriver. The system is compact with some cleaver design choices. The drive cage holds the 1TB drive vertically. The DVD write is directly beside it. Cabling is minimal and well managed. The drive cage does block access to 1/3 of the case’s interior. You must remove this cage in order to replace or upgrade the memory, the HDD, or add a small PCIe card. You could replace the M.2 SSD but I don’t see the point for this system. You would be better of picking up a cheap SSD and leaving the M.2 drive alone. This, of course, is my opinion.
There is a single 8GB stick of memory. I did not pull the memory card to get the numbers off of it. The power supply is 400 Watts and is rated at 80 Plus Platinum. This should make it an efficient power supply. There is a single expansion slot. You could get away with a PCIe audio card, video capture card, or some other compact PCIe expansion card. You will not be able to add a second video card to this system. If, for some reason, this is your intent, then you would be better investing in a more expensive system with a stronger graphics performer.
The video card, even though a separate card, cannot be upgraded in this system unless you go straight to HP. The computer case is designed around this card. I did include a photo of the video card. It is a single fan design with a decent head sink. It is not super heavy like you will find from a third-party manufacturer like EVGA or Gigabyte. The drive cage is design to fit and support the video card and heatsink. This way, the PCIe socket does not need to bear the full burden of the card’s weight. Again, if you want a higher end card then spend the extra money for a higher end system. For the money, this is a solid performer.
Finally, there is an extra drive bay of sorts on the 1/3 cover. This, again, HP made a strange design choice. The drive must be suspended from the opening with screws. HP did not include any screws. There is a second SATA connection but no companion power connection. There are three SATA connections on the motherboard. Without a way to power a third drive I fear that the only upgrade to storage available is either by adding an external USB device or replacing the included 1TB HDD.
Final thoughts:
Overall, I found this system to be a nice upgrade from what I had before. My old system is more than five years old. I was going to build a new system that, with current memory and storage prices, would have costs me significantly more money. What I need is a system that is capable of light gaming, office work, web surfing, and entertainment. I need the ability to drive multiple monitors which this system can do. And I need ample storage. I like the compact design, the Ryzen 5 delivers great performance and strong multi-tasking capabilities over my aging Intel processor, and the AMD RX 580 blows the doors off my older Nvidia card. The proof is in my real-world experience with my games and not the silly, generic benchmarks. I consider this an entry level gaming computer and will be treated as such. There are other systems around this price point that have their own unique offering. I think HP made the right compromises with this model. The 128 GB M.2 SSD is fast enough to run the system and the 1TB drive is large enough and fast enough to store and load my programs in a timely manner. The super cheap keyboard and mouse are functional and allowed HP to include a strong mid-tier graphics card at a solid price point. The system even looks cool next to the matching 25X gaming monitor once you remove that stupid sticker.
I think this would make a good entry level computer for a teenager, collage kid, or for someone who needs a computer first and performance gaming second.
Please like this review if you found it helpful. Thank you.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
User submitted photo
User submitted photo
+199points
212of 225voted this as helpful.
 
Experience the ultimate in FHD gaming graphics with this 24.5-inch HP 25X display. A smoother gaming experience with sharper, cleaner details is provided by a display that refreshes 144 times per second, while the micro-edge design provides ultra-wide, seamless viewing. The stand on this HP 25X display has a 100mm range of motion, making it easy to position for your comfort level.
 
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Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Great budget friendly gaming monitor!
on December 1, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
HP 25X Monitor Review
Setup:
I was up and running with the 25X within minutes. HP includes a quick setup guide taped to the face of the monitor. No subtly here! There is also a six-foot HDMI cable included in the box. The monitor also has a DisplayPort. This will allow for the connectivity of two devices. For example, you can connection your HP Pavilion gaming desktop to the DisplayPort connection and your work laptop to the HDMI. This way you can take advantage of multiple monitor support when you are working from home on snow day and not have to worry about reworking the wiring with your gaming computer. This is a must have capability for me.
Screen Controls:
There are five downward facing buttons on the bottom right of the bezel. The only one marked is the power button. The other four do not have any labels. I originally found this annoying. Pressing any button will produce an onscreen display in the bottom right corner. The graphics align with each button. It took me a few minutes to figure out the function that each graphic represents. The base functions are Switch Input, Viewing Modes, Information, and Main Menu. The viewing modes and main menu are where you can control the behavior of the monitor. The viewing modes allows you to choose from Low Blue Light, Night, Reading, HP Enhance +…, Gaming – FreeSync, Movie, Photo, and Custom. As far as I can tell, any changes you make to one of these profiles from the main menu automatically changes the custom profile. This is where HP should have included some useful information. For example, what the heck is HP Enhance + on the viewing modes menu and what is DisplayPort Mode… in the main menu? No clue and not sure how it enhances my experience with this monitor. HP should have taken more care here. The modes do change the viewing experience, so it is in your best interest spending some time cycling through them. It does not appear that you can bomb out any of the preset view modes so don’t worry too much about making a mistake as you surf the menus.
Look and feel
The monitor does look good. It is flat black, thin bezel around the sides the top of the screen, and just enough bezel along the bottom edge of the screen to accommodate the buttons, a product feature sticker, and some sharp looking green racing stripes. There are three stripes. The center stripe has an LED that lights up when the monitor is powered. The light has a subtle breathing pattern. Unfortunately, the green racing stripes on the left and right do not light up. I find this disappointing. The center racing stipe looks sharp lit up. I feel that HP missed a chance at greatness by ignoring the same effect for the left and right stripes.
I do like the long, vertical travel of the monitor along the stand. The monitor can be lowered almost to the table top and all the way up to my eye level. The panel rides smoothly from position to position. The monitor can also be easily rotated from landscape to portrait with little effort. The panel does tilt along the Y axis. This allows you to setup monitor at different viewing angles.
One final thought. I would like to have seen cable management on the back of this monitor. Instead, the cables simply hang from the back of the monitor and make my setup look unkept. If you are someone who values a clean look for their gaming space, then you will either want to look for a monitor with better cable management options or come up with a system to manage your cables with this monitor. I picked up some computer cable management products from Home Depot and stuck them to the back of the monitor. It is an inconvenience, but the issue is manageable.
Usage
I use this monitor for gaming with my HP Pavilion gaming desktop with an AMD X580, a DIY gaming computer with an older Nvidia 970, multiple laptops including an Acer Nitro 5 with an AMD 560X mobile GPU, and various work laptops. I typically have the monitor connected to my gaming system using a DisplayPort cable. All the other computers take turns using the HDMI connection. Connecting to the monitor is super easy. All I do is plug in the HDMI cable and tell Windows 10 to extend my desktop. All AMD video cards instantly recognize this monitor as FreeSync capable. The other computers simply recognize the monitor and the 1080p resolution. So far, I have had no issues swapping between systems.
Performance
The performance of the monitor seems a bit mixed. HP claims that this monitor has a 1ms response. However, I have seen multiple instances of ghosting. It is most evident when I drag the mouse cursor across the screen. The pointer turns into multiple pointers as it trails across the screen. I’ve also noticed this with Mechwarrior Online. At first, I thought it was the game. However, at 100+ frames per second, my images should be butter smooth. Instead, the images on the screen seem jerky as I pan the camera from left to right across the scene. The images do not break, though. So, I know that frames are not being dropped. When the action slows down, the images are crisp, clean, detailed, and colorful. I also played Batman: Arkham City. I noticed none of the issues I mentioned above. Butter smooth throughout the game. So, maybe the content is partly to fault for my experience.
AMD FreeSync
This is a FreeSync monitor. I have no idea why HP is not listing this feature. This will help any AMD Radeon owner’s purchasing decision easier. Maybe FHD stands for FreeSync High Def? It should be properly labeled. I can tell you that the Radeon drivers automatically recognized the FreeSync capabilities of this monitor and used it in every game I played. I saw frame rates up to 120fps. I never got to the magical 144fps that the monitor supports. I attribute that to the performance of my specific graphics card and not as a limitation of the panel. Maybe someone with a more powerful card can confirm the panel’s full potential. I also matched this up with an older Nvidia 970. My older G-Sync monitor, using the 970, could only achieve 60pfs regardless of the settings. I was able to achieve 100fps in the same game on this monitor! Go FreeSync!
Overall impressions
Overall, I do like this monitor. Most of my gripes are cosmetic and easily overcome with little effort on my part. The monitor does integrate well into my system. I do have a solid gaming experience. There is some image ghosting. However, I feel that I have some additional tweaking to do before I get the experience I am looking for. The monitor is also proving useful in a multi-computer system setup. I can use this monitor for office type work all day long and then re-purpose it for gaming without any effort.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+5points
8of 11voted this as helpful.
 
Shark APEX combines DuoClean, self-cleaning brushroll and Powered Lift-Away technologies to deliver our ultimate full-sized cleaning experience.
 
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Home Run!
on October 19, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Setup:
Unboxing was quick and easy. I did not have any issues removing the components from the packing material. The packing material was mostly cardboard recycled paper. There were a few styrofoam strips. I would have preferred 100% paper based recyclable material because my local recycling centers will not take Styrofoam. They say that it is cheaper to make new Styrofoam than it is to recycle it. I do appreciate Shark’s effort making the packaging environmentally friendly. I wish more companies would do follow suite.
Assembly was very easy. I only needed to consult the instructions for the pet hair removal tool. I was having a difficult time attaching it to the storage attachment on the back of the vacuum. The motor housing and the pet hair removal tool are both odd shapes which made attaching difficult at first. It was super easy once I figured out the trick. Otherwise, assembly went smooth. All parts attached with very little effort and little to no force. This is what I have always liked about Shark vacuums. The AZ1002 is no exception
Mobility:
The AZ1002 is very heavy. It is the heaviest household vacuum I have owned. The bulk of the weight is in the motor housing. This is the lift away portion of the vacuum. My wife did complain that she could only use the vacuum in the lift away configuration for a short period of time before fatiguing. The weight is irrelevant when in the upright configuration. There are two wheels on the back of the vacuum that allow super easy mobility when moving from room to room. My wife and I were surprised how easy it was pulling the vacuum around. Most vacuums we owned gave more resistance when pulling them. This gave no resistance at all.
Mobility is excellent when vacuuming the floors. Pushing the vacuum forward and back requires little effort. The active rollers do pull the vacuum forward and offer some resistance when pulling back against them. But, nothing that hinders my ability to move around the room. It took about a minute to get used to and compensate for. Going around corners and furniture surprised me. I turned the handle to go around my couch and the vacuums head pivoted with almost no force. It moves better than my Shark Rocket! I do consider the Rocket to be ultra-mobile. I love having this level of mobility in a full sized vacuum
Look and Feel:
The vacuum is very attractive. My old Shark was this putrid red and white throwback to the 1980s. This time around, Shark chose to go with blacks, greys, silver branding, and a bright red roller on the vacuums head.
Every part of the vacuum looks well thought out and functional. I think Shark really went the extra mile to ensure a superior user experience. The handle at the top of the vacuum is large, rounded, and covered in a hex pattern that increase grip and control. The lift away handle is also very large, covered in the same hex pattern grip, founded, and makes it easy to move the lift away around the house. There is an oversized button on the lift away handle to easily detach the lift away from the rest of the vacuum.
There are buttons everywhere! Want to remove the wand. Button for that! The lift away has a button. The dirt bin has an easy release button. Access to the rollers has two buttons! Every button is smartly placed and well labeled. Button presses have little resistance. Removing the wand, separating the handle from the wand, the lift away, the dust bun release, and the roller access separate without any effort. It took me about five seconds to empty the dust bin! Shark has really perfected their engineering in this respect.
Finally, the dust bins are slighted tinted but clear. This gives me a quick way to evaluate if I need to empty the dust bin before using the vacuum.
Performance:
This vacuum is nosier than previous Sharks I have owned. It is not terrible. Just louder. It is also more powerful than previous sharks I have owned. The cleaning power is excellent. My Shark Rocket has the special soft roller on the front to push dirt into the vacuum. This same roller, combined with the power motor of the AZ1002, creates a supercharged cleaning beast. I was surprised at how much dirt and hair the dust cut captured on my small 7 x 5 living room rug. I was using the Shark Rocket to clean this rug and never came close to this much material in a single cleaning session. I got the same performance on my hardwood, carpeted, and tile floors.
The pet brush also gets an A rating. My wife recommends this. She used the brush on our fabric and leather furniture. I was a bit worried when she said she used on my leather couch. But, the rollers did not scratch the leather. I do have a house bunny and a cat. If you think cats shed then you have never experience a pet rabbit! The pet brush did an excellent job picking up the fur from the furniture. This is important to me. No one wants to walk away from a couch or chair wearing a bonus sweater!
The easy release wand is good for reaching those hard to reach places. I have baseboard heating that, guess what, fills up with dust and animal fur. The wand is excellent for getting into the radiator covers and removing the dust and fur. I could also get under the radiators to clean the floor underneath.
Finally, the cord length is a few feet longer than previous shark vacuums. This may seem like a minor improvement. It means that you can go further, longer, without worry of disrupting your cleaning Zen! My wife loves this.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this is a very good vacuum cleaner. This is my third Shark. My wife, for whatever reason, loves vacuum cleaners. She gets Christmas morning excited. This vacuum is no different. She plugged it in and started cleaning the living room before I could get out of the way. Then she buzzed around the whole house. I enjoy a good cleaning experience. She glows. Other than the weight and the noise, which are really minor annoyances considering the power of this vacuum, I call this a winner.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+15points
15of 15voted this as helpful.
 
Handle storage demands with this Western Digital SATA solid-state drive. Its 560MB/s read speed and 530MB/s write speed are suitable for intensive applications, and its 2.5-inch form factor fits most desktops and laptops. The solid-state drive has no moving parts, making the drive resistant to shock to protect your data. Includes the WD SSD Dashboard to keep track of the drive's status.
 
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Customer Rating
3 out of 5
3
Solid SSD but WD could have done better!
on September 10, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
I originally got this SSD to replace the drive in my HP Envy laptop. As it turns out, my HP Envy laptop does not have a hard drive cradle for a hard drive. Instead, it has an NVMe SSD that is protected by a metal shield. I can only guess that it is there to protect it from people like me who do their own computer upgrades and repair work. I did have two other options available to me: external USB drive or internal drive for my desktop computer. I replaced my aging WD 750GB Black hard drive. I cloned the drive using the Arconis WD special edition software and then removed the mechanical hard drive from the system.
Ease of Install:
This is a standard 2.5-inch drive. Weights almost nothing at all. The connections are standard power and SATA connections. Originally, I popped this into an external SATA drive enclosure that is USB 3.0 compatible. You can purchase these types of enclosures at Best Buy and from other major technology companies. Pick what works for you. Installation was as easy as pushing the drive into the connection. As I stated earlier, I ultimately opted to plug this into my desktop. Installation was just as easy. I mounted the drive and then plugged in the SATA and power cables. Done!
Documentation:
The only documentation in the box is the warranty information booklet. What is a statement about what software is available to you as a Western Digital customer. A simple card listing out the software packages, basic purpose, and location would have been enough. It is not much of an ask for software freely available on WD’s web page.
Software:
There is no software in the box. Where is it? Here: https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&i
If you want to replace your current drive, then you will need to clone it. Download Acronis True Image WD Edition. It is the first package in the list. You will need to connect your new hard drive to the computer. You can either do this by connecting it to the computer by the SATA hard drive case that connects over USB or, if it is a desktop computer, then connect it by a SATA cable to an empty SATA port on the computer’s motherboard. Run the software and follow the directions.
I also downloaded the WD Discovery software for Windows. Don’t waste your time. This package cannot detect this SSD regardless of how it is connected to your computer. This also means that any utilities that WD has bundled into their suite of products are not available for this drive. Again, this is disappointing and needs to be addressed by WD.
Speed:
This is not the fastest drive on the market. However, if you are replacing a mechanical hard drive with this then you will see an instant boost in system performance. If you want a good combination of speed and capacity, then you will want to do your research and pick what works best for you. Or, if your system will support it, pick up an NVMe drive. If you simply want to breath new life into an old laptop or desktop computer, then this drive will definitely do this for you.
Uses:
External drive enclosure with a USB 3/3.1 port will give you close to SATA speeds.
Internal for an older laptop that allows hard drive replacement and supports a SATA interface. Laptops can present a special challenge for upgrades so gauge your own comfort level with working on your laptop before engaging in this activity.
Desktop computer with available SATA port with cable.
The drive does do exactly what it is supposed to do. I am disappointed with the lack of documentation. It is not a big effort to simply document where to get Arconis so that you can clone your drive. WD could have printed it on the box! WD’s own home-grown utilities won’t recognize this drive. That is a downright oversite! Performance is okay but nothing to brag about. I have older SSD that post better performance numbers than this drive. So, no, I cannot give this drive five stars.
Sorry WD, I cannot recommend this product until you improve your documenation for your retail customers!
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+2points
5of 8voted this as helpful.
 
The Brother MFC-J995DW XL INKvestment Tank all-in-one inkjet printer with tank technology is the optimal choice for your home or small office needs. The MFC-J995DW XL features reengineered INKvestment Tank cartridges along with an internal ink storage tank to deliver uninterrupted printing for up to 2 years without the need to purchase ink. Business-capable features include mobile device printing, Near Field Communication (NFC) print and scan capabilities, flexible paper handling options, automatic two-sided printing and easy on-screen navigation using a 2.7" color touch screen. With the ink included in-box, the Brother INKvestment Tank all-inclusive solution delivers truly uninterrupted printing, exceptional features, super convenience, large page yields and low-cost printing. Includes a two-year limited warranty with free online, call, or live chat support for the life of your printer. Prints up to 12 ISO ppm*, up to 10 ppm* in color.
 
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Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Solid performance with some image quality issues
on August 7, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Ease of Use:
Setup out of the box was easy. It took me about 15 minutes to physically remove the printer from the box, remove the packing tape, and load the ink cartridges. Full setup, however, took me about an hour. This included the physical setup, the quick setup instructions to prepare the printer for use, loading the ink cartridges, priming the internal ink wells, printing tests, configuring the Brother Management software and drivers on my computer, and deploying all the printer firmware and software updates. The printer does have wireless and hard-wired options to connect to your network. I chose to setup the printer on my wireless network. Windows 10 will find the printer on the network and load the appropriate drivers for you. That’s good news if you do not want to deploy Brother’s software. The downside is that you won’t get the nifty ink report that shows a graphic representation of how much ink is left or how many pages are left to print. Brother’s software also allows remote scanning of documents and images as well as control over where the printer can pull images from.
Ink Capacity:
The ink cartridges that ship with this printer are massive! The color cartridges are about three times the size of a standard Brother ink cartridge. The blank in cartridge is twice the size of the color cartridges. The cartridges walls are clear so that you can see the amount of ink left in each cartridge. When I installed the cartridge, the printer went into a three to five-minute transfer of ink from the cartridge to an internal reservoir. The process was quiet. I included a photo one of my old Brother color cartridges next to the new one. Huge difference.
Print Quality Black:
Black print quality is outstanding! I printed several documents. One sided print is fast, clean, and the results are super easy to read. Duplex printing is not as fast. For some reason it takes a moment for the printer to orient the page so that it can pull the page back through the printer to print on the back of the page. The results were still clean. The images, on the other, were a mixed bag. See below.
Print Quality Color:
Color printing seems to be dependent on the quality settings for your print job. As a test, I scanned a high gloss image of an F-22 Raptor promotional poster. I first reprinted the image using “normal” as the print quality. I ended up with what looked the image I scanned printed on graph paper with one inch squares. The lines of each square are bold printed in the color of whatever part of the image it covers. At first, I thought that the printer had an alignment problem. I ran the onboard print and alignment tool. The pattern printed cleanly. Next, I printed the same image at high quality. The image did look better and the strange 1-inch squares were gone. I printed several other images; switching between normal quality and high quality. I did not get the grid pattern with any of my other “normal” quality images. But, I did get some degree of lines in every image.
The colors were good. I never felt that the ink on the page matched the colors of the image I was viewing. Most likely this is a calibration issue between the computer’s screen and the printer. Since I do not need this level of accuracy I chose not to pursue fixing this. I did notice that images were not a crisp and often missed subtle detail. For example, I printed an artist’s rendition of sun rays passing over a belt of colorful gasses somewhere in space. The printed image was missing all the light rays. Additionally, a lot of the detail was not as crisp as the original image. I noticed this on the image of the F-22 Raptors. I also noticed this on a few professional photos I had taken of some plastic models I built. The tight details were lost. I also noticed that areas of high contrast were minimized regardless of the print quality I chose. Finally, I did print a multi-page PDF that contained black text, colored text, and colored images. The black and colored text was sharp and easy to read. The colored images suffered from that line issue I described earlier. Normally, if I’m printing out one of these documents, I am not looking for the highest image details. But, I would like the images to not have strange artifacts in them.
Print Speed:
Print speed for text and images is fast. I had a fix page, single sided document out of the printer in no time. It is also much quieter than my previous Brother Multi-function printer. That is a plus. Color images take a little bit longer but not much longer. Of course, the print speed is tied to the image quality. Normal quality printed faster than high quality images. Duplex printing did take significantly longer. Where a text document took a few seconds, it took a duplex black and white document about 10 to 15 seconds a page. That is because the duplex unit had to take a few seconds to setup the page to return through the printer for the second printing pass. I did not attempt to print color images in duplex mode. I figured that ink saturation would destroy the page like it has on every other ink jet printer I’ve ever used.
Software:
As I mentioned earlier, you do not need the install the brother software on your computer. I have about seven Windows 10 computers on my network and not all of them need the full Brother suite of software installed. Windows 10 does have a driver. Brother does include the address to the software in their quick start guide. I typed the URL into my browser and downloaded the software to my test machine. Installation was easy. The software immediately detected an update for the printer. I allowed the software to download those updates and update the printer. The console does give me an estimate of how many pages of printing I have left for each ink cartridge. It also allows for remote scanning of content as well as remote connectivity to external storage devices. I did remote scan documents and images to my computer. The process was easy. I would like to have seen a preview of my subject before I did a full scan. For example, some scanners will allow you to select the part of the image that is important to you so that the least amount of time is taken to scan the image. Other software packages allowed for rotation of the image. Maybe it is part of this printer’s software package. I was not able to uncover it during my testing.
The software also checks for updates on a regular basis. You can adjust the frequency of the checks. You can also influence how and when the updates are installed. As well as how often the software nags you about the updates. Part of the reason I did not deploy this software to all of my machines was to control which machines could control the updates.
Scan quality:
The scan quality of whatever I scanned looked good. I didn’t notice any artifacts in my images. Colors look good as well. Color and plain text came out clean and ready for me to use however I wanted it.
Scan Speed:
Scan speed at the default of 300 x 300 dpi is fast and mostly quiet. My older Brother multifunction printer could be heard across my house when it scanned anything. This new model is about half as loud. I did perform a 1200 x 1200 dpi test and had to lift the scanner’s lid to see if anything was happening. I ruined the exposure to prove the scanner had not stalled. The scanner was so quiet that I didn’t realize that my image was being scanned. In all fairness, the Brother Software should have told me that the image was scanning and at what percentage of the image was complete. The 1200 x 1200 dpi scan took a full minute. The 300 x 300 took about 8 seconds. The scanner will take additional time as the scan dpi increased between 300 to 1200.
WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor):
The WAF is pretty good. My wife stated that she really liked the color and preferred it over the black Brother multi-function printer that this replaced.
Final thoughts:
This printer is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I cannot give it five stars simply because of the awful image reproduction under normal quality. I am not expecting the amazing image reproduction here. But, the strange lines that are introduced in the image are not acceptable regardless of the image quality settings. The duplex printing and scanning functions are great. The software package seems a bit bloated for what it does but not overly so. And I do like the estimated page counts for each ink tank. I would hope the that software is watching the printing habits and calculating the page counts based on habits and not on some arbitrary ISO or made up marketing standard. Time will tell. They say there are two years of ink in the box. We will see.
Finally, the full color control panel is well setup and the menus are very easy to navigate. The display panel is also on a hinge, so you can see it at multiple angles. I did find this feature useful during setup.
If you are looking for a solid performer for home, school, or a small office then go with this printer. If you need something that will give you rock solid color image printing, then keep shopping around.
I hope you found this review useful.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+58points
58of 58voted this as helpful.
 
Study or work hard on this HP Envy convertible laptop, which features a large 15-inch screen. The laptop opens up easily to create a tablet for note-taking, while an AMD Ryzen processor supports Windows 10 Home and other applications effortlessly. The reliable128GB solid-state hard drive on this HP Envy convertible laptop stores lots of files and programs.Learn more.
 
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
HP has Ryzen!
on July 22, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Setup:
The HP Envy 2 in 1 was super easy to setup. Unpacking and setup took about 10 minutes. Windows 10 with Cortana narration makes going through the steps of setup and sign-in simple. I was greeted with HP’s Jump Start program during my first sign on. Jump Start will guide you through product registration, McAfee Anti-Virus sign up, and other paperwork like items. There is also an HP Support Assistant that will handle items such as driver updates, firmware updates, and allows access to a lot of technical information about the laptop. This tool is also a very easy way to access the laptop’s serial number and model number. Both numbers are printed on the bottom of the laptop, but you won’t be able to read it without a magnifying glass. Having this information available through HP Support Assistant will come in very handy when you interact with HP for support services.
Microsoft Word signed me into my Office 365 account and verified and instantly registered Office on my new laptop. Within minutes, all of my office applications were available to me. Windows took care of syncing my shortcuts between my different Windows 10 system. Synced my desktop settings such as my desktop background. One Drive and Windows 10 email took a few minutes to setup. Windows Update also went very smooth.
Look and Feel:
This laptop has an excellent feel to it. It feels solid to the touch. The laptop is thin. It is heavy at 4.7 pounds. It is not so heavy that it prevents me from throwing this in a backpack or computer bag to work on the go. The unique hinge design allows the laptop to fold in half so that I can use it as a tablet. The hinges are made of metal. I do not have any worries about the laptop joints being week and breaking with use.
Microsoft has done a great job on the tablet experience. The screen supports both touch and Windows Ink. Meaning, I can use a Windows Ink enabled pen to draw, write, and paint on the screen. I can also use the pen as a mouse in many applications. My Microsoft Surface Pen synced with this laptop with no issues. Writing was smooth. Input lag was minimal if any at all.
Probably my favorite part of the look and feel are the two AMD badges on the wrist wrest. It is so refreshing to finally have something other than an Intel logo on a laptop. It is a small thing but it did make me happy to see them.
Screen:
The screen is pretty good. The screen resolution is 1080p. Not as high resolution as a Microsoft Surface and certainly not in the same league as a Mac Book. But, the screen is adequately bright and vibrant enough for most uses. I played a few videos on Netflix. The motion was clean with some occasional stutter and pixilation. But nothing unlike what I see on an expensive LED TV. The AMD Settings application does give me the ability to adjust the video experience by giving you access to multiple video presets such as Cinema, Vivid, and Home Video. It also gives you the ability to custom tailor your experience by giving you access to all the settings controls.
Working through office applications was easy. The screen responded to pinching, zooming, and navigation commands without hesitation. Scaling is also spot on. Images and text were clear regardless of the zoom level. Images were sharp and colorful. The screen provides an acceptable and pleasant computing experience.
The laptop screen is FreeSync enabled. This means that the integrated Vega 8 graphics processor can squeeze better frame rates and performance out of the screen than it could without the technology. By default, FreeSync is not enabled. I have no idea why. You will need to go into the AMD Settings application to turn it on. The laptop is not a gaming platform. It will play games from the Windows Store with ease. I tested using Halo Spartan Assault. The graphics were butter smooth. Response between my Xbox controller and the laptop were also very quick. I was limited to what I could test due to the limited size hard drive on this system. Then again, I didn’t pick up this laptop to game on.
Performance:
Performance out of box has been very good. I have not seen any slow-downs working with Windows or Windows applications. Multi-tasking has been excellent. My only gripe is the performance of Microsoft’s Edge browser; which stinks on every computer I have used. This is not an issue unique to HP or AMD.
My primary use for this computer is Microsoft Office, web browsing, and lite entertainment. Microsoft Office applications start quickly and without any issues. The computer does keep up with my typing without any pausing or keystroke buffering. Spreadsheets load quickly. I have had no issues manipulating data or working with pivot tables. Microsoft OneNote, which I do use extensively, does not hesitate when jumping between notebooks, typing pages of data, drawing, manipulating images, or importing content from the web. Overall, I would say this notebook rocks when it comes to productivity!
For lite entertainment, I do watch the occasional Netflix movie. I was able to work through multiple OneNote notebooks while streaming a Netflix movie. The movie video played without any interruptions. There was no stuttering or artifacts that I could detect. OneNote did not give me any issues either. Having other applications open and minimized did not seem to have an impact on performance either. I did spend some time watching CPU and memory performance in Task Manager. Ryzen ate through whatever I threw at it. It was a real treat to see a laptop with eight threads all churning through work. The 8 GB of memory also seemed to be more than adequate for my needs.
Touchpad and keyboard:
The keyboard feels comfortable. The keyboard does include a full number pad. The over-sized touchpad is off center, favoring the left side of the keyboard, and is comfortably located under the space bar. Everything is offset due to the inclusion of the number pad. The keys are a comfortable size, have a good travel, and are relatively quiet. You will not be keeping anyone awake typing on this keyboard unless you are one of those people who really pound your way through a document.
The keyboard keys are backlit. I work at my computer under multiple lighting conditions. Backlighting solves all the issues I have associated with workspace lighting. The keys and keyboard are evenly lit. Each key’s value is easy to read. No one key looks brighter than any other key. Finally, there are no bright spots bleeding between the keys. This makes the keyboard’s lighting easy on the eyes.
The touchpad can make a break a notebook. I have had issues with laptops, name your manufacturer, where the typing experience is ruined by the cursor jumping around the screen while typing. This does lead to content being auto deleted while typing, text being injected into parts of the document where I did not intend it to go, and sometimes the mouse choosing items off the ribbon in MS Word and causing some random feature being activated. Most people will tell you to lift your wrists when typing. It is not a wrist issue. It is an issue with the touch pad. HP and Synaptics seem to have nailed the drives on this model. I’ve written this entire review without a single typing incident. Thank you both for fixing this!
There are some issues still with the touchpad. For example, if I am on a media rich web page, the finger gestures may stutter or not work at all. The good news if that these issues do not extend to the touch screen. If I am having an issue scrolling down a web page with the touchpad then I can perform the same activity directly on the touch screen with little to no issues. If I had to choose between the typing experience and web surfing performance, I will choose the typing experience.
Sound:
Bang & Olufsen have done a remarkable job in the world of laptops. The sound is not deep and rich by any measure. All speaker laptops are similarly constrained. However B&O have done a great job of making their laptop solution clear at all volume levels. The sound is not tinny. The laptop and speakers do not resonate when the speakers are at volume. For laptops speakers, these are excellent!
Misc:
I was able to connect to multiple Bluetooth enabled devices including my office’s stereo receiver to stream Pandora while I worked. I also connected to a portable Sony speaker, another HP Laptop, wireless headphones, and a smart TV. I tried to connect to a Microsoft Xbox Controller but was not able to do it with the one controller I have. I am unsure if it was an issue with the controller or the laptop. The controller connected via USB cable without any issues. I enjoyed an hour of Halo Spartan Assault with the controller without any further issues.
Overall Impressions:
I think HP has a home run with this laptop. The build quality, the system specs, and the laptop’s performance are outstanding at this price point. Multi-tasking is superb. I really love that HP took a chance on the new Ryzen APU. AMD has come a long way over the last few years and this mobile processor shows that AMD can stand toe to toe with Intel.
I did add a second monitor to this laptop via HDMI cable. Video is clear, bright, colorful, and smooth. The sound is great for a laptop. I can easily connect, via Bluetooth, to external devices to stream content. I am very thankful that my workflow is no longer interrupted by garbage touch pad issues thanks to improved driver support from Synaptic. The HP Support Assistant software is very useful. System specs, help documents, interactive help, and warranty information are a few clicks away where they used to be a painful phone call to support.
This is a great laptop and I hope to get years of excellent use from it.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+90points
98of 106voted this as helpful.
 
Add dramatic bass elements to your music system or home theater experience with this 600X MartinLogan Dynamo subwoofer. The high-performance amplifiers and pro-style woofers fill your entertainment space with a wide spectrum of bass frequencies. This MartinLogan Dynamo subwoofer also has remote control capability through your smartphone app, allowing precise configuration of settings.
 
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Great 10" sub with innovative software!
on July 19, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Setup:
Setup of the subwoofer was very easy. The box does show simple to follow directions to unpack the subwoofer from the box. It is very important that you follow their directions so as not to damage your new subwoofer. The subwoofer is packed very well. The top and bottom of the sub is packed in Styrofoam. The sub is wrapped in a thin cloth bag that keeps Styrofoam bits from sticking to and helps prevents scratches during unpacking. Personally, I thought the added touch gave a bit of class to the whole process. All the controls and connections on the back of the sub are clearly marked. For my setup, all I needed was power and the LFE cable from my receiver’s sub pre-out to the LFE connection the sub. I set the gain to the middle of the dial, the power control to auto, and toggled the app control switch to app. The sub is light and small making it easy to move into whatever room position I wanted. I chose to place the sub at the front of my room a few feet away from the corner. The user’s guide does cover, in detail, how to find the best room placement for your sub. Unpacking, connections, and placement took about ten minutes.
App:
There are two apps that make up the control system for this sub. There is the MarinLogan Sub Control app and then there is the Anthem Room Correction, or ARC, app. The user’s manual does cover these applications in detail. The application allows control over Volume, Low Pass Filter, Phase control, Listening Modes, 20 – 30 Hz boost levels, Room Correction, and the ability to set a pass code so that you can restrict who can modify the sub-woofer settings. I have this subwoofer paired with a Pioneer Elite receiver supports minimal base management. These applications add the base management back into my listening space. First, I’m allowing the receiver to manage the crossover frequency to the subwoofer. I have it set to 80Hz. It is a very common crossover setting. I then loaded the MartinLogan Sub Control app to my iPhone. I spent some time playing with all the settings. I didn’t have to worry about screwing up the sub because there is a reset button that will return everything to factory defaults. So, have fun. Finally, I chose to give the Anthem Room Correction a try. I was prompted to download a separate application from the Apple Store. The directions were simple. The results were magical. I was instructed to hold my iPhone at my primary listening position and then four additional positions around my listening position. What a difference this made to how the sub sounded in my room. It was like night and day. The base was smoother at my listening position and sounded better than with any of the manual settings that I had tried. Bravo MartinLogan! I wish I had this capability for my main home theater system.
The manual does state that any sub will sound boomy without proper room calibration. So, keep in mind that great bass does take some effort on your part. ARC does make this process much easier.
Another cool innovative feature that I directly benefited from is the ability to play a range of test tones through the sub. The app will run through a range of tones from 20hz to 120hz. I noticed immediately that my room hit a resonance frequency that sounded like the room was rattling. I was able to pause the frequency sweep and isolate the rattling noise to a frequency of 39hz. With the tone playing, I was able to identify the source of the resonance. It turned out that one of the subwoofer feet was not completely touching my floor. The movement was so slight that to the touch everything felt fine. I move the sub slightly and the resonance stopped. Wow! I would have never found this without the app. Saved me months of trying to track down strange resonances. The MartinLogan apps definitely set the Dynamos apart from all other subwoofers at this price point. What a value!
Finally, the application does have three sound modes to choose from: Movie, Music, and Night. Movie is an aggressive bass management preset that is great for filling in those power bass notes from our favorite movies. Music is less aggressive and does make a difference when listening to my favorite music. Night is a bit more interesting. It seems to be a combination of aggressive bass management but at a lower volume. I noticed the sub was not very loud but did have great detail at those levels. I found this great because I often listen to my stereo at night when others in the home are in bed. It is also a great feature for those of you who live in apartment buildings and don’t want to upset your neighbors but still want good low-end detail.
Documentation:
The included documentation is excellent! I have not seen another speaker manufacture be as clear and descriptive as MartinLogan. I have owned Klipsch, SVS, Bower and Wilkins, and Sony. None of them hold a candle to MartinLogan. The manual is written in multiple languages. The diagrams are clear. The explanations of each feature are also clear and concise. A printed copy is in the box. The PDF copy is available on MartinLogan’s website.
Music Sound:
MartinLogan recommends that you break in your sub for about 50 hours before putting any real stress on it. After setup, I left my stereo play the radio for two days before doing any serious listening.
The sub sounded boomy before running the room correction software. After running ARC, the sound did even out to sound more natural in my listening space. The base is tight and not overwhelming. For music, I do not have the sub setup aggressively. I listened to pop, some rap, electronica, electro swing, and classical music selections. They all sounded great. The sub is capable of outputting good sound pressure, but it is not powerful enough to punch me in the chest. In my opinion, a larger sub would be required to give you that punch to the chest feeling while also maintaining good, tight sound.
For my purposes, this is one of the best 10” subs I’ve listened too that does a great filling in the low end for my speakers.
Movie Sound:
One of the first challenges I put the sub through was the original Pacific Rim. As I mentioned before, the bass from this sub will not punch you in the chest. It did play this movie with excellent detail. Every Jaeger foot step, punch, and Kaiju roar was excellent. The sub was also very detailed and speedy between changes in frequency. I normally watch this movie in my home theater that includes an SVS 2000 PB 12” ported sub. The SVS shakes the entire house! The 600X is not big enough or powerful enough to shake my house. It did still give me an excellence experience when taken in context of the smaller listening space and the inclusion the bass management provided by ARC. The experience does make me wonder how the larger subs in MartinLogan’s range could compete with my SVS sub in a home theater solution. When I’m ready to upgrade, I will definitely give MartinLogan a serious evaluation. The 600X is doing an excellent job as an inexpensive second system solution in my smaller, secondary listening space.
I did test the sub’s prowess with additional content from Netflix. Again, the bass was accurate for its size, speedy, detailed, and never overwhelmed my speakers. All I needed to do was swipe a few settings in the base control app and more base was instantly available. I will caution you though. This sub only reaches down to 27 Hz. A movie like Pacific Rim will deep down to 20Hz or lower. Even though the movie sound great, there are still details that the sub cannot reproduce. Most music, however, will never reach this low. If you want to go deeper, then you may want to check out the 800X instead.
Night Sound:
As I mentioned before, I was impressed with the level of detail available with night mode. I listened to music and watched a few movies on Netflix. The sound levels did not rock my world but it did give me a special respect for this subwoofer. Give it a try.
Overall Impression:
I purchased this sub to add a stereo system to a small basement room that is primarily used for office work and music listening. I didn’t want to place a super powerful sub in this space because I don’t have a need for chest punching bass. My goal was sound detail. I feel that I achieved this. The inclusion of the application controls using my iPhone really took this 10” sub to a level that I didn’t think I could achieve with the equipment I have in this space. Boy, was I wrong. MartinLogan is really spoiling it’s customers with this level of control at this price point. They raised the bar for what I will expect for my next home theater subwoofer purchase.
I hope you found this review helpful. I would recommend this subwoofer to anyone who is looking to setup an inexpensive home theater or stereo system in a smal
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+21points
22of 23voted this as helpful.
 
Set up a Dolby Vision home cinema with this LG Ultra HD Blu-ray player. It supports 4K and HDR content, and its Wi-Fi connectivity lets you enjoy premium on-demand programs from your favorite streaming providers. Play media files from a portable device via the USB port of this LG Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
 
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Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Great player!
on June 11, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Pros:
Solid construction
Great color reproduction
Compact
Two HDMI outputs for systems without HD Pass-through
3D performance is flawless
Cons:
Stupid product sticker on front of box
No options to display HDR output type
Special Display color settings don’t make sense
Simplink is a pain
Magic Remote kind of works
This is a very capable 4K Blu-ray player. The player’s interface is very easy to work with. The home screen has four icons that represent the four major functions of the player: Movie, Music/Pictures, Applications, Settings. I have never used a Blu-ray player to server up photos before. I do have an DLNA compliant SAN on my network that does contain many photos and music albums. Unfortunately, the player did not recognize the network device. As a result, I was not able to test this feature.
Since I already own a Smart TV there was no need to setup either YouTube or Netflix on this BD player. The inclusion of the apps is a great feature for those who do not have a Smart TV and want to stream either service. For some reason, LG felt the need to put an ugly sticker on the front of this player to advertise the fact that it had streaming capabilities. The reason I bring this up is because the sticker is very hard to take off. I understand the reasoning before advertising, but LG should have used an easy to remove sticker. I am sure that I am like a lot of folks who purchased this player for integration into a home theater system. All of my components are black, so they blend into the background when content is playing. The sticker cheapens that experience.
Movies are first rate. I tested 4K Dolby Vision content, HDR 10 Content, regular Blu-ray content, and 3D content. The Dolby Vision content was outstanding. You do need a TV and a player that are both Dolby Vision capable. If you are running the content through a receiver then the receiver needs to either support Dolby Vision or Dolby Vision passthrough. My receiver supports passthrough. I eventually chose to by-pass the receiver for video in favor of going straight to the TV. Simplink was playing havoc with my receiver’s Audio Return Channel, ARC, so I was forced into a work around. The player does have two HDMI outputs: one supports audio/video and the second is audio only. I chose to run an HDMI cable from the BD player to the HDMI 1 port on the TV. I then ran a second HDMI cable from the audio only port to receiver’s BD HMDI labeled port. I did not run into any picture/audio syncing issues with this configuration. I could have chosen to go with a single HDMI out to the TV and then allow the TV to output the audio either via Fiber Optic or over the ARC. Unfortunately, the receiver was unable to sync the sound with video using either configuration. I did try to modify the audio delay but could not find any setting that made either of these configurations work. This is not a shortcoming of the BD player since there are a lot of components contributing to this issue.
A little image appears in the upper right-hand corner of the TV stating if the content is either HDR or Dolby Vision. The image only lasts a few seconds. There is no way from the BD player what format is running. The image seems to be the only indication. Your TV may have an info screen that will tell you. Definitely check your TV’s user’s manual. I did find one strange quark regarding the HDR indicator image. When I first got the BD player, I did get the Dolby Vision image on the screen. Now all I get is the HDR image regardless of the disc’s format. The images are still amazing.
Content: The first movie I played was Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The second scene of the movie where our heroes are fighting an interdimensional rainbow spitting monster is a visual delight. I believe every color that fits in the HDR color space is exercised somewhere during this scene. The movie simply gets better from there. Sound reproduction is top notch. It was like being at the movies with my current 5.1 surround. Black Panther is another incredible Dolby Vision. Pacific Rim and Star Trek Beyond, HDR 10 films, also looked amazing. The color space is not as wide as Dolby Vision, but I didn’t really notice. I did try a few regular Blu-ray films. Independency Day 2, the 2017 version of Jumanji, and Game of Thrones performed flawlessly. My last test was 3D playback. I have an older LG 3D capable TV so I gave Pacific Rim 3D a ride. Awesome!
I own an LG magic remote. I tried to setup the remote with the BD player. If you try this then be ready for some disappointment. The only buttons on the magic remote that work are the d-pad buttons, play, and pause. The scroll wheel in the center does not interact with the BD player at all. Plan on using the remote that comes with your player.
Except for a few minor annoyances, Simplink and the Magic Remote, this is a very solid BD player for integration into a home theater system. The most compelling reason to purchase this BD player is for your Dolby Vision capable TV. I hope this review proved useful.
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+21points
21of 21voted this as helpful.
 
Enjoy your favorite movies and shows on this 65-inch LG OLED television. The Intelligent Processor optimizes quality to produce realistic images, and the advanced HDR upscales each scene in lower resolution videos to 4K. This LG OLED television has Dolby Atmos for a surround sound experience that's immersive and lifelike.
 
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Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Awesome Image Quality!
on June 4, 2018
Posted by: ITJim
from Maine
Pros:
Beautiful images
Great looking TV
A mountain of options to fine tune image quality
Built in Apps – Netflix/YouTube – easy to use
Built in speakers are decent
Wall Mountable
Integration into home theater system
Dolby Vision!
Magic Remote works well with TV
Cons:
Audio Return Channel is buggy
Simplink overrides receiver settings
Unable to tell if content is Dolby Vision or some other HDR format
Mounting holes on TV are on the bottom third of the TV instead of dead center
Magic Remote does not integrate well with LG 4K Player
Proprietary power cable
First off, the TV is gorgeous. The pane of glass covering the front of the TV does add a little extra something to the classiness of the TV. There is about two inches of extra glass hanging off the bottom of the screen that fits into the wedge-shaped TV mount. LG went for the floating TV illusion. I am unsure if they succeeded because I hung this TV on my wall. The extra glass does look a bit out of place when the TV is hanging but nothing that detracts from my enjoyment of the TV and the home entertainment center it is integrated into. The picture quality is also first rate. All content served up by the TV, such as Live TV and Netflix, look fantastic. If some piece of content does not look as good as I think it should then there are plenty of picture presets and granular controls to adjust the content to my liking.
This TV is capable of Dolby Vision. This is one of the reasons why I got the TV. In order to enjoy Dolby Vision content, you must also have a Dolby Vision capable source. In my case I picked up the LG UBK90 4K Blu-ray player. The first movie I tested was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. The eye candy in this movie is a visual feast. It is mind blowing on the OLED65E8PUA. Everything was vibrant, rich, and some of the best image reproduction I have ever seen on a TV screen. As a follow-up, I streamed the movie Coco from the built in Netflix App! Holy Cow did that movie look amazing! The kicker is that the movie was streamed at 1080p. The TV did an incredible job with color reproduction and motion control. I did play several other pieces of content from regular Blu-ray, live TV, and streaming services. In a few instances I did cycle through the picture presets and in a few cases modified the motion controls, OLED Brightness settings, and a few other settings. Essentially, I adjusted the TV to my personal taste.
One place where imaging enhancement options proved import for tuning certain content. For example, I found that I had to turn the judder control, under the TruMotion menu to 10 to watch certain scenes in Star Trek Beyond. Specifically, towards the beginning of the movie, Kirk and McCoy walk onto the bridge of the enterprise. The camera then pans around the bridge. The scene is complete garbage without Judder turned all the way up. For most movie content, this has become my default setting. For live events I turn Judder off. It is not a technology that does well with content such as sporting events.
I did notice a few quarks during 4K playback. When a 4K movie starts, the HDR format is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Sometimes it would display HDR and sometimes Dolby Vision. This is with Dolby Vision disks such as Guardians 2 and Black Panther. I could not find an option that would report which HDR format was being used during movie playback. The images were still amazing. Though, I would like to see a feature that reports to the user which HDR format is being used. Maybe even allow me to choose which format to use. Though, the later is more of a curiosity than a need. I would like to be able to see the actual difference between formats demonstrated on the same TV. I hope LG gets on this one and releases an update.
One final thought regarding HDR. Be sure that your cables are Ultra HDMI cables or 2.0x compliant. They need to support 18gb throughput. Otherwise, you risk degraded image reproduction. You can look up HDMI standards on Wikipedia or other sources for more information about the different HDMI standards. My system is using Ultra HDMI cables from Rocketfish.
I did mount this TV onto a pre-existing TV mount. The mounting holes are located on the bottom third of the TV instead of dead center like most other TVs. I dropped the wall mount by six inches so that the TV is at the same viewing level as my older Sony. The speakers, connectors, and components that drive the TV are in a bump out on the lower third of the TV. There are several connectors that face directly out of the back of the TV. These include the HDMI 4, two USB ports, RS-232, Optical out, LAN, and an audio/video connection that is unfamiliar to me. The other connectors are hidden behind a removable panel and point to the side of the TV. If you plan on mounting this TV, and need access to the back facing connectors, then I recommend that you pick a mounting kit that keeps the TV away from the wall.
The sound quality of this TV is pretty good as far as flat panel TVs go. The sound was clear and held good volume. This will be more important to me as the summer heats up and I shut down the home theater to save on home cooling costs. There are six speakers in this TV. They are all located in the bottom third of the TV. I cannot tell you specifically where they are located because it is difficult to tell the difference between a speaker grill and an air vent. There are holes on the bottom of the TV facing the floor and vents on the top of the equipment housing. I cannot be more specific without taking the TV apart. LG states that this TV is Atmos capable. I cannot imagine that the TVs speaker arrangement will give any Atmos effects as is. I am sure the answers are in the TV user manual that you can find in magical fairy unicorn land because the manual that comes with the TV is a waste of effort on LG’s part. The TV does have a built-in help system but it is also minimal effort at best. It would have been nice to have a better explanation of how this TV supports Atmos along with a solid write up covering all the other TV’s options.
As wonderful as this TV is, I did run into some annoying challenges. First, Simplink is overly aggressive in how it manages other controllable equipment. This TV is integrated into a home theater system. For example, the when I tell the TV to use the receiver input, the TV automatically assumes I want to connect to the BD input and then switches on the Blu-ray player. If, instead, I really wanted to use my Xbox, then I am forced to fight with the receiver for control of the BD input. It will keep picking the BD input and player for a good two minutes. Yikes!
Second, when I do turn the input back to Live TV, the receiver input will not automatically change back to TV. The LG also will not engage the Audio Return Channel, ARC, when I do manually turn the receiver to the TV input. I have to reset the receiver input connection in order to re-engage the ARC. Pain in the butt. CEC, ARC, and Simplink was enabled on all devices. I also tried multiple combinations of these connective technologies enabled/disabled. I did some research on a few AV forums that I frequent. Apparently, issues like this have been around for a few years. One possible solution is to ignore the ARC all together and bypass it with a toslink cable, also known as a fiber optic cable. I have not tried this myself, yet, but many folks reported success with this work around. There were no reports specific for this TV.
The magic remote does not integrate well with any other device other than the TV. LG did tell me to try the magic remote with the LG 4K player connected directly to the TV. According to LG, sometimes a receiver will disrupt or misinterpret the commands from the remote. I did not connect the 4K player directly to the TV for two reasons. First, I want the receiver to manage my device relationships. Second, I have limited space in the cable cover running along my wall for cables. A second HDMI cable would be impossible to hide with my current setup. It is a nice to have but not a must have feature. Even if I could achieve full system integration, the Magic Remote only has a play and pause button. Not exactly a robust set of options for controlling other LG devices or compatible home theater equipment.
In LG’s defense, it does appear an effort was made for system integration with the Magic Remote. If you go into the Input selector screen (press the image of the cable and then choose edit from the menu) you will find that you can setup multiple devices including home theaters, BD players, DVD players, Game systems, etc for magic remote compatibility. At best I can setup the LG 4K player to recognize play, pause, and the directional buttons. The select button, however, is not recognized regardless the settings chosen. I can manage power on/off for almost anything. TV management with the magic remote is pretty good. The pointer takes a little getting used to. I found it easy to navigate between menus and options using the remote. I know a lot of people are complaining about the remote’s cheap look and feel. I do not mind it much. It fits in my hand well. All buttons, except the power buttons, are accessible with my thumb without having to change my grip on the remote.
Finally, the power cable is a disappointment. The connector to the TV is a proprietary plastic connector that has more in common with a circuit board connector than a traditional three-pronged power cable connector. I am sure there is a good reason LG chose this design. However, this does lock me into a power cable that is about five feet long. If you need a longer cable, like me, then you will need to contact LG directly to see if they will sell you one.
Over-all, this is a beautiful TV. Hopefully LG is working through the integration issues. Otherwise, this TV is a pretty awesome
My Best Buy number: 0736414133
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
+43points
45of 47voted this as helpful.
 
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ITJim's Answers
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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?

App version 3.1.3 does not have EQ functions.
3 years ago
by
ITJim
 
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Is this a per-key RGB keyboard or a 4 zone?

per-key RGB keyboard
3 years, 1 month ago
by
ITJim
 
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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.
3 years, 1 month ago
by
ITJim
 
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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.
3 years, 1 month ago
by
ITJim
 
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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.
User submitted photo
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.
3 years, 10 months ago
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ITJim
 
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How many cores are there in this pc

8 physical cores. This processor does not support 16-way multitasking.
4 years, 11 months ago
by
ITJim
 
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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, 11 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?

No
4 years, 11 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.
 

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, 11 months ago
by
ITJim