Seiki 50" 3840x2160 TV Mini-Review

I received it last Friday and have been using it all weekend and I am quite pleased with it so far. I replaced a Dell U3011 with it and I don't think I'll be hooking the Dell back up anytime soon.
Gaming at 30Hz with VSync on is a little "odd" feeling so I disabled VSync and played about 7 hours of Fallout 3 and 12-13 hours of Skyrim and I liked it a lot, though it really puts my 7970s through the wringer...I think their temps started out at almost 60°C and went upwards of 74°C for the most of my play time...I do notice a little input lag, though it is not enough to really affect my gaming style. However, I did not buy it as a "gaming" monitor so I don't consider it a "con".
It's great to surf the net with and as far as productivity apps are concerned, it's bada$#. I love being able to have several spreadsheets open at the same time while modifying code in my database to link the table to the fields in the various spreadsheets.
I didn't see tearing like I thought I would. I'm actually surprised at just how little tearing I see overall.
VLC can upscale movies quite well and I watched the following movies without any problems
Avengers (Blu Ray Rip)
Prometheus (Blu Ray Rip)
T2 (Blu Ray Disc)
Brave (Blu Ray Disc)
Supernatural Part of Season 7(Blu Ray Rip)
It's kind of odd being able to surf the web in one window while watching a movie in what is larger than fullscreen on my 30" Dell.
I can't speak to reliability but the company does offer a 1 year replacement warranty and I figure that in a year or so the prices of 4k2k TVs will have dropped to the point that if it does break, a replacement will not cost significantly more than my $1300 I paid. That beats the crap out of spending $5000 for one of those Sharp 32" 4k2k monitors currently on the market.
Here's a pic compared to a 30" Dell U3011
My background

Thank you to whichever mod moved it back to the proper forum.
Follow up on this mini-review.
I've had it for about a week and noticed some issues with the resolution suddenly resetting itself. Basically, the screen would go black and then resume functioning 2 seconds later as if nothing had happened.
The company sent me an updated firmware and I flashed the TV today. I know I'm probably jinxing myself but since I flashed it, it's been fine.
Using a 30Hz LCD is a little "odd" at first, but after a few days with it there's no way I'd go back to my U3011. If playing games at a lower resolutionis the only trade-off I have to make to gain this much desktop real estate, it's a no brainer.
I do a lot of spreadsheet/database work and it is frikkin AWESOME to have 3 spreadsheets and a database open simultaneously without having to resize anything or minimize/maximize windows
As far as picture quality goes, this panel is far superior to the Samsung 40" I have. I really had to look closely to see any bleeding at all on this panel while the Samsung has what I would call large swaths of bleed.
Crossfire works fine and my games run well, but are limited to 30fps unless I turn off vsync.
I understand that there are people who will not even consider this unit because of the 30Hz limitation. To each his/her own. Everyone has their own preferences and likes.
For me, it's a better investment than my 30" was since I paid less for this than I did my U3011
Just for informational purposes I ran the Bioshock Infinite benchmark and here are the results
Per Scene Stats:
Scene Duration (seconds), Average FPS, Min FPS, Max FPS, Scene Name
32.35, 115.42, 10.01, 423.79, Welcome Center
7.05, 106.51, 21.58, 137.52, Scene Change: Disregard Performance In This Section
22.14, 141.94, 31.05, 224.49, Town Center
8.06, 143.87, 90.00, 247.24, Raffle
9.03, 201.51, 86.59, 268.05, Monument Island
3.02, 214.20, 148.16, 295.85, Benchmark Finished: Disregard Performance In This Section
81.65, 137.89, 10.01, 423.79, Overall
As you may imagine, Running something like Valley at 3840x2160 at Ultra with 8xAA places a large strain on my video cards (they only have 3GB each) so I dropped the specs a little due to the sheer increase in resolution

Similar Messages

  • Yoga 13" Clementine Orange - Mini review

    I got my Yoga 13, Orange, 8gb ram and 256gb SSD on Monday the 17th. I also ordered the slot case and the screen protector as well. In this post I’ll do a mini review of the unit that I got. I hope this will give people here some useful information.
    I really really wanted to like this laptop. But sadly, after playing around with it all day (and night!) I returned the Yoga earlier today. There were some major issues that I encountered that was definitely a deal breaker and I feel are things that should not exist in a $1500 laptop.
    Lets start with the good stuff first: The first impressions were great.
    Exterior
    Exterior build quality was very nice. The shell felt very solid and the orange color looked awesome! I believe the shell is aluminum with a rubber-like coating applied on. So when you hold it, you get a very good grip and at no point where i felt the laptop was going to slip out of my hands. Power buttons and volume button (in both design and positions) mimicked those as seen on tablets. The position of these buttons make alot of sense when the Yoga is in tablet mode. Everything looked VERY sturdy and felt well built.
    Upon opening the laptop, I was greeted with a very nice looking and interestingly textured palm rest area. The texture has an almost faux leather look to it but it definitely feels rubbery, smooth and a little cushion-like. Its is hard to explain but when I'm resting on it, it feels very nice to the skin and it certainly insulates any type of temperature changes from transferring your palms/wrists unlike some metal enclosures. Very interesting material choice for sure.
    The keyboard area looked very nice. Typing on it was very comfortable and keys were responsive.
    Trackpad was OK. I found my self accidentally right clicking and the pointer acceleration as a bit wonky. Not the worst trackpad I used but also not great.
    Usage
    Battery life after the first full charge showed a little less than 6 hours. Machine was dead quite and everything was silky smooth loading apps and painting with my fingers. There was a surprising minimal amount of bloatware installed. Even with the Lenovo software, non of which was "in your face". First boot-up of the machine went through windows 8 account setup and subsequent boot up time was about 4-5 seconds. EXTREMELY fast.
    Looking at the device manager, my 256gb ssd is sporting one made by Samsung. One interesting I found was the wireles/bluetooth module is made by realtek and is interfacing with the system via USB 2.0.
    Tablet Mode/Tent Mode/etc
    This is the reason I bought this laptop. As a graphic artist, my plan was to use this as a sketchpad, photo editing and light animation use. As I mentioned, the touchscreen was very responsive and Windows 8 "Metro" felt right at home here. Even using the touchscreen with desktop apps was a lot of fun. I spent maybe an hour or two playing in paint before I remembered that I should install photoshop (LOL).
    I found the Yoga's touch capabilities most satisfying and usable in tent mode and tablet mode. In regular laptop mode, touching the screen bounces and moves the screen which gets annoying. In stand mode, same thing.
    Aside from painting with my fingers, I tested the touchscreen with a touch screen stylus i got on Amazon. It worked ok as i needed to put quit a bit of pressure in order for the screen to register the tip of the stylus where as using the same stylus on other touchscreens (ipad 2, nexus 7, nexus 4, droid x) did not require any force.
    Speed and performance
    Everything felt snappy and ran all my programs great. It works and it works well. I did not run any benchmarks or anything as I was more concerned with testing my usage habits.
    This laptop sounds wonderful, why the hell did i return it?!
    After a couple of hours playing with it, that's when I started to notice some glaring problems.
    Lets go down the list:
    Screen Flicker issue
    This was a surprise to me. After the first few hours of using the laptop. I notice the screen would flicker once in awhile. It seems to be random but I notice to be more apparent especially when I load up new programs and when I am quitting them. It is almost as if there is a loose connection or interference somewhere. At first I thought it was the automatic brightness playing tricks on me so I proceeded to turn it off. Nope, the flickering was still there. This is a real deal breaker (duh).
    High pitch whine
    Yes, there is a high pitch whine and buzzing sound that emanates from the laptop (coil whine). I couldn't pin point the exact location but it seems to come from around the F3 key area. I don't have an overly quiet room. When I heard this whine, I was actually playing some music in the background. The sound was unbearable!
    Fan noise, rattling noise.
    The sound of the air movement coming from the laptop, I don't mind and I barely notice it. But the there is a rattling sound coming from the fan itself. I build my own PCs and I've owned some cheap fans before where it makes the same noise. The fan in the Yoga is not a good quality fan. The fan also stays on most of the time. It is not excessively loud but it seems it needs to be on much more than it needs to be. Either that, it seems like it can run at a lower RPM.
    The Loose Keyboard
    Yes you read that right. The keyboard is loose. This is very apparent when you press any keys in the F7 to F12 keys area (or any other keys around those). When you press any of those keys, you will FEEL and SEE that the whole area of the keyboard will sink in. I'm not exaggerating.
    This should not happen in any laptop at any price range, and this one costs $1500 USD. This is unacceptable. I don't think this is even a QC issue, it is a design issue. As seen in other threads in this forum and other forums, the keyboard is attached on there with double sided tape. Wha??
    Palm rest area flex
    As I mention prior, the texture feels great and feels soft almost cushion like. Well it turns out, the cushion like feel is the result of that area flexing in. No joke. Pressing on the palm rest area with my fingers reminds me of pressing on the surface of a water bottle. You'll feel this even more when in tablet mode. It feels plain fragile. 
    Screen Protector
    It Sucks. Don't know how to put it another way. It is the worst screen protector you can get. Yea you can see through it but that it is. The material gives the surface a lot of traction so you'll find your fingers getting stuck on it while swiping the screen. I wish Lenovo would make the glass (or at lease offer a screen protector) similar to cellphone / tablets screens where they put a oleophobic coating so your fingers glide on the surface. So yea, save the money and forget about the Lenovo screen protector.
    Slot Case
    Its ugly, it feels cheap and it looks cheap. The texture of the case is just..I don't even know what it is. It is just SOOOOOO ugly. The material of the case will probably last maybe 6 months use. Its not even practical as 1.5" of the laptop sticks out at the opening. What?? Did i mention it is crazy ugly?
    Overall
    Great concept, great idea. Execution, not so good. Build quality not consistent, major design issues that keeps this from becoming a good laptop. The price tag (i paid $1500) makes this even more so. 
    Returning the laptop. Lenovo customer support
    I had a really good experience. The post-sales rep from somewhere in India was courteous and quick. After I explained  why I wanted to return the laptop, my return was processed immediately and I was told I would be getting a full refund. My shipping labels was emailed to me very quickly and total time spent on the phone  was about 15 min.
    Closing thoughts
    It might seem I might have gotten a bum unit but from looking at the other threads in this forum and other forums, It seems other people are having some similar problems as me. I didn't want to exchange for a new unit (and waiting even longer) and experience these issues again. I see these are design issues, not QC issues.
    The Yoga has a HUGE potential to be an amazing ultrabook/laptop (booktablet??). Huge potential. Maybe the Yoga 2 will get that chance.
    I’m traveling in a week so I went ahead and reordered the Asus UX32VD. (lol should of kept my first UX32VD)

    Well, that's a mighty polite way of saying to just wait for the worst, and I had been editing my post's praise softer as you replied. Today my keyboard fold works, but a worse problem of the screen blacking out or turning to colorful snow occurs, with only a reboot clearing it. Well, I will see if it is transient and comment on...
    EDITED INSERT
    yoga ie lost all my paragraph breaks, and even in android i cannot restore them below this point for some reason. so pardon the runon until i tame this...
    I ordered the yoga 13max because my 10 inch android tablets were getting bogged down making the 2d charts I need, as well as the screen being a little small. My 17 inch MacBook pro is too ungainly, hot, and noisy for an easychair with no desk. The yoga really straddles the gap between them well, as mainly a powerful tablet and an adequate sometime laptop for type intensive work or transferring media from usb disk drives to media players. I have always hated windows (and IOS for that matter) but win8 seems headed in the right direction. IE is not yet up to the touchable slickness of android equivilents (do I really have to bring up the keyboard and put it away by explicit steps rather than implicit touches?) but probably it will improve and other touch ready browsers will appear. I was very thankful for no metallic fan noise as reported, and it is anyway near silent in tablet mode due to the geometry. In portrait mode it is great for reading pdf, but kind of hard to grasp the sides. The wide side is a hot air vent and the other side has the (needlessly) clickity trackpad. But I think one end of the air vent is cool, so you can 180 rotate portrait for a better experience. Due to asymmetries, you have 4 useful rotations rather than 2. Well, I will quit in case the screen wants to drop out, but will add this. Someone posted a website to compare the i7 vs i5turbo, and with a great deal of searching in the buried data I gathered the i7 gave almost 30% better speed which I wanted along with the bigger ram. Win8 seems to be needlessly awkward for touch mode, but I assume it will improve. Oh, I forgot the last thing because I'm nervous about the screen which is staying ok for some reason...

  • (Ex)gnomer's mini review (but long story:))of KDE 4.2

    Hello all,
    I've been a long time an Ubuntu user, and very happy with Gnome. I always considered KDE too bloated so I was feeling right at home with Ubuntu and Gnome. Because Gnome looks "flatter" I was thinking that it "should" be lighter than KDE. Well, I was wrong. I don't know what the KDE devs did, but KDE4 is faster and lighter than Gnome, although it is much "richer".
    My story starts some 10 days ago, when I decided to solve my laptop's battery life problem. With Ubuntu 8.10, battery lasted only 4-4.30 hours, while it should last at least 5 hours (this was the average battery life under Vista when I first got my laptop some 8 months ago - needless to say, Vista went to the trash 2 weeks later). So I started once again the usual distro search and decided to give KDE4 a shot. So there I was dual-booting with Kubuntu 8.10. To make a long story short, battery life returned to its usual performance and I was very impressed with KDE4.1. But (K)Ubuntu's customizations - why on earth do I have to install so many gnome libs just to get Firefox through the official repos?? - and the 6 month cycle policy made me consider again of Arch.
    I tried Arch some months ago and I was very excited because it is exactly what I want: a very fast, customizable, rolling release, cutting-edge but stable distro. But I couldn't get fonts to render nicely under Gnome, no matter what I tried (arch's wiki, ubuntu patches, etc), and since I work with text more than 8 hours per day I can't make any compromises with fonts. Anyways, few days ago I was back in Arch and KDE4.1. Battery life improved even more (5.30-6 hours ), font rendering was just nice, and speed was stellar. Bugs were there, but I was hoping 4.2 would correct them. And I was perfectly right!
    A few hours ago I updated my arch to KDE4.2 through pacman (btw, amazing package manager!) and I was shocked when I logged in for first time. IMHO, the release number could have been easily 4.5 and not 4.2. Font rendering and antialiasing is perfect with default settings, major bugs are no longer there (dolphin's inability to connect in samba shares with utf8 file names, trashy notification area, just to name a couple), and kwin received so many additions that can match compiz. Note that I want visual effects because they improve my productivity. I can no longer live without cube rotation, exposing all windows with a mouse movement, tranferring windows among desktops, etc. And kwin has them all now. Also, some sound problems I had when I was logging in got ironed out too (the login sound was jerky and interrupted), and the kmixer's channels are correctly named and assigned (there was no master channel, but 2 front channels instead). Also, the oxygen theme integrates better now, and there are no longer truncated fonts or widgets inside windows.
    The upgrade to 4.2 also gave me the chance to see how smoothly major changes are incorporated to arch. All I have to say is kudos to the devs for their work and their responsiveness. Those who tried the upgrade very early faced a minor problem, but a dev showed up after a few minutes and confirmed that kde-bindings had been removed and everything was ok - and it was .
    I am no fanboy, and I think Gnome is very fine (I've been using it non-stop for 5 years), but KDE4, at least with 4.2, has taken major steps forwards.
    I could praise KDE4.2 forever but I have to convert my desktop to an archer right now. Finally, I think my distro and DE suffling has come to an end.
    Have fun, upgrade, and enjoy!
    Panos
    Edit: Couldn't resist to add that kopete now works with my laptop's webcam. Before the upgrade, I couldn't get my webcam to work with kopete, although it worked flawlessly with skype.
    Last edited by panosk (2009-01-27 14:02:48)

    Thanks for the mini-review... I'm a Gnome user since IDK when, but I've been toying with trying KDE 4.x, now I might actually do it

  • BH-905 mini review

    you can check my mini review of the BH-905 on http://kaz911.blogspot.com/2009/12/nokia-bh-905-sh​ort-review.html
    conclusion : it is not perfect and noise reduction is not up to par with noise cancelling headphones like Sony etc.
    best regards

    Hi
    I do not work with BH-905 within Nokia, but follow this link for specifications:
    http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/accessories/all-accessories/headsets/bluetooth-headsets/nokia-...

  • 5.1 c-media USB sound for W520 mini-review

    The W520 only has stereo out, which is fine if you are in the 1980s or cant afford to spend more than £10 on speakers.  For the rest of us, to hook it up to your desktop, studio or home surround speaker system you only have one option - get an external USB surround sound card.
    Bought one of these from ebay for £13
    Its a small unit, about the size of a pack of cards.  Build quality is so-so, e.g. the USB cable is a very loose fit.
    It has the following ports:
    mini USB (for connection to pc)
    optical (toslink) out
    optical (toslink) in (with option to set the "spdif in" line level)
    line in (3.5mm jack)
    mic in (3.5mm jack)
    front stereo out (3.5mm jack)
    rear surround stereo out (3.5mm jack)
    sub/center out (3.5mm jack)
    If you plug it into the W520 running win 7 64bit, it will automatically find drivers, but only produces stereo.
    If you run win7/setup.exe which is on the supplied drivers disk, you get surround sound from windows.  When the device is plugged in, you get a c-media control panel in your system tray, which has options to
    set the output speaker config/mode
    enable spdif output (only see a PCM option)
    set individual volumes for each speaker
    enable DSP effects, including virtual 7.1
    input and output mixer (similar to windows)
    Various 3D effects and room simulations.
    Set the room size.
    Preset equalizer settings (e.g. dance, jazz, bass)
    Karaoke/Magic Voice control panel
    It lists itself as a Intel 6 series/C200 chipset family USB enhanced host controller 1C2D, Xear3D, DirectX 11
    The unit comes with a small drivers CD and a USB cable.
    Seems to work find with steam/source games such as left 4 dead 2 with surround effects.
    As to sound quality I cant say - it seems ok.
    Lenovo, please put a SPDIF optical out in your W series.

    Great review, thanks.
    Lenovo ThinkPad W520 15.6" 1920x1080, UEFI 1.42, Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3GHz, Intel HD3000 + nVidia Quadro 2000M 2GB, Kingston PNP 16GB (4x4GB) 1600MHz RAM, Crucial m4 040H 256GB SSD, Lenovo TP Drive Adapter UltraBay 12,7mm + WD Blue 1TB 5400rpm HDD, Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN, Gobi 3000, Lenovo TP Port Mini Dock Plus Series 3, Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit

  • Mini book mini review

    I recently ordered a package of three mini books
    Time to print - 4 working days from transmit
    Time to ship (standard) - 4 days from west coast to east coast
    Now for some details
    The front cover and back cover are made of card stock. As far as I can tell you can only put a picture on the front cover - so the back cover will be white. In addition there is no printing on the inside face of the front cover.
    The picture on the front cover may cut a few pixels off on the right edge. I left 1/4 inch of white space around the picture and the text on the front cover and had a bit less on the printed right hand edge.
    The inner pages are printed on double sided paper with a mildy shiny finish (no one would describe it as glossy). The quality of the paper is what would be expected in a good textbook.
    I did not see any loss of the image on any of the edges but of course the binding obscures about 1/8 inch of whatever edge is inside. The book creation process indicates that may happen by adding a shadow to the inside edge. I did not layout any of my pages crossing the centerfold - but certainly you would have to be careful not to put anything important in that area.
    The colors were excellent - perhaps less saturated than what I see on the screen but pretty much what one sees when moving to print.
    You should probably order an even number of inside pages. If you don't the back side of the final page will be white.
    One of my originals had 450 pixels along the long edge and I was given a resolution warning - which suprised me as this was only going to be a 3.5 wide image - anyway I upsized it in PS and put it in and it looks fine.
    I kept the text that I added simple but like others I found the text style selection process quite difficult.
    eyeMac G5 2.1   Mac OS X (10.4.4)  

    Yes it is, exactly in that order!

  • Carmenu problems/mini review - Please Nokia read!

    I have wrote a small (missing features/bugs) review of Carmenu here.
    I wish Nokia could comment; if we pay, can we ask for improvements?

    Hi there, the thread is back again.
    Updating some info for the developersfrom the other new thread, I have asked the moderator to delete if he/se wishes.
    My the tested configuration is:
    - Nokia N96: firmware 30.033
    - Carmenu (phone app) version 2.6
    - Car Kit (Ck-300) unit HF-21W: firmware v1.40
     Summary of current defects/bugs:
     - Slow load time: should be lowered to less than 2/3 seconds
    - bluetooth phone pairing needs shaping
    - Improve user interface design
    - Landscape version doesn’t work on “landscaped” phones
    - Portrait version clips the display when phone is “landscaped”
    - Add music playlists
    - Add album covers while playing music. Would be nice to have an track artwork browser
    - Phone ringtones appear in the music track list - possible to filter them out?
    - Missing fast forward/rewind functionality in music player
    - Doesn’t work with Maps 3 - Remote control commands are ignored in Maps 3
    - Missing Car Kit remote control input in Carmenu->Maps->address search; should be something like the method used to select contacts/tracks, to help input while driving
    - Add  TV and radio control inside Carmenu
    - Remote control doesn’t allow phone interaction outside of Carmenu, apart from phone call functions.
    - Music player should “remember” last played track, helping when entering/exiting car often. It could be within a reasonable timeout, say 30 minutes.
    - When exiting track playback, navigate back to the top menu accordingly, instead of jumping back to the top menu
    - Fair too long delay for total music track count; cache data somewhere?
    - Voice alerts are being clipped, particularly when the audio to be muted is not being played on car stereo's AUX input; big improvements needed here
    I also suggest Nokia developers to include, when releasing updates, a list that shows what defects have been fixed and the "known defects/bugs" in current release; this would help users to know exactly what to expect, before installing the update.

  • A mini review of FiOS TV and their new QIP-7232 DVR

    FiOS TV picture quality is stunning. No compression artifacts at all from what I can tell.
    The 7232 is pretty good but not excellent. I have the 7232 and a Tivo HD XL. IMHO the Tivo is considerably better but I see lots of room for improvement with the 7232.
    Pros and Cons of the 7232.
    Remote
    Nice and responsive. Like that I can turn the TV on and off. Doesn't allow for channel changing just input changing. Not a massive issue but a shame as we need another remote.
    It's probably difficult to update, but I find the remote a bit too complicated and the buttons poorly positioned. Shame more buttons don't light up to help find buttons when the room is dark.
    Guide
    I may have missed it but it would be great if it remembered your favorite settings. I see the favorite button but IMO the guide button should take you there directly.
    Guide Titles
    Almost excellent but unfortunately titles are cropped when they go beyond 30 or so characters. They should allow wrapping to a second line to allow 60 or so characters.
    Extended Guide Titles
    I'm noticing some weird information on some shows. English soccer is particularly bad. For example, today's showing of Arsenal versus Blackburn has a title of The Gunners (Arsenal) rallied for a 2-2 draw with West Ham on March 19. So the title describes Arsenal's previous result. Quite confusing.
    Speed
    Seems speedy enough. I was ready for some lagging but overall impressed.
    Storage
    Fine but IMHO not adequate for a whole house DVR recording in HD. Look forward to seeing the external hard drive capability.
    Bugs
    I'm seeing some issues viewing at the end of recordings. Seems that fast forward and next don't work at the end of the recording. A bit annoying. Hopefully a fix can be made.
    No "wishlist". 
    Not a deal breaker but would be nice to see in a software upgrade. Both the Tivo and DirecTV boxes have this feature and I find it very useful as I forget to check back in every few weeks for new shows.
    No jump to mark/end.
    I hear this is coming with 1.9.  That is great. Look forward to seeing it. I like the idea of pushing and holding the "next" button to skip to the end. 
    Again the PQ is stunning. I'm blown away with it. I got used to DirecTV compressing some channels and it is great to see true uncompressed images. I love it. Very happy customer overall. If Verizon can continue to improve their DVR they are onto a major winner.
    Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I'd be happy to beta test anything.

    Re: your comment about the Guide button. You can easily set the Guide button to display your choice of Favorites. Here is a link to a thread (from two years ago, but still accurate) that has a link to a document I wrote that will tell you how to set it up:
    http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-Technical-Ass​istance/Exploiting-FiOS-TV-Favorites/td-p/9935
    Hope the above helps. And I think we will all be excited when we get the 1.9 level of the IMG, will have lots of new stuff.
    Justin
    Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
    QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.8, Build 02.54
    Keller, TX 76248

  • Slipcase Mini-Review (with photos)

    With a new MacBook in hand, I now needed a case to carry it in. One of the main reasons I went for the MacBook was the smaller/slimmer size than my 15.5" laptop. After doing a bit of Googling and reading the forums, I arrived at the decision of purchasing a 13" slip-case from sfbags.com for $39.
    I ordered the case last Thursday (5/25) and I was pleased to receive a personal email from Gary at sfbags.com on Friday telling me that the case was on the way. I came home on Tuesday to find it waiting for me at my front door. Considering that Monday was a holiday in the US, that was pretty good service.
    When I received the case, my initial thought was that it was going to be a bit too big for the MacBook, but when I dropped the MacBook in I realized that it was a perfect fit. The case is a little wider than the computer (see photo), but I feel that that extra room adds a bit of cushion. The material is a very industrial feeling nylon on the exterior and a nice 'cushiony' (is that a word?) polyester typer material on the interior. There is a bit of padding between the layers, which gives me a good feeling about protection.
    A couple of nice features are obviously the strap that holds the computer in, but also the small strap on the bottom of the case that makes it easier to slip the laptop out.
    All in all, I must say that I am very pleased with the case. They do offer a couple of features that I didn't opt for: a fold over flap and/or a shoulder strap. I think the strap would be helpful, but I'm okay with the case as it is.
    I've got no connection to these folks (sfbags.com), but their great service and good product makes me want to share my experience.
    Here's a photo of the case with my MB in it: http://flickr.com/photos/richlegg/158250624/
    Cheers, Rich
    Macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    As the OP noted, you can get the bag with a full flap which will completely seal the computer. Check out sfbags.com (Waterfield is the actual company name) for the full story.
    I just ordered one of these fully maxed out: full flap, shoulder strap, and piggyback pouch. Will be used for short trips - I also have a bigger bag which the Waterfield pouch will slip into nicely for more protection on longer trips.

  • Ihab's Lenovo K900 Review

    Hello everyone How are you all doing? I just finished the write up of the Lenovo K900 Reivew. I hope you like it, and if you would like to see larger/full resolution images of the ones posted here you can check out the review over at ihabstech.com. Enjoy!
    Yes, Lenovo make smartphones worldwide now. I thought that would be an appropriate opening since I keep getting the question mark look on people’s faces when looking at the phone placed in front of me and then ask “Lenovo make phones?”.
    At first I didn’t even realize they had phones and when I did, I was surprised they actually had quite a decent range. Not only that, they had their own Lenovo UI of Android. It seems they have been working really hard to get great devices out and guess which device I managed to get my hands on? The flagship. How exciting! So, lets take a look at this phone.
    That is not a perfectly angled shot to make the device appear really thin.. Okay it is, but the device really is thin! it’s stated at 6.9mm only!
    Quick Spec Sheet
    You have to re-think your understanding of big phones with the K900, the dimensions are 157 x 78 x 6.9 mm! So it is pretty huge, but in exchange for carrying the sizeable device (or phablet if you want to call it that) you get a 5.5 inch Full HD IPS screen with about 400 PPI with the screen resolution of 1920×1080 (It is very responsive and even recognizes use with fingernails and pens) above the screen sits an aray of sensors and a 2MP fixed-focus camera. Taking a step deeper into the device, we find an Intel® Atom™ Z2760 Dual Core™ 4-thread processor running up to 2.0 GHz with 2GB of RAM. The graphics centre is an Intel® GMA graphics with 533MHz clock, and both assist in running Android 4.2.1. All this powerful hardware comes in a Brushed Stainless Steel, Polycarbonate and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 package that weighs 162 grams. On the back is the 13MP camera with auto-focus and dual flash, capable of full 1080[ video at 30 FPS. In regards to communication, it has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and HSPA+ (up to 42MBPS) and wireless hotspot functionality. As for sensors, the K900 has A-GPS, Gravitation (I am guess a gyroscope?), Ambient light sensor and a Proximity sensor.
    Box Contents
    This is always the excitement of opening a box of a brand you have never dealt with before, I had no clue what to expect.
    The box had a cover which had the K900 branding in a huge cut out. Being that the box was black it didn’t make sense. Till..
    The inside of that cover was in red! So taking the box out lights up the K900 branding. Sexy! Lifting the cover reveals the phone. In first impressions I thought the phone was going to be smaller than the big box, turns out it was the size of the box.
    I know there isn’t anything out of the ordinary to expect in an unboxing, and so nothing unusual here. A Micro-USB Cable, a pair of ordinary Headphones and a SIM-Card ejector tool attached to the small manuals card. Weirdly, I have not received a wall charger, but I have so many of them laying around there is no problems and of course, the retail units will have one without a doubt.
    Design, Body and Display
    The device is a very good looking device despite its large size. I have used many devices over the past few months from iPhones, Galaxies, HTC Ones (Normal and Mini) and others and not a single one got the stares and questions asked as the Lenovo K900. It does have a personality and it is eye catching.
    To start things off, lets talk about the front (Apologies for the low quality pictures) From the top sits a small cut out for the speaker and to the left the front facing camera. The sensors are nearly impossible to notice, perfect integration that is. Lenovo branding in the center and then the huge screen all the way till the bottom where three Android buttons sit, Back, Home and Options/Settings.
    Flipping the phone to the back is where things start to get an even more premium look. Up top sits the 13MP camera, Dual-Flash and the secondary noise cancelling microphone, then comes what appears to be a back cover, but it isn’t removable. It’s in stainless steel brushed with 4 corner screws to make it look somewhat industrial? I think it has a nice touch. There is an engraved Lenovo logo towards the top and below sits the Intel logo. Finally towards the bottom sits the loud speaker.
    For all of you wondering about the stainless steel durability with us, yes the sides do scratch up a bit. I could recommend trying to find a case but I just think it looks so good without one. Also, not too sure you can find a case that easily as well.
    They kept the design clean, which means there is nothing to the top of the device. I think with a device this big, anything on the top would be suicidal because it would drop functionality dramatically. Fortunately, the 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro-USB port and primary microphone are on the bottom with nothing on the top. Thanks Lenovo.
    The volume buttons are found to the left of the device, but as one button. To the right side sits the lock/power button and towards the middle, the SIM-Card tray. Please be gentle with the tray if you get one, because as with my past experiences with metal trays, if this bends just a tiny bit, it will ruin the look and the flatness will never return again. Either way, pretty straight forward and all buttons feel metallic while the lock/power button have a little pattern on them.
    The feedback on the buttons are good but the lock/power button is slightly too soft, which may click on while holding the device in one’s hand.
    So yes, the size… Here is the K900 beside the Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One Mini.
    The Nokia has a 4.5 Inch screen while the HTC has a 4.3 inch one, clearly being 5.5 makes it huge, plus the device is actually quite tall.
    The device feels really nice in the hands, but it does need a lot of getting used to being a phone of this size. It does slightly stick out of my jeans pocket. I have almost dropped it a few times because I am not used to using such a big device. Certainly if people are used to 5+ inch devices this might not seem too big, but I have never gone over 5 in my pockets before. It is a big device, that I started to get used to after about a week or two of use. I started to carry it differently, more towards a small notepad than a normal smartphone. I got used to it eventually! The metal back does get cold quickly especially in air conditioned areas so picking the phone up does feel special.
    As for the screen, it is absolutely brilliant. The clarity is amazing, the brightness can go up to levels that could be uncomfortable (but means brilliant in the sun). The only downside to the brightness is in the OS side as it can only be set at 30%, 60% and 100%, I would have preferred a slider but I am just being picky. Being 400PPI no pixels can be seen and the color representation is just brilliant, one of the best screens I have used in a smartphone, should be thankful to the IPS technology then. This is possibly the most inviting smartphone I have ever had in terms of wanting to watch videos on it, and I often just load videos from the laptop to the device to watch it there instead.
    Memory and Data
    This is where things complicated, and a bit unusual. Essentially the device comes with 16 GB of internal storage, which supposedly nearly 10 GB is free to the user, but what makes no sense is how it is managed..
    The device states that internal storage is 4.68 GB out of which I have nearly 600 MB free, and the USB storage is 9.77GB. On the bottom is the option to erase the SD card. There is no SD card. At first glance, it seems that the device has 5 GB of internal memory and like 10 GB of a separate internal memory, but this is actually a security thing that Lenovo has implemented, they have partitioned the drive so the system’s section of the storage remains untouched. Connecting the device to the computer, or accessing the built in file manager only displays the 9.77 GB partition.
    Sadly, as I have often stated, getting 16 GB of storage on a smartphone today is a low amount of storage, especially considering only nearly 10GB is only ever free with no external memory card slot option. Being on Android, every single cloud storage platform has an app, but Lenovo do not provide any free cloud storage on any service.
    As with typical modern day Android device (The K900 was launched in January in some markets) it comes with 2GB of RAM. With normal use, I average around 700-900 MB of free RAM. So the system seems to be managing its RAM fairly decently, and I have never experienced any memory issues in my use.
    Camera
    The K900 comes with a 13 MP camera with every option one could need on a smartphone.
    I wanted to really show the settings and viewfinder, but the K900′s screen shot utility is limited to only areas where the notification center is accessible, and all attempts to get a decent screen shot app without rooting failed miserably (before I forget, rooting this device is not an easy task, near impossible to find sources online)
    On the bottom left of the screen is where the main settings live and it has three main sections. The Basic section includes toggles for switching between cameras, flash settings, resolution, scenes (normal, low light, motion, etc), adjustments (brightness, contrast, etc), image quality settings and guide lines. The Advanced section covers the ISO, white balance, stroscopic settings and a toggle to enable or disable image capture by touching the screen. The last section is the other settings where the user can control GPS tagging, sounds, animation, focus modes and a reset tool.
    On the left of the screen there are two quick toggles for the flash and switching to the front camera. towards the right there is even more settings! on the top there is a small tool to display the selected settings in tiny icons and a arrow button to set the camera modes (HDR, low light, smile detection, macro, timed photos, burst shot, panorama, and night portrait mode.
    To the bottom of that.. is even MORE settings! well okay, not settings but there is a button that opens a whole table of effects for the photography, there is about 24 different effects to play with. To the far right sits the buttons to switch to video mode, capture an image and a thumbnail of the last photo taken.
    Here are some sample pictures taken with the K900 in various real world situations.
    A nice, decent lit Macro soft of the Blackberry Q5 (Review of the Q5 can be found here)
    Low light shot of the HTC One Mini (Review of the One Mini can be found here)
    A shot with decent lighting of a new packaged headset, lit well but notice how the device itself is over exposed.
    Decent interior lighting, the text is fairly clear at zoom, the disclaimer line is blurred though. 
    Outdoor shot in daylight
    Indoor shot with decent lighting of a portrait (best focus and lighting on the picture).
    The quality is really good, one of the best cameras I have come across in smartphones. The best? No, but very close I have to admit.
    So is it all perfect? Almost. Although there is a nice hidden feature where pressing the volume down and capture button on the screen will activate burst mode without having to go through the settings, the zooming is bad. Not the zooming itself, but the on screen controls for zooming. Tapping the screen will bring the 4x zoom bar, and it is really thin and 9 times out of 10 trying to zoom in or out, it will focus on that spot on the view finger rather than lower/increase the zoom, its very hard to zoom effectively and the volume keys don’t adjust the zoom which I think is a waste of the keys but in essence of taking pictures, it does a very good job.

    Operating System
    The K900 runs on Android version 4.2.1 with Lenovo’s own UI. It is a very interesting looking system, with tons of customizable features. No, I mean seriously, tons. Almost every single aspect of the experience can be changed, from the icon sets, size of the icons, backgrounds of the icons, special effects, tens of page transitions for the home page and various transitions for the apps page, automatic clean up (where inactive apps can be automatically removed), desktop layout backup, tens of built in apps, with up to 9 desktops!
    And I wish that was it.. there is a lot more to this OS that I thought, Lenovo did a great job.
    Let me start things off at the home screen and this essentially gives you an idea of how the operating system looks like. Pressing the menu button brings up the list of options (most of which are mentioned above) but this gives an almost unlimited amount of customization. Tapping and holding on an empty spot brings up the tools for transitions (known as effects), and the options to add apps, shortcuts, widgets and more! Lenovo’s power app has its own widget as well, which shows estimated time before battery runs out and quick toggles.
    Although most of our smartphone use doesn’t include phone calls or sms somehow, it is the base of a phone. Lenovo has done a great job here with their all in one approach. Call log, messages and contacts are all under one section. They have done it in a smart way where the dialler is on top of the log instead of two pages, certainly is more productive. The messages have a very interesting look to them, which I thought looked nice. Moving all the way into info center brings up a set of settings including a way to backup and restore contacts. It may not be a big deal to many but i think this all in one spot is a nice touch.
    The took the extra step in small touches, for instance when you call someone, the phone will vibrate the second the receiver picks up, not sure if any other manufacturer has that or not (never paid attention to it) but it is really cool especially in noisy situations.
    Before I go on, Lenovo has done something to this phone that evokes a sense of professional use or focus that has driven the development of the user interface, in my opinion.
    The applications list/page is a typical experience, but Lenovo has put their own touch. The device comes with built-in applications such as Flashlight, a whole array of google apps, file manager, evernote, uc browser, skype and a few others. The transitions are various as well, and can be set to flip as a cylinder, apps snake through each other and others.
    The device does stutter and lag a bit sometimes, but the general transitions are always smooth. I guess this always goes back to the optimization aspect, because the device is certainly more than capable, hardware-wise.
    The notification center is the typical Android 4.2.1 with a strip of quick toggles and the whole list is just a tap away. Activating Lenovo’s power app also adds a little information strip for the battery life and active functions. Two finger swipe down brings out the whole short-cut list.
    Another important aspect of the device (being the most used feature) is the keyboard. The keyboard is nice, smooth and easy to type on, no troubles there but there are a few loose ends. One of which, is the feedback vibrations. Initially it would vibrate when tapping and then suddenly it would stop vibrating for no apparent reason.
    In SMS mode, the enter button only appears when the keyboard is in Capital mode. Surely, these aren’t concerns but with an attempt to be so refined, they could have entirely eliminated keyboard issues. The numbers and symbols are a tap and hold away although I wish they applied more symbols in the same way throughout the keyboard.
    The settings menu is a whole operating system on its own! Under common settings the user will find the typical essential settings of the phone. Under Feature Settings is where things start to get interesting. The Lenovo K900 has many smart sensory features like engaging maximum volume when it detects its in a pocket, decreasing of volume when device is picked up while ringing, enabling the volume keys to turn the screen on, shake to lock the device and knock to turn the screen on.
    Do these really work? They all do but not without fault. The shake to lock the phone comes in handy because the device is huge and if it is being held one handed, it would eliminate the need to go up to press the button. The problem with this is, it would lock when moving around the device. In regards to the knock to unlock, it works by sudden movement rather than tapping/knocking the screen, which in my use, meant the screen came on when I would move about or place the phone on a table or anything solid. The rest worked fine. Cool features just need to be optimized perhaps.
    Under All Settings, the device can be almost completely be adjusted to liking from communications, application and account settings, device storage and running applications and finally system settings and all these can be seen above.
    In typical Lenovo way, everything built in has its own Lenovo touch. The file manager is quite smart! It allows traditional folder access, search, history, etc and also an automatic access of files based on their categories.
    Lenovo has done a very good job with their own Android UI. There are various applications built in, a lot of customizable options to keep things individual and all transitions and UI related functions run flawlessly. The processor I believe is the only source of things being out of hand. It runs up to 2.0Ghz, with no mention of what it’s general speed is and due to that, there are times when there would be stutters and lags. When the processor is running on full speed, everything is super smooth but I cannot deny when it is not.
    Applications on the K900 run absolutely smooth being in full 1080p. I have not experienced any applications having any issues what so ever, but what did have negative experiences was some games. The general non-resource hungry games always work, but games like Real Racing 3 were really out of order. It would stutter and eventually crash. I even downloaded Asphalt 8 (just out by the way, nice game, I somehow prefer 7 till now) and although it didn’t crash, it would lag! I tried it earlier today and it ran for much longer than the last time, then lagged.
    Again I believe this must be due to the processor’s optimization and Lenovo’s focus on professional use I guess. Without a doubt it isn’t a slow or weak device, just lacks a little.
    The imaging on the K900 is called SuperCamera and the image viewer is called SuperGallery. The self-claimed Super Gallery is quite feature-full and it allows creation of combined images and GIFs. It also is capable of providing the complete details of an image (such as size, resolution, device used for capture, etc)
    Multitasking is taken care off in the typical Android way, but for some reason, there is no button to clear all open applications and being that there is no limit to open apps in the list, it can get a bit annoying swiping away all the open applications to clear it.
    Aside from those few criticisms, with the huge and beautiful screen on the K900, and good performance (especially when its running at maximum juice) it is a very solid device in regards to the operating system.
    Performance
    There is no doubt in my mind that this is a powerful device, because it really is but with the processor feeling not entirely optimized, there is slight sluggishness while operating the device. Is it evident enough and noticeable? Slightly. There are times when I unlocked the device and the home page is still loading its widget, or swipe to another page and the icons pop up but weren’t already ready.
    Switching between applications and running applications is really smooth, the processor really does handle it well, but I wish the processor ran on 2.0 Ghz the whole time because I feel when it is idle or nor running at maximum performance is when it gets sluggish. I have tried several attempts to really work up the processor and then try the general OS transitions and everything was perfectly smooth. I feel the Intel processor isn’t the best for Android or at least isn’t optimized well enough.
    In typical, simple, basic ihabstech fashion, here is the quick fish tank test, which gives a rough idea of how good the device’s graphics and processor can be.
    (running at 980×440 resolution)
    With 100 fish, it held 18-21 FPS
    With 250 fish, it held 11-13 FPS
    With 500 fish, it held 9-11 FPS
    Keeping in mind the HTC One had a 1.7 GHZ Quad Core Snapdragon processor, it had about an average of 1-3 FPS less, the Lenovo K900 is a performer!
    To try it out the Fishtank Test for yourself, you can visit this link, and I think I shall be using this with future device reviews too.
    Battery
    The battery of the K900 is an interesting topic. Before getting into my experiences, the Lenovo Power application that integrates into the OS, is pretty cool.
    This is the essential app, where there are quick toggles for the system tools and an estimated time, in the best case scenario, till the battery would die. There are also several battery modes and a custom mode with estimated battery life for each.
    The following are two sample battery life tests I have experienced.
    In first test, I managed to pull out 12 hours of battery life with nearly 6 hours of standby time.
    While this second attempted pulled out 16 and a half hours of battery life with roughly 8 hours of standby time.
    The shocker is that I have once managed to drain the battery in less than 6 hours of use. What this essentially tells me is that the battery life of the 2500mAh sized battery in the K900 is very variable to the users use of the device. I am sure if I had set things up rather than running at max, I could get a whole day’s use. I recommend anyone who buys this device to play and test a lot with the battery application and find the best of both worlds, battery life and active functions. It essentially has a decent battery, even though I have no idea how they fit that battery in there.
    Wrap up
    The Lenovo K900 has been a delight. Yes, the device does need polishing up in various aspects, but that does not take away the fact that this device is solid, right now.
    The build of the device is phenomenal, the blend of stainless and full glass front is just a beauty and the device doesn’t even think of creaking. The camera is really powerful, full of features, and speaking of features the system really feature-full and is speedy, efficient and very smart. Sure, it does have a few loose ends in terms of battery management, operating system and processor optimization but for professional and ordinary use of the device, it runs near perfect.
    I am sure Lenovo are already working on the next generation of models, including a new flagship, and if this is how they handled things early 2013, I can just imagine they would do really well in the smartphone market!
    Device Pros and Cons
    Pros:
    - Brilliant build quality
    - Slim profile
    - High resolution camera with good imaging features
    - Excellent Full HD 1080p IPS screen
    - Lenovo’s UI has well optimized applications and a lot of customization
    Cons:
    - Hardware isn’t fully optimized for software (some apps don’t run smoothly)
    - OS is sluggish at times and transitions aren’t always smooth
    - Device is very big for most people
    - Questionable battery life
    - Not all gestures work well in real world use
    - Limited storage
    Thanks for reading and please do leave your comments, thoughts and questions below

  • ArchLinux on Acer Aspire One Review

    Here is my mini-review:
    http://kaiwai.blogspot.com/2009/03/linu … eview.html
    I did a review previously of Linux from a non-Geek perspective (and was flamed by some precious individuals). This review was based from a geek perspective (my own perspective). Lets just say that ArchLinux helped me learn to love Linux once again (after having horrible experiences with Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuSE/SuSE).
    Constructive feedback would be much appreciated

    Lone_Wolf wrote:
    Interesting review.
    You may not be aware of it, but there's an AUR package  for acerhdf kernel module.
    Edit :
    Powerpill is also in the AUR
    Cool - the hdf module is a little out of date on aur.
    I'll keep adding things to my blog as I find cool things worth mentioning

  • Review A2DP Bluetooth Headset Sony HBH-DS200 with Leopard 10.5.1

    Hello, this is first post...
    I'm sorry if my English is not perfect.
    I wanted to buy a headset A2DP after discovering that the Leopard supported .... so I decided to create a mini-review.
    Yesterday I bought A2DP Bluetooth Headset Sony HBH-DS200
    Matching perfect
    Stop / Pause link headphones perfect
    Quality sound good but not perfect, but its is clear frequencies seem that the clips are (too high frequencies).
    Now I wanted to try under bootcamp and see what result to arrive.
    At the next update.
    PS: Some of you have tried this headset or other headphones a2dp? HTC S100? As a new feature of Leopard seconds you can resolve this problem? Thank you

    I just bought the SE HBH-DS220. It sounds really good when connected to itunes as well as to my W910i. I cannot hear any noticable difference between this and when I have a wired connection to the computer or phone. If you turn the volume to max on the clip it even plays a bit louder through the headphones, which is just a plus in my book as they don't distort the sound at all.

  • Video Review

    Hi, new to the forum :-) I've signed up to BT Vision and expect delivery on Tuesday. I have been looking around the Internet to find a decent up to date video review of the BTV service and can't seem to find one. I was thinking of doing an unboxing/mini review when it arrives and then another one further down the line. What do you guys think? Anything you want addressing in the videos?

    astewardson wrote:
    Thank you.  I will give it a shot.
    Maybe it will convince more people to go for it if they know what to expect from a real world user (instead of the BT videos)
    or maybe not 
    If you like a post, or want to say thanks for a helpful answer, please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side of the post.
    If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

  • ONE LAST HURRAH: Before saying Goodbye to my Beloved MSI Eclipse!!!

    I already posted this  article  in the motherboard thread but seems like this is the best place to post this
    ONE LAST HURRAH: Before saying Goodbye to my Beloved MSI Eclipse!!!
    Well it has been two months since I purchased this MSI Eclipse SLI board and while waiting for its bigger brother MSI Eclipse Plus, I would like to try out a new board from another manufacturer. Before I pass this board to its new owner, I decided to give it a little review to so that other people who will be upgrading to i7 platform will have some idea how good or how bad this board is.
    A few months ago and maybe until now, Eclipse is the flagship board of MSI in terms of i7 based motherboard. Its bigger brother MSI Eclipse Plus has already been sighted in some forums but no definite date yet on when it will be available in the market.
    The Box
    The size of the box was way bigger than my old P45 motherboards. It is actually almost 2x the size of the conventional ATX board box. 
    Upon opening the panel on the box, you will see a lot of information about the board! You will also see the added stuff from MSI like the Green Power Genie as well as the awesome Creative Xfi! Yes, a creative Xfi Extreme Audio PCIe sound card was included on the package.
    Upon opening the box, you will see a plastic container (I am assuming that this is anti-static) that contains the motherboard, DLED2, Green Power Genie and creative X-fi.
    There’s another box that contains a lot of stuff! MSI is as usual generous in giving their customers all the things the need to fully populate the board. This includes the  cables needed to populate all the sata and ide slots,  cross fire and SLI cable, additional USB bracket, ESATA bracket and the M connectors. All the manuals needed to setup the boards are also included.
    The Board and Layout:
    The board for me is pretty sexy!  It comes with a black PCB. The RAM slots and the other expansion slots are only blue and black in color which is a perfect combination for an intel based platform. The IOH and the ICH10R is actually covered by a copper heatsink with heatpipes connecting them. Well, personally I do not like this design since I do know that x58 generates a lot of heat. The VRMs also come with a copper heatsink but no heatpipe . As far as I understand from the box information, this is MSI’s split thermal design as well as protection from warping.
    MSI also provided 6 RAM slots and they come in blue and black sockets. Do yourself a favor by putting the ram in the black slots. I previously ran into problems of the system hanging in “ DDR ini “ and later found out from reading the manual and searching the web that the black slots should be populated first.
    The board came with 10 sata ports! 6 of them in 90 degrees are connected to the ICH10 and the 4 are actually by the jmicron chips attached to the board and also function as
    HW raid. Connect 2 HDD on sata 7 and 8 or sata 9 and 10, do some stuff in the BIOS and you are all set to run the system in raid 1 (mirror) or 0 (stripe). I have had no chance to test the raid 0 + 1 since I don’t have 4 identical drives.  It also comes with an IDE slot for your old parallel IDE HDD and/or ODD.
    The expansion slots come with 3 pci x16 slots, 2 pci and 2 pcie x1 which I believe is more than enough to suffice your daily needs. The bottom part of the board came with a power, reset and dled switch along with MSI’s OC jumper.
    The back panel is not that good looking. Well it’s the same back panel style of their P45 series board. It doesn’t matter anyway since it is at the back of the chassis and what concerns me the most is functionality. The board came with 8 usb ports at the back, 2  Gigabit lan, 2 esata ports, a 1394 connector, a cmos reset switch and the conventional PS/2 ports for mouse and keyboard.
    Bios and overclocking
    I  just captured the most important portion on the bios which is the Cell Menu. It is the overclocking tab on MSI’s BIOS
    Overclocking and Benchmarking Results
    Since I have not installed anything yet on my new board, I decided just to compare the stock and overclock result from this board.
    Below are the lists of components that I will be using
    Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz  ( cooled by Thermalright HR 01 plus )
    MSI Eclipse SLI – Beta BIOS 1.45
    MSI 8800gtx (well a bit old but still reliable)
    Team Extreme ddr3 1600 @ 8-8-8-25 rated 1.65V
    Western digital Raptor 74gb 16MB cache
    I tried setting up this board one last time on my  DIY open system  using the components above. And Good thing that my ever energetic and reliable  assistant is always there to help … hahahaha
    SPI Stock and 4Ghz OC  Results
    Stock =  15.313s
    4Ghz = 10.405s
    PC Mark 05 Stock and 4 Ghz OC Result
    Stock = 9745
    4Ghz = 13136
    3DMark 05 Stock and  4Ghz OC results
    Stock = 13388
    4Ghz = 14289
    3DMark vantage Stock and 4Ghz OC Results
    Stock = 8160 ( 33530 on CPU score )
    4Ghz = 8315 ( 43567 CPU score )
    Aquamark Stock and Overclock
    Stock = 131812 ( 18685 CPU score )
    4Ghz =  179261 ( 23139 CPU score )
    I tried playing with bclock  since I have seen people in several forum saying that their boards( not specific to MSi eclipse ) / i7 proc cannot go above 200 or maybe just above 200 bclock. After doing some tweak I was able to get 215 bclock and the max I was able to get is 218,  All the test that had been done are just after vista installation. No tweaks done  on windows.
    SPI = 10.343 ( 19 x 215 )
    SPI = 10.030s (  19 x 218 )
    Wrap-up / Conclusion
    I really don’t want to let this board go but I don’t have extra budget to buy and try new boards from other manufacturer so that I can compare the result. So right now I am stuck with selling this just to buy another x58 board (of which I will try to post a mini review soon)
    I did encounter IOH temperature issue when I first bought this motherboard. IOH temperature is at 65C and this still goes up while running benchmarking tests. I made minor modifications on the board and as far as I know, it did not void the warranty. Below are the modifications that I have made:
    1.   Removed the violet thermal paste that MSI used and replaced it with Artic Silver 5.
    2.   Removed the plastic pushpin and replaced it with a bolt and plastic nut.
    3.   Added a 40mmfan that is just enough to take out the heat from the IOH
    Guess what, the temperature after these is just below 55C even under benchmarking (done during night time and I would expect that this will go to probably 60 degrees during daytime given the tropical climate in the Philippines).
    I was able to overclock my i920 at 3.6ghz without even adjusting anything on the voltages. Meaning they are at stock settings!  I managed to reach 4.0 ghz by simply adding 0.040v (around 1.29 Vcore only)
    Pros
    -   Easy to overclock board
    -   Supports both SLI and crossfire
    -   No issue on bigger after market cooling
    -   90 degrees placement of ICH10’s sata port
    -   Server grade VRM’s and Capacitors used
    -   Creative Xfi included
    Cons
    -   Only one SLI bridge included. It would have been better if a tri SLI connector was given by MSi.
    -   IOH temp an issue for my board.  Need to monitor and maybe try my modifications.
    -   Power/Reset/DLED Switches location will not be accessible if a 3rd video card is installed.
    Other thoughts
    -   It would have been better if the BIOS of the eclipse comes with nominal values on the Cell Menu. This is to serve as guide for the users if they are trying to alter the voltages.
    -   Maybe swap the ide and the sata 7 to 10 ports?  It is better looking if all 10 sata ports are on 90 degrees. It will also ensure that even if you use 2 or 3 video cards, it will not hit any of the sata 7-10 cables if you use them.

    I can see you got your use out of it.   I hope the new owner tortures it, too!

  • New aluminum Macbook and S-Video

    New aluminum Macbook and S-Video
    It have come to the conclusion that the new MacBook's and MacBook Pro's can not output to S-video. I have tired the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI and then the Apple DVI to Video but no luck, the two do not connect as the Mini DisplayPort to DVI is missing 4 pin holes. I have tired Mini DisplayPort to VGA and then a VGA to s-video adapter but no luck, the MacBook did not even see a second display.
    Is there any hope to achieve my goal? I need s-video out for work and will have to exchange the computer for a Black MacBook if the new computer can not output to s-video.
    Any thoughts?

    *Mini Review - PC to Video EZ*
    _*It works!*_
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3236/29803095101fb261f66ao.jpg!
    I, and many others, have been looking for a way to output video (composite and s-video) from the NEW Macbooks and MacBook Pro's sporting the Mini DisplayPort since Apple as yet to release such adapter. I use my computer to output video (s-video) for digital slide shows and presentations. If our new aluminum MacBook could not meet this requirement back to the store it would go.
    While searching the web for a adapter, converter or whatever could help get video out of the new MacBook I quickly learned ($10 later) that a simple VGA to s-video cable would not work.
    !http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41fD46i4gVL.SS400.jpg!
    *NO GOOD!*
    I soon came across the PC to Video EZ. It is sold at several online retailers but I finaly decided to buy it from NewEgg.com (links at bottom of post). NewEgg is retailer I knew I could trust and get fast shipping from. I ordered the converter box on Friday and it arrived today (Monday) with standard shipping!
    Bottom line, the PC to Video EZ from GrandTec outputs video (both composite and s-video) at equal quality to Apple's own video adapters used on previous (pre-DisplayPort) computers. I, owning a MacBook Pro with DVI to video adapter, could not tell the difference.
    The device itself is small. It is nothing you would complain about carrying around and it gets the job done.
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/29803104503aa9314222o.jpg!
    *PC to Video EZ from GrandTec*
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2979454029c07766ce1bo.jpg!
    *PC to Video EZ with new button-less Track Pad*
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/2979454137839fb19b1do.jpg!
    *PC to Video EZ with new aluminum MacBook*
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/29794542513448691da0o.jpg!
    *PC to Video EZ with new Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter (still a required purchase)*
    The back of the unit has two VGA ports, one in and one out. You can use the VGA out port as a pass through so you can still have your computer connected to a VGA monitor while outputting to video. A feature I will never use but it is still nice to have, especially for desktops.
    Also on the back is the video ("yellow" composite) and s-video out.
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3150/2980310816fd29234965o.jpg!
    Back
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/2980310910a387be2a8fo.jpg!
    *Back with end of Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter*
    On the right side of the unit you will find a place to plug in the power adapter. Good news, its powered by USB. Bad news, the thing needs to be powered at all... More bad news, the unit does not use a standard USB cable. You better not loose the one that comes in the box! At least there are no power bricks to lug around and a simple USB to wall power adapter (like the one used with iPod or the iPhone) should also power the device. My testing showed that power is required.
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2980311010daa3207621o.jpg!
    *Power in. Why no USB A to USB B?*
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2980309856563935f1c3o.jpg!
    *USB power cable*
    The unit comes with every cable you would need which is a huge plus! Included in the box is a short VGA cable (3 feet, which is perfect), a s-video cable and a composite video cable.
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2979453321a01c534560o.jpg!
    *Included cables. All you need to buy is the Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter.*
    Although not as neat as an Apple Mini DisplayPort to video adapter would be it does get the job done.
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/29794536291b56a7febdo.jpg!
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2979453521fe14baa0b1o.jpg!
    *Typical Setup*
    !http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/29803103608b7b074438o.jpg!
    *Final Product*
    *The unit supports the following screen resolutions & refresh rates.*
    * # 640x480@60/72/75/85Hz, 800x600@60/72/75/85Hz, 1024x768@60/75/85Hz and 1280x1024@60Hz. _On my SD TV I had luck with 1024x768@85Hz. Anything larger would not display._*
    Pros:
    * Power supplied from USB ~NO BULKY EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY!
    * No software required! (works with Mac or Windows or any OS!)
    * Composite and S-Video outputs
    * VGA IN and VGA OUT for simultaneous TV/monitor viewing
    Cons:
    * Requires power
    * Does not use a standard USB cable
    * Not as neat as an Apple Mini DisplayPort to video adapter would be
    * You still need to buy the Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter
    *Package Contents*
    * PC to Video EZ
    * User Guide
    * Composite Video Cable
    * S-Video Cable
    * USB Power Cable
    * VGA Cable
    Links:
    http://www.grandtec.com/products/video/untimateEZ.html
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815117101
    I HOPE THIS HELPED MANY LOOKING FOR A SIMILAR SOLUTION. I KNOW IF I WOULD HAVE FOUND THIS POST I WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY, VERY HAPPY! PASS IT ON.

Maybe you are looking for