Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (STBX2000401)

Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (STBX2000401)..

Special Price Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (STBX2000401) By Seagate

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462 of 484 people found the following review helpful.
Great drive, but short warranty
By Ed
I've purchased a lot of different hard drives over the years and used to build my own external drives using internal drives and external enclosures. It used to be cheaper to build your own external drives. These days, external hard drives are very competitively priced, like the Seagate Expansion drive.

PROS:
- Quiet
- Stays cool
- Fast USB 3.0 performance
- Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
- Works with Mac OS X 10.4.8 and up

CONS:
- Measly 1 year warranty

DESIGN & BUILD
The Seagate Expansion portable hard drive's enclosure is made out of matte plastic that feels pretty well made, though I'd prefer aluminum for durability and better heat dissipation. Glossy plastic enclosures are hard to keep looking good, so kudos to Seagate for using the matte plastic instead. The back of the drive has the USB 3.0 port and there's an itty bitty blue power/activity light on top of the drive, towards the back. Also, there are small rubber feet on the bottom, to keep the drive from sliding around on your desk. The USB 3.0 cable is short, so it's best suited for use with laptops.

PERFORMANCE
CrystalDiskInfo identified the internal drive as a Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012, which is a SATA II (3Gb/s) drive with a 16MB cache. It has a height of 7mm and runs at 5400RPM. 5400 RPM drives are the standard for portable external hard drives because they don't run as hot as 7200 RPM drives. 5400 RPM drives are perfectly suitable as storage drives.

I tested the Seagate Expansion drive over USB 3.0 with CrystalDiskMark and got sequential read/write rates of 107MB/s read and 105MB/s write. That's likely about 3 times the rate of what you'd get over USB 2.0. So yes, the Seagate Expansion USB 3.0 drive is great for transferring large multimedia files, like photos, movies, and music. Of course, there are plenty of other USB 3.0 drives with similar performance.

MISCELLANEOUS
The formatted capacity of the 500 GB drive is 465 GB. On the drive, there's a small registration utility for Windows that's safe to delete after you register. I deleted the utility, but kept the autorun.inf and SeagateExpansion.ico files so the drive would show up with a Seagate icon in Windows Explorer.

Online, the bare 500GB drive can be bought for around $65-$75, so the external version is a decent value if you like the enclosure and internal drive.

Though the Amazon product description doesn't mention compatibility with Mac OS X, Seagate's website shows compatibility with OS 10.4.8 and higher. It comes pre-formatted in NTFS, however, so you'll need to reformat it if you intend to use it with a Mac.

The Seagate Expansion portable hard drive comes with a measly one year warranty. The Western Digital My Passport 500 GB USB 3.0 portable hard drive costs nearly the same as the Seagate Expansion drive, but comes with backup software, has hardware encryption, and a two year warranty. For a little bit more, you can even get Seagate's own Backup Plus 500 GB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive , with a two year warranty. As far which company makes better hard drives, well, that's hard to say. I've used drives from both companies for many years and I've had drives from both companies fail. In fact, it's not unusual for hard drives to fail over time, which is why the length of the warranty can be a significant factor in deciding which drive to buy.

CONCLUSION
The Seagate Expansion portable hard drive is a very nice drive. It performs very well and is a pretty good value overall, however, the short warranty is a concern. I like the drive a lot, but I'd personally look for a portable hard drive with a longer warranty.

122 of 129 people found the following review helpful.
Perfect for media files for tv usage
By Jayhan
I also have the big brother version of this drive (3TB external hdd, AC powered), and both were very easy to use, plug to the USB port, and then start transferring files.

This is the portable version, which means no addition AC power supply needed, everything is powered by USB. Portable also means smaller compared to the AC powered external HDDs. Maximum capacity for portable HDDs right now is 1TB compared to 3TB for AC powered external HDDs.

Besides media files, this is also perfect for backups, documents, etc., and if you have a laptop equipped with SSD, you'll gonna need more space and this is perfect.

So far so good, no problems at all. Used it on my old HP laptop with usb 2.0 port, works good (slower transfer speed of course). Used it on an alienware m14x with usb 3.0 port, works good again and now with fast transfer speed. Used it on my LG 3dtv to watch full hd movies saved on the drive and it works great! I hope it stays like that, can't comment on the reliability yet..

Warranty: Only 1 YEAR. Why did Seagate shorten the warranty? I have no idea.. If you want other drives with longer warranty, here's some options:
Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STBU1000101 (Silver)
Western Digital My Passport 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - WDBBEP0010BBK-NESN (Black)

PROS:
- Portable, no external power supply needed
- Maximum capacity of 1Tb for portable drives (as of now..)
- Matte casing, so its not prone to scratching and fingerprints
- Fast usb 3.0 transfer rate and compatible to usb 2.0 (all usb 3.0 devices should be compatible to usb 2.0 port)
- Plug and play, works after removing out of the box. No need to reformat

CONS:
- Only 1 year warranty. Another year or two could provide more peace of mind..

What's included?
- Seagate Expansion portable hard drive
- "USB 3.0 cable", Amazon's product page says it's a usb "2.0" cable. The included cable is 3.0. One side of the cable is USB 3.0 and the other side is micro USB 3.0.
- Quick start guide
- 1-year limited warranty

Two thumbs up for this external hard drive, highly recommended!

435 of 482 people found the following review helpful.
Good drive, needs better instructions for the tech impaired
By Gracie
I am not terribly computer savvy. I use a computer for my work all day every day. But I do not understand how many things work. I don't understand most technical talk/gibberish. But I do know that I need to back up my files as my desktop is limping towards a slow and painful death.

I was surprised at how tiny and light the drive was. I plugged it into the USB drive. It was silent. But here is where I ran aground. The interface is not in the least bit intuitive. The only thing that readily pops up to be done is registering the unit. I did that but since I actually wanted to save things to the drive rather than just registering it, I was a little frustrated. While there are a great many tech lovers in the world they are by no means the only people using these products. I was frustrated that there were no useful instructions or a program to help me use the drive.

Eventually, I was able to figure out how to go through the control panel, back up my files, and set future back ups. It just isn't obvious up front.

And yes, I know that people are laughing at my limited technical capabilities. But idiots use products too.

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PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller (Blue)

PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller (Blue)..

Grab Now PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller (Blue) By Sony

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378 of 437 people found the following review helpful.
Tested on Playstation 1, 2, and 3 games - it works GREAT on all of them!
By The Matrix Fan
Well folks, now that the dust has settled from the Sony vs. Immersion lawsuit, Playstation 3 owners are finally able to feel the vibe again!

I purchased this controller today and I knew the only way to properly road-test it was on the game that made the Dualshock famous, Metal Gear Solid. After booting up the game, I walked down the hallway and got spotted by a guard. As he shouted, "WHO'S THAT?" the controller jumped in my hand - and I knew this was a smart purchase. As the guards shot at me, I felt the feedback of the bullets, just as I had 10 years ago on my Sony Playstation.

I picked out another old school Playstation game, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. From Ayame's blades to Rikimaru's sword, each sword swipe and jump had excellent feedback.

Okay, so my Playstation games worked out. But what about my Playstation 2 library?

I popped in God of War, knowing I had to feel the swing of the Blades of Chaos. The controller vibrations felt a little lighter here, but the vibrations still occurred at the appropriate times.

Then I chose Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Who better to test a vibration controller than the Sultan of Smash? All the power jumps and smashes had the vibrations intact, but they still felt a little on the light side.

All right, so far I was two for two with my Playstation and Playstation 2 test subjects. But what about my Playstation 3 games? Could I possibly hit a trifecta?

I put in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and I decided to jump right into a heated firefight. The controller gave me feedback while shooting weapons and getting hit by enemy fire, but I knew my purchase was justified when Drake was near death: I FELT THE DUALSHOCK 3 PULSING IN SYNCH WITH DRAKE'S HEARTBEAT. It's one thing to hear that noise and know he's near death, it's quite another to feel the pulse in my own hands.

Okay, so the feedback on the older games was there, but a little lighter than I remember. The reason? Well, when I decided to go wireless on my Playstation 2 system, I bought a Logitec Dualshock controller. It turns out, that controller takes two "AA" batteries, and the vibration motors inside the controller handles are slightly larger than the ones in the Dualshock 3. That's where I felt the difference.

The Dualshock 3 vibrations may be slightly less than the Logitec controller, but it doesn't require the purchase of batteries.
The Dualshock 3 may be slightly heavier than the SixAxis, but it doesn't take up any extra space at all.

Sure, the price is about $15 more than the SixAxis, but it's a worthy upgrade for the Playstation 3 gamer who kicks it old school as well as new school. The only other drawback is the lack of an additional USB cable - but we can use the one that came with the system itself.

So what's the final verdict?

Order it, plug it in, charge it up, and get ready for the inevitable downloads from the Playstation Store to make the older PS3 games Dualshock 3 compatible.

I wouldn't recommend a feedback peripheral without providing my own feedback...

Enjoy!

172 of 206 people found the following review helpful.
Get ready to rumble, even with PS 2 games!
By Sebastian Fernandez
I was already extremely happy with the Sixaxis controller, but I could not resist getting the DualShock 3. Not only do you get the rumble, but also, it feels much better in your hands, even for those games that do not use this feature. The rumble function is fun, but on top of that, it helps with gameplay, because "feeling" what is happening provides a lot more feedback than just watching how your character or car reacts to the environment.

The biggest surprise of all was that the rumble works with PS 2 games in the PS 3 system. I am currently playing through "God of War", a game which had the rumble capability in PS 2. I thought that it was unlikely that I was going to get this feature with this new controller in the PS 3, but it worked perfectly.

I know that having to buy a new controller and basically discard the one that came with the system is not the ideal situation, but I have to say this product is really worth shedding the extra bucks.

128 of 157 people found the following review helpful.
Should've been rumble from the start.
By The Gifted One
The Playstation 2's highly regarded DualShock 2 controller was considered by many to be the best videogame controller of all time. So when you've got a winning design there's no need to change anything. However, because of a legal battle with Immersion over rumble technology, Sony was forced to offer their Sixaxis controller without rumble. The Sixaxis had the same Dualshock design but it felt too lightweight and cheap. Thankfully the lawsuit has been settled and rumble has come back to the Playstation.

For the most part, the DualShock 3 is almost identical to its PS2 precessor. But it has all the features of the original Sixaxis controller in addition to rumble. The controller is still wireless, can be charged by plugging it into your PS3 (or PC), rumble is compatible with all PS1 and PS2 games, and the PS3 supports up to 7 controllers at the same time via bluetooth. Rumble in the DualShock 3 seems more responsive in regards to the location of its vibration depending on which side you get hit on during the games. I don't know if this is something in the design or if it's the developers doing it for the games but I welcome it.

All in all this is currently the best designed controller on the market right now. The PS2's DS2 was incredible so "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here. I'll be enjoying rumble in my PS3 games from now on.

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Canon CLI-226 3 Color Value Pack Ink, Genuine Ink

Canon CLI-226 3 Color Value Pack Ink, Genuine Ink..

GET Canon CLI-226 3 Color Value Pack Ink, Genuine Ink By Canon

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115 of 124 people found the following review helpful.
...But I Have Black, Right?
By JAime
I learned the hard way that my Canon printer needs TWO black ink cartridges -- 226 BK and 225 PGBK. Apparently, one black (226) is used exclusively for images, and one (225) exclusively for text. When my PGBK cartridge ran dry, I thought the BK cartridge would take over, since it was still 75% full. Nope.

Now that I've purchased this combo pack, convenient as it is, the BK cartridge is gathering dust next to my printer, unused.

68 of 74 people found the following review helpful.
What the heck is Canon thinking!
By kitties1
I agree with most of the people that have written reviews. Believe it or not.....it costs less at times to purchase a new printer that comes with in than buying the ink alone. Our stores have this model on sale all the time. Actually ran into a guy the other day who had like 6 of them in his shopping cart and said.....yeah buying the printer for the ink.

So, what do you do with all the printers? I guess they all go to land fill, just what we need. Canon we like your product, so give us a break on the ink.......

107 of 121 people found the following review helpful.
Quality ink, but another dumb combo from Canon
By JB
I have always stuck with OEM ink, because the results and reliability are worth the extra cost to me (plus printer manufacturers are making it increasingly difficult to use non-OEM solutions).

However, it is beyond dumb to see the combos that Canon is offering for the new line of ink jet cartridges. In this case Canon gives you four color cartridges, but all of their current PIXMA printers take five or six - to get the Pigment Black or Gray cartridges you'll have to buy them separately and at a higher price. Plus this combo includes 50 sheets of paper that not everyone needs (I have plenty already). Perhaps Canon should ditch the paper and lower the list price of this combo by eight dollars - the amount this CLI-226 combo was increased over the CLI-221 combo it replaced.

BTW, the other package deal offered by Canon (PGI-225 BK/ CLI-226 C,M,Y 4 Pack Value Pack (4530B008)) is another strange combo that includes Pigment Black and three colors, but does not include Black or Gray.

Sorry, but it makes no sense whatsoever to not offer at least a 5-cartridge refill kit for a printers that needs 5 or 6 different inks - except that it lines Canon's pockets a bit more than it should. A kit that substituted Pigment Black for the paper would make more sense than this - or as I said earlier just get rid of the paper and lower the price significantly.

I also have to knock off a star because the new cartridges are opaque, which may have been done to thwart refillers but also prevents users from checking the ink level themselves.

Edit July 2011: When my Pixma MX860 printer recently failed I was looking at upgrading to the Canon PIXMA MG8120 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (4504B002). But in large part due my dissatisfaction with the ink cartridges of the new Pixmas I went with a refurbished Canon PIXMA MP990 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3749B002) which uses the previous generation CLI-221 cartridges.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition (7-Inch with Orange Bumper Case)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition (7-Inch with Orange Bumper Case)..

Special Price Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition (7-Inch with Orange Bumper Case) By Samsung

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133 of 144 people found the following review helpful.
Samsung rocks
By nanaladybug
I preordered this for my five year old grandson. It came yesterday. He did not put it down until bedtime. He loved it. It is true it is just like my samsung galaxy two except for a few additions. Also he was able to play it soon out of the box. His dad down loaded many of the educational tools that he is uses in school. This was the main reason for picking this tab. He was not approved for a free IPad that was given to children with autism. So he had been working on my tablet. Thank you Samsung for your products. Samsung rocks

82 of 94 people found the following review helpful.
Teacher and Techie say good non-Apple product for kids
By Colleen Green
My five year old son has outgrown his LeapPad and has commandeered our iPads on numerous occasions to play Angry Birds, Word World or Where's My Perry. Unfortunately one day I found him watching You Tube videos of the graphic and violent video game Saint's Row. At that point we knew we would not simply be handing down our iPad 1 to him while we upgraded to newer iPads for ourselves. Apple simply has no provision for parental controls on their products which is sad. We've spent a great deal of money on apps through the Apple App Store. We have always loved that the apps from the App Store are certified even if you occasionally run into a few that don't work. Plus, Apple products last forever and tend to have good resale and trade in value.

Hence, we were skeptical when we decided to look at other tablet manufacturers for our son. We researched every kids tablet on the market. We felt he would either outgrow, break or not be able to access the apps he loves on most of the devices on the market. So, we turned to the Tab 3 Kids tablet as our solution.

Is it breakable? Yes. About as breakable physically as an iPad which tend to be pretty durable. However, as we have trained our son over several years to be gentle with our tablets, we weren't as worried about it. My iPad always had a rubber bumper on it and the bumper for the tab is exactly same. I expect it will hold up and protect the device the just as well.

Setting up the device was a headache. There was a lot of registering this and that, etc., unlike Apple which is ready to go out of the box. I am not a fan of the Android operating system. Neither is my husband who has worked in computer system networking for the last 18 years. However, given there's little choice in the kids tablet market with OSes, it could have been a worse experience. The so called "gifts with purchase" were worthless except for the 50g of drop box space. Unfortunately we already paid for Drop Box and weren't eligible for that.

Once I had figured out how to use the tablet it was pretty easy to get my son's favorite apps from the Google Play store. (The majority of the other tablets we looked at had no access to Google Play. A big turn off.) Google had most of the apps he uses. Sadly no Word World, but oh well. The costs for the apps were the same as the Apple ones.

The kids' portion of the tablet is pretty easy to use. You are only allowed 20 apps for the kids to access at a time. They can easily be switched out under parental controls though. The time limiters for the tablet are a little simple. Would have like a bit more choice and flexibility. You can either limit use of the device to anywhere up to just over an hour OR you can set the time the tablet is child accessible, ie, 10am to 2pm. You cannot set multiple access times.

The kids App Store is silly. I doubt my child will be interested in much of what is in there but he's surprised me on more than one occasion. There is no access directly to You Tube which is a big plus for me. I get tired of him watching videos of other people playing Angry Birds or Minecraft.

I was very easily able to set up his access to the apps I purchased through Google Play using the parental controls once I had downloaded them on the normal side.

Battery life seems comparable with our iPads. The screen size is good for him. Big enough to see unlike an iPhone or iPod Touch. The adapter for charging is a simple micro-USB so no special expensive cords to buy.

All in all it's a good little tablet for kids. I expect it will last a couple of years before needing replacing with the next new thing. A word of warning to parents though: don't buy this tablet and expect to "share" it with your child. Just because it has parental controls and has the normal Android OS on it as well doesn't mean your child isn't going to go absolutely nuts if he sees you using it. Take it from a parents who have owned iPads of various types since the day they hit the stores. Get your child THEIR OWN tablet even if they are not allowed to use it all the time. You'll appreciate not having to deal with the headaches.

48 of 58 people found the following review helpful.
Great kids tablet that is still good for anyone else in the family too
By S. Placencio
This thing is great! Is the same as the regular Galaxy tab 3 but comes with kids mode and a lot of pre installed kids apps. Also is yellow with an orange rubber case included. My six year old son is always using my wifes ipod and my Galaxy s3 so he is a pro at using these already. I love the color and the fact that it has a case included. The kids mode is great and there are a lot of games and apps for free on the kids store. You can set up parental controls to limit how long your child uses the device and also a password to make sure your child can not access anything you don't want them to. I love the fact that you can change from kids mode to standard mode with the touch of a button ( after you put in your password) so it makes this a standard galaxy tab 3. My son will love this when he gets it on Christmas day. Was looking for a tablet for my son and this one is perfect!

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Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7K 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical zoom and 3.0-inch LCD - Black

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7K 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical zoom and 3.0-inch LCD - Black..

Grab Now Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7K 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical zoom and 3.0-inch LCD - Black By Panasonic

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557 of 576 people found the following review helpful.
PANA keeps improving on the LX3, but still not "perfect..."
By Nathaniel Allen
Wow, this was a tough upgrade decision. Sony's RX100 is superb competition, and I was certain *IT* would be the camera that pulled me out of the Panasonic camp (I also own an old Panasonic DMC-FX50 "bridge camera" in addition to an LX5, which replaced my LX3 -- plus my wife kept a Pana FX35 in her purse before she switched to Sony's slim TX9.

Despite keeping these few cameras around (really just the 3: the FX50, the TX9 and now the LX7), I'm just your Joe Average photographer, shooting mainly the kids, family/friend gatherings, special events, and some home construction-type projects, and other hobby interests.

And what I've ever really wanted out of the LX series is a compact, low light-capable camera with a respectable set of manual controls. Exactly what the SONY RX100 is with its huge sensor, and of the two, it is unquestionably the better performer for indoor shooting situations of fast moving kids, compared to the LX3 and LX5.

If that were my only criteria, I'd have never ordered the LX7, and might be typing up my thoughts on the RX100 instead. But maybe my four years of familiarity with the LX3/5 got the better of me. Maybe I'm just a sheep with a Panasonic logo branded on my flank. But there were a couple of sore points with the Sony that just plain made me unsatisfied. Rather than trash the RX100 (not my intention), here's my list:

- There's no escaping the benefit of the wide 24mm lens on the LX series. Not to mention the handy aspect ratio mode switching right on the bezel. And I use the 1:1 aspect ratio more than I care to admit.
- The Panasonic's hot shoe is a hot commodity when I need it. I have a Metz 36-AF4O (since replaced by the Metz 36 AF-5, I believe) which is about as big as the camera itself, but provides more than adequate light with bounce capabilities.
- Two of my gripes with the LX3 and LX5 were the difficulty of adjusting manual settings via push-button & thumb dial inputs. The LX7's aperture ring and dedicated manual focus lever have addressed this, with varying degrees of satisfaction.
- I get to keep my LX5 spare battery, which isn't such a huge deal, but just know that its shelf life is spectacular. Although my predicted number of shots between charges has decreased, per the manual. Nothing drastic; still great battery life.
- Most importantly, the Panasonic LX7 has a certain ease and quickness about it -- probably due in part to my use of its predecessors -- and combined with the newly added manual controls, it feels to me the design is finally at a point where I can set up various shooting solutions with a minimum of fuss and button pressing, nearly (but not quite) like my SLR days many years ago. The "user experience" of the Sony, by comparison, felt a little too menu driven and sticky.

Where did Panasonic fall short with this new model?

- For one, the image quality really hasn't changed. My thoughts are that the LX3 was excellent, but the LX5 tended to focus a little soft -- although nothing that stood out horribly amiss; maybe within the normal manufacturing variations? I don't want to speculate on sensor sizes or type playing a role, but I can attest Sony's RX100 shoots a "cleaner" or "crisper" portrait-style photo -- although that difference disappears once the image is downsized for printing/sharing.
- There's still no remote. Or cable release. Or Bulb mode. Can't tell you how much I enjoy those features on other cameras. For the LX5, I have a cable release adapter that slides into the hot shoe and extends an arm over the shutter release for a cable release to activate, but the hot shoe has been realigned on the LX7 so it no longer works.
- I continue to have trouble reading the silver-on-silver symbols etched onto the 4-way keys.
- If you're one to complain about the lens cap (I'm not, but I know a lot of LX users HATE the thing)... well, it's still here, and it's smaller than before, making it a little more difficult to clip on/clip off.
- I once committed to never buying a camera without a tiltable display, but that's just not an option. All things considered, the LX7 display is not as bright at the RX100, but is very visible in all but direct daylight, and viewable from off angles without the colors inverting.

What did Panasonic get right with the LX7 update?

- The redesigned lens is noteworthy. It's a definite improvement over the LX5 for indoor shooting, and that extends through the entire zoom range (still only 90mm, which was an improvement over the LX3). I find that I take the vast majority of my photos on the wide end of this lens, but in low light settings, I've been forced to if I'm trying to avoid using the flash. With the lens redesign, I've got a little more flexibility in my zoom before resorting to higher ISOs.
- IC? Firmware? Who knows! The camera is snappier than its predecessor, in all aspects: start up, menu navigation, auto focus delay, and shot to shot. It gets shots off near instantaneously. And the kicker is a burst mode!
- I can't say I was disappointed by the 720p video of the LX5, but full HD video is a treat -- especially with memory prices as cheap as they are compared to two years ago.
- Finally, a dedicated white balance button on the 4-way controller! (Panasonic eliminated the "Focus" key featured on the LX5, and also added burst mode selection to the shutter self timer key.)
- I'm very excited about the inclusion of a time lapse feature. This was overdue.
- The clickable, dedicated aperture ring, especially, and the manual focus lever, sort of (light applause -- needs something more "ring like")
- The mode wheel is substantially firmer, preventing inadvertent turns while in the pocket.

Some random thoughts on the Sony RX100: It feels a little "rough" at startup (i.e. not-so-smooth lens extension, kind of rough feel & sound), and starts up about a second slower than the Panasonic, but not having to remove a lens cap negates that. Zoom time from full wide to full tele is about one second snappier on the Sony. I felt that the Sony's auto white balance "got it right" more often than the LX, but the custom white balance is at minimum one level deep into the menu (if set to the Fn key). Shutdown immediately after snapping a pic is an agonizingly slow 5-6 seconds for full lens retraction; 3-4 seconds if the camera is already at idle. And not so much a dig at Sony as a kudos to Panasonic, but with the 28mm constraint on the wide end, switching from 4:3 to 16:9 simply crops the top and bottom of the frame, whereas on all the LX cameras with their unique sensor usage, I actually gain extra pixels on the sensor to help compose the shot I want.

Panasonic's history of product support HAS to be a consideration. They released mid-cycle firmware updates for both the LX3 and the LX5, and with the unexpected LX3 update in particular, added new features -- not just bug fixes. (Wish I could say the same about the FX50, but that's a story for another day...)

I wouldn't be so bold as to recommend the LX7 over the RX100, but only want to give a little insight via some of the features I hold in high regard. They both definitely have their strong suits. If you're at all familiar with the previous LX cameras, you have a solid basis for understanding the LX7 improvements, as well as its shortcomings. That certainly didn't stop me from happily purchasing the RX100 before giving the LX7 a chance to hit the streets, but by doing so I immediately proved to myself that there is still no "perfect camera," and with the compromises that I had to accept, my preferences fell mainly back to the LX line.

191 of 200 people found the following review helpful.
Best compact camera for the price
By Bob
I feel bad for this camera because it got overshadowed by the Sony RX100, which everyone thinks is so amazing because it has a sensor that's midway in size between a compact camera and an APS-C DSLR.

Leaving aside the RX100, the LX7 is the best compact camera I have ever owned with respect to image quality and useability and features.

Some of the wonderful attributes of this camera are:

1. It focuses as fast as an entry-level DSLR.
2. Built-in level.
3. "Step-zoom" allows you to select focal-length-equivalents of 24, 28, 35, 50, 70 and 90mm.
4. Manual focus gives you an electronic depth of field chart which changes as you change the aperture. This makes it great for either zone focusing or for finding the hyperfocal distance. There's also an "MF Resume" option which will return the lens to where you last manually focused.
5. Lens is really sharp, only minimal corner softness at F4, and very useable wide open, more so than the Sony RX100.
6. I also see nearly zero purple fringing with this camera--I'm not sure if its the amazing lens or Panasonic post-processing tricks, but it's nevertheless impressive.
7. Lens is so fast that this camera is actually a BETTER low-light camera than any entry-level DSLR if you are only going to be using that DSLR with the kit lens. The lens is also faster than the RX100, so you need to take that into account when you compare the two cameras. The lens is fast enough to give you a little bit of blurred background, something I've never seen before on a compact camera.
8. Widest angle is 24mm (equivalent), which is a premium feature that you don't get on basic DSLR kit lenses and you don't get on the Sony RX100.
9. For a sensor if its size it's probably best-of-class, with better DR and less noise than sensors from a few years ago.

The negatives of this camera are:

1. Not as small as a Sony RX100. It is not a pants pocket camera, but fits fine in a coat pocket. The LX7 is slightly more pocketable than an Olympus E-PM1 with the Panasonic 14mm pancake lens.
2. The LCD is nice, but not as nice as the one on the Sony RX100.
3. Has a lens cap you need to remove before using the camera. The camera comes with a little cord you can use to attach the lens cap to the camera so you don't lose it, but I tried it and hated having a lens cap dangling around. So far I've only lost one lens cap in the last ten years, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
4. Even at base ISO, the sensor is a good distance behind top-quality larger sensors, like the one in the Nikon 3200, so if your photographic goal is to make really huge prints, I recommend a Nikon 3200 with a sharp lens like the Nikon 16-85mm DX VR lens. But you would probably not notice this sensor's shortcomings in anything smaller than a 13 x 19" print.

Bottom line:

If you are going to buy an entry-level DSLR or micro-four-thirds or NEX camera, and are only going to use that camera with the kit lens, then you are probably better off buying an LX7 instead. This camera even has a flash shoe and can be used with a real flash, so there's nothing you can't do with this camera just as well or better that you can do with a DSLR+kit lens.

185 of 198 people found the following review helpful.
Best hiking/climbing camera ever
By Monty VanderBilt
My primary requirement for a camera is that it be compact, but still take great pictures under the conditions I run into often. I hike and climb a lot and do not want the bulk of a DSLR hanging in front of me, and the camera must be accessible so I don't delay the group while digging my camera out of the pack. So I gravitate toward the compact camera that gives me as much of the DLSR feature set as possible.

I chose the LX7 primarily because it has a very fast lens. For me that means handheld shots under a thick forest canopy are not blurred because of slow shutter speeds. My previous camera was the DMC-LX5, the predecessor to this model and it was great. I'm replacing it because I made the mistake of taking movies in a sandstorm during a hike down Buckskin gulch in Utah. Ever since that the camera has been complaining when sand grains stick in the lens mechanism and get inside the camera on the sensor. So don't do that!

When the LX7 arrived I downloaded the PDF manual (much easier to read than the small one in the box) and went through the new features to familiarize myself with how to use them. I kept being delighted with the improvements over the LX5 that make this the best camera I've ever owned for hiking/climbing shots. In brief, they are:

1) Fast lens - good for hand held shots in dim lighting situations (forests, twilight, ...). You don't hold up your companions setting up a tripod shot.
2) Wide angle - no need for a panorama when the wide angle lens can get it all
3) Compact - light and small enough to hand around your neck all day without being uncomfortable
4) Raw - Most of the time I take jpeg simply to document the hike. But when dramatic lighting or scenes call for it I can kick in the Raw for a killer result.
5) Bracketing - many outdoor shots with snow or sun/shadow scenes have huge contrast. Exposure bracketed shots combined in post solve this.
6) New! Auto HDR - LX7 will do the bracketing and merging in camera. Haven't tested enough to see if it beats (4) for quality though.
7) New! Auto Pano - I take a lot of panorama shots from viewpoints, and it's time consuming to stitch them in post. The LX7 will do them in camera.
8) New! 3D - I know, 3D is overrated, but for that shot hanging over the cliff nothing else works as well. LX7 has a 3D photo mode.
9) New! Time Lapse - I don't do time lapse much because I couldn't, but I hope to capture progressive alpenglow from camp, and a time lapse of 3 shots 1-minute apart also works as a long self-timer. I've nearly fallen scrambling on steep summit rocks to get in the picture withing 10 seconds.
10) White body - I bushwhack a lot and twice my camera has "sneaked" out of my case when I forgot to close the zipper. White cameras are easier to find!

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Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103

Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103..

GET Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103 By Seagate

Most helpful customer reviews

170 of 199 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent very slim, light, fairly fast 500-GB hard drive; the Windows version works on Mac and the Mac version works on Windows
By ƒůŽźŸ ωŬ≥ζŷ ♥☮♭♩♪♫♬♮☯☺♡✈
இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾѾ Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!

փ Positives:

փ This hard drive is indeed very slim, with its 9.5mm thickness being comparable to an internal laptop hard drive.
փ The read/write transfer speeds are pretty fast for a 5400-RPM hard drive (but performance will feel slower if you are accustomed to using 7200-RPM drives).
փ By installing a Windows or Mac driver, you can use either the Windows or Mac version of this drive on both Windows and Mac computers, which is great for transferring files in between both platforms.
փ This drive comes in 500-GB, 1-TB, and 2-TB capacities with five different color options for the top metal panel.

ჯ Negatives:

ჯ While the Seagate Dashboard software that is pre-loaded on the hard drive includes very useful and flexible backup software, the other two parts of the software to share files to social media sites and save files from social media sites are limited in their usefulness and flexibility.

With a thickness of 9.5mm for the 500-GB drive, this very portable little drive is only slightly thicker than an iPhone or pencil, and its thickness is comparable to many internal laptop/notebook drives. But while 9.5mm-thick internal laptop drives do not have an external case covering them, this drive is housed inside an attractive anodized aluminum metal case, with a plastic bottom base, that gives it a solidly rigid feel to the drive. The hard drive that is housed inside the case may even be thinner than a 7mm internal hard drive. So this external hard drive is actually thinner than most internal laptop/ultrabook hard drives. And the 500-GB drive weighs only 5 ounces, making this an extremely portable drive to carry around. With a thickness of 12.0mm, the 1-TB and 2-TB versions of this drive are 2.5mm thicker and slightly heavier than the 500-GB version. But a 12.0mm-thick drive casing is still tiny for a 2-TB external drive. There are some 15mm-thick 2-TB internal drives that are thicker than this, and they do not have an external case.

This hard drive comes with an 18-inch USB 3.0 cable. While this cable length is adequate for plugging into a laptop, I wish that the supplied cable was just a little longer in length (24 inches would be ideal) to allow more flexibility when connecting the hard drive to a desktop computer. My desktop computers are connected to USB hubs located on my desk so the cable is not too short for me, but many people will plug this hard drive directly into their desktop computer's USB port.

This drive is whisper quiet and when it is plugged into the USB port, a thin sliver of light glows near one corner of the top of the case to show that it is operational. While this drive is either reading or writing data, the glowing light pulsates, slowly shifting between dim and bright, instead of just blinking like most hard drive status lights. The pulsating hard drive status light looks more unique than the usual blinking light used by other external hard drives, as if the hard drive is breathing in and out while it works. My one minor quibble is that I wish the light would pulsate at a quicker pace. With a blinking hard drive activity LED, I can quickly glance over at the light and see if it is blinking. With this slowly pulsating light, I have to stare at the sliver of light for several seconds to see if the drive is reading/writing. As with all non-SSD hard drives, when I hold this drive in my hand, I can feel its body vibrating due to the spinning platter that is inside, and if I press my ear right up to the case while the drive is reading or writing data, I can just barely hear the read/write head moving around inside. So this hard drive is as quiet as the quietest of internal drives designed for notebooks.

I have seen various reviews erroneously mention that this Seagate Slim drive is either a 7200-RPM drive or a SSD drive, but both of those descriptions are incorrect. While Seagate previously used 7200-RPM drives in their GoFlex Slim drives, this Slim drive uses a 5400-RPM drive. For a 5400-RPM hard drive though, its transfer speeds are pretty good. This hard drive connects through a USB 3.0 cable, and as with all USB 3.0 devices being backwardly compatible with USB 2.0, you will only get the faster USB 3.0 speeds if you connect this drive to a USB 3.0 port. Connecting this drive to a USB 2.0 port will result in slower transfer speeds. When tested using the "HD Tune" hard drive performance benchmarking tool on an older laptop with USB 2.0 ports, I get an average read speed of 28 MB/s and an average write speed of 21 MB/s. Connecting this drive to a newer laptop having USB 3.0 ports, I get an average read speed of 92 MB/s (with maximum peaks of around 112 MB/s) and an average write speed of 86 MB/s. Even though most 7200-RPM notebook-sized hard drives will be faster, these speeds are pretty fast for a 5400-RPM hard drive. If you want the fastest speeds using this Seagate Slim drive, you need to plug it into a USB 3.0 port. This rule applies to any external storage device that uses a USB 3.0 cable. Perhaps Seagate chose to not include a faster 7200-RPM hard drive inside this tiny thin enclosure because of potential heat and reliability issues?

If I read or write hundreds of megabytes of data, the exterior of the drive does get warm over time since there is no internal cooling fan or ventilation holes in this drive's casing, but it usually does not get too hot. On one occasion, however, I was copying many very large HD video files onto this drive, and after twenty minutes of transferring HD videos back and forth where this hard drive was reading and writing non-stop, the drive's enclosure felt very hot when I touched it, so I undocked and unplugged the drive to let it cool down because I was worried about adversely affecting the drive's long-term reliability by continuing to operate it with the temperature inside its enclosure being so hot. The drive enclosure's metal top surface cooled down after about fifteen minutes, and I then plugged the drive back into my laptop and proceeded to edit the HD videos that were now loaded onto the drive. Because this tiny hard drive is housed in such a small totally-sealed enclosure, you should let it cool down sometimes if feels too hot after extended periods of reading/writing data. Avoiding repetitive overheating is a good idea for any external hard drive that lacks a cooling fan or ventilation holes in the hard drive's enclosure since heat can degrade a hard drive's performance and reliability over time. With most electronic components, repeatedly overheating the electronics can cause hardware failures and overheating is the primary cause of hard drive failure. Also avoid bumping, jarring, or dropping this hard drive, especially when it is plugged in.

About 800 MB of this drive's space is used up by the pre-loaded Seagate Dashboard software and brief tutorial videos on using the Seagate Dashboard software to protect and back up your files, save social media files, and conveniently share image and video files that are stored on this drive to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. If you are certain that you do not ever want to use this Dashboard software, you can delete the 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.dmg' Mac software file, the 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.exe' Windows software file, and the 'Video' folder to free up hundreds of megabytes of disk space. A 'Seagate' folder that is in the root directory contains a 'SerialNumber.xml' file that has the model number and serial number of the drive. The model number and serial number are also printed on the bottom panel of the drive however. In the Windows version of this drive, the 'Seagate' folder has a 'Seagate-Release.exe' program that you can run to register the drive with Seagate. After you finish registering the drive, you can delete the 'Seagate' folder.

If you want to leave the software and tutorial videos on the drive, you can still delete either the 135-MB 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.dmg' Mac software file or the 156-MB 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.exe' Windows software file if you only exclusively use Mac or Windows computers. In the 'Video' folder, there are eight folders - 'en-US', 'fr-FR', 'it-IT', 'ko-KR', 'ru-RU', 'sv-SE', 'zh-CN', and 'zh-TW' - that each contain the same set of four tutorial videos: 'Introducing Seagate Backup Plus', 'Protecting Your Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial', 'Saving Social Media Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial', and 'Sharing To Social Media Sites With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial'. These eight sets of videos are identical in the video and audio, and only differ in the subtitle language used: English (no subtitles), French, Italian, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Chinese, and Taiwanese. If you keep the 'en-US' English video that has no subtitles and delete the other seven folders, you free up almost 350 MB of space.

Of the three components in the Seagate Dashboard software, the "Protect" function offers the most usefulness and flexibility, while the "Share" and "Save" functions for sharing/uploading to and saving from social media sites are limited in their capabilities. With the Dashboard's "Protect" function, you can schedule backups of your files based on a regular hourly/daily/weekly/monthly schedule, or have your files backed up whenever they are added or modified, or make backups on an as-needed basis by manually initiating a "snapshot" backup of your files. I am always surprised by how many people never back up the files on their computers, either their work-related files or their personal files, including documents, email and Microsoft Outlook files, photo/music/media files, or other files that are often irreplaceable if their computer's hard drive suddenly fails. If your computer has years of files accumulated on it that you have never backed up to another disk, to a CD/DVD, or to an online cloud-based backup service, this Seagate Slim hard drive can be used as your backup device where you can store a duplicate copy of all your important files. If you have already been using a backup process, as mentioned, you do not have to install the Dashboard software and you can just completely delete all the pre-loaded software from this hard drive if you want.

Important: If you do use the pre-loaded Seagate "Protect" software to back up your files, or if you use other kinds of automated backup software, you should randomly spot-check some of the duplicated backup files and folders every one or two months to verify that the files are correctly being copied and that they can be read correctly. Spot-check the backup files more frequently if they are important and you really value their integrity. Backup software is still a software application and, just like firmware and other software, and also taking into account that a hard drive may start to slowly fail with read/write errors after years of usage, there may be a software or hardware glitch that causes a file to either not be backed up by the backup software, or to be backed up but unreadable. By occasionally spot-checking the integrity of your backup files, you reduce the possibility of having an unpleasant surprise if you really need to recover the files from the backup copy. A data error can happen with any electronic storage media. For example, if you back up files by burning data to a CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc, you should spot-check their integrity by accessing some of their files at least once a year. The same rule applies if your backup files are stored by a cloud-based backup/storage service. There are also integrity-checking software that will automatically verify the integrity of hard disks or optical media. I am an avid photographer, and with terabytes of hard disk space becoming more inexpensive each year, my favorite way to back up files is by manually copying files and folders to two separate hard drives in a "manual RAID 1" setup where I manually back up and mirror the photo and HD-video files between both drives, instead of relying on backup software to perform the function. I previously used a dual-hard-drive RAID 1 storage unit, but I like being able to directly access either drive and I also do not like how RAID 1 simultaneously deletes files from both drives if I ever type or click too fast and have an "oops" accidental file deletion.

The Dashboard software's "Share" function lets you share files that are stored on the hard drive by uploading to either Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube. And the "Save" function lets you save photos from Facebook or Flickr. Unlike the "Share" function, "Save" does not let you save videos from YouTube. But there are many freeware software and online sites that can convert and save YouTube videos already. I really did not care for how either these "Share" or "Save" functions worked because they are quite limited in their flexibility, and it is very easy to perform the same functions directly using the Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube sites without having to go through an intermediate step of using the Dashboard software to upload files. Perhaps Seagate added the "Share" and "Save" options for computer newbies or social media newcomers. But the irony is that even though this Dashboard software "dumbs down" the uploading of files to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube, the computer newbies who would most benefit from using the "Share" and "Save" options may not even have an account on Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

This pocket-sized drive is quite small and light: 4.5"x3.0"x0.4" and 5.3 ounces (including the USB cable) for the 500-GB version, with the 1-TB and 2-TB versions being slightly thicker and heavier. You can use this portable drive to shuttle files back and forth between Windows and Mac computers, dragging and dropping folders and files to transfer them between the computer and this external hard drive. Note that there are two versions of this Seagate Slim external hard drive: a Windows version formatted for NTFS and a Mac version formatted for HFS+. You should get the version for the platform that you work on the most. If you mainly use a Mac and you use Time Machine for your backups, you should definitely get the Mac version of this drive. If you mainly work on Windows and Mac is more of a secondary computer, you should get the Windows version of this drive.

Since Windows NTFS and Mac HFS+ file systems do not automatically play well together, use of this hard drive on both Windows and Mac computers does require the download and installation of a driver. If you get the Windows version of this drive, when you plug the drive into a Mac, it will download from the Internet a necessary Mac driver (NTFS_for_Mac_with_restart.dmg) that lets the Windows-NTFS-formatted drive work with Macs. NTFS drives are normally read-only on Mac OS, and this driver lets Macs both read and write on the NTFS-formatted version of this hard drive. Note that because Mac's Time Machine requires a Mac-HFS-formatted drive, when you use the Windows version of this drive with the Mac driver, this setup cannot work with Time Machine unless you reformat the drive to be a HFS+journaled file system... in which case you might as well just get the Mac version of this drive if you intend to also use it with Time Machine. If you get the Mac version of this drive, when you plug the drive into a Windows PC, it will download a necessary Windows driver (HFS4Win.exe) that lets the Mac-HFS+formatted drive work with Windows. You can also download both the Mac-driver-for-Windows-NTFS and Windows-driver-for-Mac-HFS+ drivers directly from Seagate's Web site. See the 'Comments' section of my review for the URL locations. Seagate should have pre-loaded both of these Windows/Mac drivers on the hard drive just like how they pre-loaded both the Windows and Mac versions of their Dashboard software.

Overall, this is a great little drive that is sized for maximum portability. It includes a 2-year limited warranty. And at the time of this review's writing, Amazon is offering this hard drive at a great price of less than $70 for the 500-GB size. It was not that long ago when a 500-GB portable hard drive costed hundreds of dollars and was at least three times larger in size. I rely both on my own research and the opinions of others to help me make informed buying decisions. I hope that this review helped you to be a wise shopper! :)

107 of 127 people found the following review helpful.
Fast little drive - Dashboard software not perfect
By Roberta V. Russo
Here are the impressions of a non-techy about the Seagate Slim 500 gig external hard drive. This drive is amazingly small - about 3 by 4 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Nice - because it doesn't take up much shelf or desk space and is easy to carry around. I like to take a backup drive with me whenever I travel with my computer and this drive is the perfect size for that. The USB cord that it comes with is approximately 18 inches long (give or take). It also comes packed with a small instruction pamphlet describing how install the backup software called the Seagate Dashboard that comes pre-loaded on the drive. Its a pretty simple and straightforward process so there is not a lot to the instructions. There are also 4 short instruction videos pre-loaded on the drive: "Introducing Seagate Backup Plus Video"; "Protecting Your Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial"; "Saving Social Media Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial"; and "Sharing To Social Media Sites With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial". If you watch them they give a pretty good overview of the features available with the Dashboard software.

I usually don't load the software that comes with hard drives, but I decided to give the Seagate Dashboard a try. I am using a laptop with Windows 8 operating system. Basically you just plug in the drive, navigate to the installation file and double click it. That brings up the registration screen, the software loads, and then you must re-start the computer to finish the install. It took maybe 5 minutes and installed with no problems.

Once the software is installed you open it by double clicking its desktop icon. From the home screen you get 3 choices: Protect (backup and restore your data); Share (upload your pictures and videos to your Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts); and Save (Download pictures and videos from your Facebook and Flickr accounts).

Protect:
You can schedule backups at specific intervals like hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Or you can select continuous backup which basically creates backups in real time as you add or change files. If you don't want to set a regular schedule you can instead click the "snapshot" button to start a backup whenever you want. By default the backup includes anything that is not a system or program file but you get the option to pick the files you want to include. The first time you run backup takes a little longer because it is backing up all the files, after the first time its faster because its only backing up new or changed files. I have the drive connected to a USB 3 port and the first time I ran backup it took about 20 - 30 minutes to backup roughly 100 gig of data files. I selected "continuous" and keep the drive connected all the time. I haven't really noticed any lag time or slow down using the continuous backup feature.

The drive comes with a free one-year subscription to the Nero "cloud" drive which you can also select as a backup location. You get 4 gig free for 12 months - after that you have to pay for the subscription. You can also buy extra space. You have to create an account and set a password. I did set up the account, but haven't used this feature and don't really plan to in the future.

Share:
You can use the Dashboard to upload pictures and video to social media sites: Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. I don't use Facebook or Flickr (hard to believe in this day and age, I know) but I do use YouTube, so I gave it a try. From Dashboard click the Facebook, Flick, or YouTube icon. The first time you access one of these sites you have to enter your account log-in information and give the software permission to access your account. Here is how it worked for YouTube. Once logged in it brought up a file manager screen where I could browse to and select a video on either my Seagate external hard drive or my computer hard drive. Once the file is selected you choose one of the standard YouTube categories for it. Then the file uploads. After uploading the video using the Seagate Dashboard, I deleted it from YouTube and uploaded it again using the standard upload directly from the YouTube site - just to see the difference.

First of all the video took longer to upload using the Seagate Dashboard than it did directly from the YouTube website. I suppose that might not be the fault of the software - maybe the internet was just running slower when I used the Dashboard, but I did upload them within 1/2 hour of each other. The biggest fault I found using the Seagate Dashboard to upload videos is that you don't get any of the options that you do when you upload directly from the YouTube site. When you upload a video directly from the YouTube site you get a lot of options. You can enter a Title for the video, you can enter a description, and enter tags (e.g. Chicago, dogs) so that the video comes up in searches, you can pick a thumbnail to use for the video, select a privacy setting (public or private) and select a category for the video. When you use the Dashboard, it automatically uses the name of the file as the title of the video (you don't get to choose). The only choice the Seagate Dashboard gives you is to select a category for the video - that's it. It also automatically posts it as a public video. You don't get any other choices or options. Once you have uploaded a video using the Dashboard you can always log on to your YouTube account directly from the YouTube website and edit these choices, but why bother with 2 steps if you can just do all this directly on YouTube in the first place? Given the results of this test, I would not use the Seagate Dashboard to upload videos to YouTube. I can't speak for how Facebook or Flickr uploads work because I don't use Facebook or Flick.

Save:
You can use this to save files from your social media sites (for example, save the pictures you posted on Facebook). The only 2 social media sites you can do this for with the Seagate Dashboard are Facebook and Flickr. YouTube is not an option. I don't use Facebook or Flickr, so I couldn't test this. I am disappointed that saving files posted to my YouTube account was not an option.

Overall I would give the drive 3 stars. What I liked most was the size and speed - its small and very fast. I give the Dashboard software mixed reviews. The backup function seems to work great but the Share and Save options left something to be desired. I would have rated the drive higher if it hadn't been for the software. I just got the drive, so I can't speak for durability, but it seems like well built little drive.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Contains standard SATA version of Samsung M9T
By Chris Burston
I ordered one of these in the hope that it would contain the long anticipated 2TB 2.5" 9.5mm Samsung M9T hard disk. I'm happy to report that it does and that said drive has a standard SATA interface.

My MacBook Pro is now sitting pretty with 2TB of internal storage. Happy Days!

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i-Blason Samsung Galaxy S5 Screen Protector - 3 Pack Premium HD Clear Version (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, All Carriers)

i-Blason Samsung Galaxy S5 Screen Protector - 3 Pack Premium HD Clear Version (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, All Carriers)..

Buy i-Blason Samsung Galaxy S5 Screen Protector - 3 Pack Premium HD Clear Version (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, All Carriers) By i-Blason

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
i-Blason Samsung Galaxy S5 Screen Protector
By Mark McVay
This product is exactly as described. Easy to install and fits perfect.
Happy to recommend this product to my family and friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Right price for screen protection of GS5
By Ronald Barwell
Screen protector fits the screen well and is easy to apply without bubbles or dust getting under it. Comes with a little card to scrape the air out if you need to, some dust removal stickers and a small micro fiber cloth to clean the screen before application.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Easy
By vonda.armstrong
These are the easiest screen covers I used in my life. Came in a good package and everything including instruction video link to make things work. Protector quality is pretty good for the price. Clear and durable. I am confident that my new Galaxy phone is definitely protected with these

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Lexar Dual Slot USB 3.0 Reader Professional LRW307URBNA

Lexar Dual Slot USB 3.0 Reader Professional LRW307URBNA..

Grab Now Lexar Dual Slot USB 3.0 Reader Professional LRW307URBNA By Lexar

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56 of 56 people found the following review helpful.
Good, but could use some improvements to build quality.
By Beau L.
This is a good dual card reader. I have a version that only reads CF cards from Lexar for firewire 800. That's actually a better built device, but you don't always have access to firewire, and can't read SD cards. This card reader works well, but the "pop-up" feature of the reader seems a little bit cheesy and doesn't always pop up easily, but otherwise had been working good so far. The pop-up feature does however allow you to transport it more compactly in your laptop case, etc.

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful.
Check the model number on the actual reader
By jordan
Hello fellow Amazonians. I received this item and am very pleased with the build quality, size and look. The box has a label placed over the original printed box label with the current model number LRW307URBNA, but the reader has a label on it, which has the part number LRW300U which is old and I confirmed that with the mfg. Please contact Amazon if you have the same issue if you care. This is a careless mistake on Amazon's part or the mfg., but the mfg. claims Amazon must have miss packaged it somehow. I will readjust as necessary. Amazon did a refund because item is no longer available through them. Figures. I will probably purchase somewhere else like BHphoto&video for a better chance of the actual model.

Update_2012-07-14: I purchased one from B&H Photo & Video. Same thing happened. Box says UDMA 7 support (sticker) and barcode on bottom says LRW307URBNA. Inside, the unit has a model # of LRW300U. I was very curious how this happened again, so I called Lexar tech support instead of email. Well I immediately was on the line with someone who knew what they were talking about. The unit needs a firmware update. The only change from the LRW300 to LRW307 is firmware, so even if you have a LRW300, you can update it. I now raise my rating. Thanks

Update 2013-11-22: Please disregard previous reviews. It was the manufacturers fault to not update their packaging and just place stickers on the box, but everything is fine. Love the reader.

142 of 157 people found the following review helpful.
bought two this year, both failed
By Pilgrim
I'm not product basher, but I get angry when a critical piece of equipment fails TWICE. I purchased the Lexar Dual Slot USB 3 LRW307URBNA in January 2013 and it stopped working completely in July. I didn't have time to squabble so I purchased another on July 29, 2013. Today the second device stopped working (1 of the 2 slots). I do not recommend this product.

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Toshiba 3.5-Inch 3TB 7200 RPM SATA3/SATA 6.0 GB/s 64MB Hard Drive DT01ACA300

Toshiba 3.5-Inch 3TB 7200 RPM SATA3/SATA 6.0 GB/s 64MB Hard Drive DT01ACA300..

Special Price Toshiba 3.5-Inch 3TB 7200 RPM SATA3/SATA 6.0 GB/s 64MB Hard Drive DT01ACA300 By Toshiba

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Great Drive.
By MaxP
I have purchased four of these in the last six months and the have all been flawless. They are plenty fast, have a large cache and will hold more data than I will ever need for not that much more than either a two or one terabyte version. I monitor them carefully as they are installed in a NAS and run 24/7 and to date, the oldest one has been working perfectly. I am very pleased and highly recommend it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
3TB - split space - partition as GPT, not MBR
By shomizu9
After reading a few other reviews on here and elsewhere, thought I'd clear up a bit of confusion about large drives.

If you have Windows and you are going to initialize the disk for the first time, you are usually prompted to partition as MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table). If you chose MBR (like I did at first), you will notice the unallocated space is split in two.

If you choose GPT instead of MBR, or convert the disk to GPT, you will have your contiguous 3TB of unallocated space. For why this is so, search for "GPT vs MBR" or something similar on the internet.

So far the drive has performed well, no issues.

Hope this helps!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Good for RAID use, price is ok
By INTRAX
These are from the Hitachi drive division sale to Toshiba. I use them in RAID for nearline storage and so far so good.
Bought previous batches and so am a repeat customer of these drives.
No problems with it, packaging from AMAZON direct is the best! Individually boxed for protection.

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Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K

Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K..

Grab Now Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K By Intel

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96 of 105 people found the following review helpful.
Outstanding for CPU-intensive games and everything else
By Bryan
I recently upgraded from an AMD 955 CPU to an i5 3570k CPU, and I must say that Intel has gained another convert. This CPU will chew through any game, and I get much better performance than I ever did with the 955--the 3570k simply blows AMD out of the water. I do not do any sort of image editing or video encoding, so this review is written entirely from a gamer's perspective.

PROS:
-Great for extremely CPU-intensive games like the Total War games (Empire and Shogun 2 in particular). These games are fairly difficult to run smoothly at very high graphics settings due in large part to incredible (but demanding) particle effects, high unit density, shadow effects and many others, but the 3570k has no problems handling Empire at max settings (assuming you have a decent GPU to boot).
-I get much higher frame-rates and better performance in games like Crysis, Crysis 2, BF3, Max Payne 3, Empire: Total War, and Deus Ex 3 as well as older games like FEAR, Half-Life 2 and Rome: Total War.
-Achieves an overclock of 4.3-4.6GHz without much trouble at all (I've got mine at 4.5 GHz), at least on a Gigabyte Z77-UD3H motherboard.
-Using the Gigabyte Z77-UD3H MB I managed to OC to 4.3GHz with no stability issues at stock CPU Vcore voltage (1.13 V).
-Built-in Turbo boost feature clocks the 3570k up to 3.8GHz--which is a pretty decent boost and would be a good option for gamers who are uncomfortable with messing with BIOS settings to OC their CPUs.

-Almost identical to the 3770K in terms of gaming performance. Benchmark scores for a number of games show marginal (if any) improvements for the 3770k. Other benchmarks and certain games like the Total War series actually see improved frame-rates with the 3570k versus the 3770k.

CONS:
-It does run somewhat hot--I get temps in the high 70s, low 80s (deg C) with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (with Arctic Silver 5 TIM) at 4.5GHz and 1.35 Volts. However, IB CPUs are designed to withstand more heat, so this is not a huge issue, but it may warrant considering a pricier cooler if you want to OC to around 5 GHz or higher.

OVERALL: The 3570k is an excellent CPU for any game on the market with a great performance-to-price ratio. Virtually all gaming performance benchmarks that you will find give near identical results for the 3570k and 3770k, so I would save yourself $100 and take the 3570K over the 3770k and put that money into a better graphics card or an SSD. If you already have a 2500k I would say that a 3570k is not worth the upgrade, but if you have anything older or are looking to switch over to Intel from AMD I would highly recommend it!

My PC specs:
Gigabyte Z77-UD3H MB
i5 3570k OC'd to 4.5GHz with Cooler Master 212 EVO + AS5 TIM
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB on stock settings
Crucial M4 256GB SSD
Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 8GB DDR3 RAM

91 of 108 people found the following review helpful.
Wow.
By bob
I am very impressed with this CPU. "Slick" is the word that comes to mind. THe stuff on paper about the native PCIe rev.3, and the new memory control circuit....etc. It looks good on paper. "These numbers are better than those numbers, this is different than that...." Well I put one of these into my computer...the one I use everyday, and haven't really upgraded for a while. I build i7s and Xeons, opterons, and Phenoms.......everyday. I get them to work, feed them an OS, drivers, applications, burn them in, package them and ship them out. I never really do 'my' work on them. (kinda like the shoemakers kids). I went back and forth between the i7s, the 2011 socket....but since this had been a bare bones bullet proof unit, I decided to go with the i5....something that would do what I needed it to do, and NEVER fail.

So I put this into an AsRock Extreme 4. Put my old hardware in there. Moved the drives over, loaded the drivers, and fired it up. Holy $^%t! All of that stuff on paper...forget it. What a kick. Real SATAIII is way faster than a SATAIII card. The graphics....wow! I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. This is a total computing experience. Again, I build cutting edge stuff for a living. So I'm kind of numb to this type of stuff. But when it was MY desktop flying around like that (Upgrade was from a core 2 quad).......I was an end user again, and a very happy one at that.

(just one tech note: You have to have a z77 or better southbridge to make all the newer stuff on the gen. 3 Intels to work)

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Stop Reading and Buy It Now!
By Anthony Hodges
First off, let me state that I bought mine through Micro Center because they were offering the mobo I wanted in combination with this CPU when it first dropped for $280 as a package. However, I highly doubt there will be a big difference in the chip based on where you bought it.

This chip is out of this world. I paired it with a Z77 mobo and it FLIES. I've managed to successfully OC it to 4.6 GHz on air cooling (Cooler Master V-8) with temps ranging from 20C idle to 64C load. That sounds high, but the TJMax for this chip is 105C and it's safe to push up to 90C. I've still got enough room to MAYBE push 4.7 out of this, maybe. Now note, you WILL NOT be able to push this chip much beyond 4.5 GHz without some serious cooling solutions thanks for Intel's decision to use paste instead of solder. There is a major voltage/heat wall at 1.34v that will stop you in your tracks and the temps start rising fast at about 1.28-1.3v. However, pound-for-pound, this chip is worth it in both my opinion and reviews over the last generation simply because of that native USB 3.0 support and PCI-E 3.0 support. It will run neck-and-neck with a OC'ed Sandy Bridge, but offer the new supports. Both may not be used heavily right now, but I'm future proofed for at least 1 1/2 years minimum. Why not get the same performance with new toy for slightly more price?

I do not use my system for heavy media processing so I cannot comment on that, but I do use it to see how far I can push the system and for gaming. Just for an example, I'm running BF3 (which is very CPU intensive for a MP game) under ultra settings and only use 68-72% of my CPU potential. My previous AMD 955 BE was under 100% the entire time and never let down. I sadly had my GPU fry from static when I was rebuilding my system with this new chip and I got to play with the iGPU on the chip while I waited for my graphics card's RMA to finish. I was NOT able to play high graphics intense games like BF3, but I was able to play games like Civilization 5 and Diablo 3 under high settings with 60+ FPS with just the integrated GPU. That's impressive to me!

If you're looking to upgrade to a new chip, this one will not let you down and will continue to zippy and take advantage of new technologies well into the future. This chip is good for the gamer, a challenge for the OC'er, and PERFECT for the person who just wants to sit at home and watch Youtube.

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Intel NUC D34010WYK, Mini HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, 4th Gen Intel Core i3-4010U, Consumer Infrared sensor

Intel NUC D34010WYK, Mini HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, 4th Gen Intel Core i3-4010U, Consumer Infrared sensor..

Grab Now Intel NUC D34010WYK, Mini HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, 4th Gen Intel Core i3-4010U, Consumer Infrared sensor By Intel

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87 of 87 people found the following review helpful.
Pretty fly for a small fry
By Steven Wilson
Although this is primarily marketed as a desktop/HTPC machine, I bought it to act as an unobtrusive home server to run local file sharing, game servers, and other miscellaneous tasks that required more grunt than my old netbook could spare. The build was fairly simple and quick, although getting the cover off was a little bit tricky (I ended up using the edge of the SDD clamshell to pry it off without scratching/gouging anything). The power/size-to-performance ratio is really something; it's certainly as quick as anyone could ask of a 1.7GHz chip that fits in such a tiny and low-power box. My only complaint is that the blower lends a slight air of cheapness/unreliability to the overall package. However, I have nothing but my prejudices to base that on right now, as it's been running fine so far. The only concrete drawback it has is that it makes the machine quiet rather than silent. That said, I doubt it would be audible at 10 feet if you wanted to use it for an HTPC build (my Blu-Ray player and game consoles are definitely louder). Only time will tell regarding reliability; I've had it running only a few hours, so I can't truly speak to that issue.

My Build:

This kit (Intel NUC D34010WYK, in case Amazon merges the reviews with the other Haswell NUC SKUs)

"Crucial CT2C8G3S160BM, 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Memory Modules For selective Macs"

"Mushkin Direct Atlas Deluxe 60GB mSATA SATA III SSD MKNSSDAT60GB-DX"

FreeBSD 9.2 amd64

Tips and miscellaneous info:

The AC power cord was included in the box; I mention this because the older NUC kits reportedly did not include it, and Intel's description of this SKU only mentions that there are "options" for the power cord, so I didn't know until I opened it whether I would need to buy one.

The onboard Ethernet is an Intel PRO/1000 variant, but older operating systems will not have out-of-the-box support for it because it is the newer I218-V hardware (hardware ID 8086:1559). Support for this exists in recent versions of Linux and FreeBSD; OpenBSD 5.4-current does not support it as of this review, though a preliminary kernel patch was posted to the openbsd-tech list in case you really can't wait to run OpenBSD on this box. I assume you can download an appropriate Windows driver from Intel.

Don't forget that this box does not have any full-size video connectors: only mini-HDMI and mini-DisplayPort are available, so make sure you have the appropriate cable/adapter to connect it to your monitor/TV. I used the "BlueRigger High Speed Mini HDMI to HDMI cable with Ethernet (6 Feet)".

Low-voltage (1.35V / "DDR3L") SODIMMs are required; 1.5V-only SODIMMs are not supported. This means you generally can't just toss in any old DDR3 laptop RAM and expect it to work.

I'm not sure precisely what the default boot order is, but out of the box without any bootable medium it eventually fell back to PXE boot, and adding an external CD/DVD/BD drive with a bootable DVD resulted in booting from it without having to alter any settings or even enter the boot menu. so that was kind of nice.

UPDATE: after putting it in its long-term place, I notice that it's louder than I expected from sitting right in front of it. It's definitely audible at 10 feet in a silent room. I don't think the quality of the sound is particularly annoying, but YMMV on that.

99 of 109 people found the following review helpful.
Headless and Well Hassled
By Robert Salita
Update 28-Mar-2014: 90 days later -- Still no fixes. Just blah-blah. How is it possible that Intel can't fix major BIOS and driver issues? This is a great example of why open source is the safest choice.

Update 8-Mar-2014: Rumblings of a revolt on Intel Community forum. Months later no fixes. Here's my statement to Intel about why they should be a good citizen and fixes their BIOS and drivers. "I can't make a compelling case for how my living room HTPC impacts sales. I can state that my Amazon review, currently pinned as a top helpful review, is going to become increasingly more negative due to the total lack of fixes for the headless HDMI and USB boot issues. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, INTEL PLEASE FIX THESE ISSUES. I EXPECT A COMPUTER TO BOOT WITH USB DEVICES ATTACHED. I EXPECT I CAN PULL THE HDMI CABLE OUT AND USE THE NUC HEADLESS. I'M TOTALLY STUCK AND NOT FEELING THE LOVE. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE FIX YOUR ISSUES.

Update 27-Feb-2014: 60 days later -- Still no fixes. At least Intel is being more active in discussing the fail on boot issue on their NUC forums.

Update 27-Jan-2014: 30 days later -- No fixes for any of the four reported bugs. However, Intel has now confirmed all four issues. Lowered rating to two stars. Intel, where's the updates?

Update 28-Dec-2013: Others are confirming the inability to boot when USB 3 devices are attached. Likely this is an issue with all D34010WYK NUCs, maybe even all Haswell NUC variations. If you are thinking of buying this NUC and attaching USB 3.0 devices, you'd better read this thread: communities.intel.com/message/213356#213356

Update 24-Dec-2013: BIOS setup GUI freezes upon selecting some specific options (yes, before even saving changes) such as "Boot immediately upon power-on". Other options freeze too.

Update 24-Dec-2013: New hassle. NUC fails in BIOS bootstrap when more than 1 USB 3.0 device is plugged in. When more than one USB 3.0 device is plugged in, the startup screen has a missing "F2 to enter setup ..." message. Solution is to plug in just one USB device, power off/on, immediately after BIOS stage hands off to Windows, you can plug in all devices without issue. I'm guessing that early BIOS stage doesn't enable, or can't draw, full USB 3.0 current but does so immediately upon handing off to Windows. The issue occurs using a powered USB 3.0 hub with all USB 3.0 devices also powered. It also occurs without the hub. Can anyone else confirm this issue? I'm guessing this is just an issue with the BIOS firmware which can be corrected with a BIOS update.

Several major disappointments. My usage is as an always-on device mainly for HTPC use (file service, transcoding, etc). First disappointment is the noticeable fan noise -- a bit of a grinding or whirring sound. It's just loud enough to be noticeable and hard to mask. Second disappointment, perhaps temporary, is due to a graphics driver bug, you are blocked from running it as a headless Windows PC. It needs to have an active monitor plugged in at all times - it needs the monitor's EDID. If you either try to boot without a monitor, or you boot but later yank out the HDMI cable, the remoting software (LogMeIn, SplashTop, etc) freezes with a black screen and dead mouse. This was not the behavior on the Ivy Bridge versions of NUC, only the Haswell. I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro N with the latest BIOS and drivers.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Intel took a nice product and made it even better, yet again!
By tunahammer
I have nothing but praise for this little machine! Intel fixed a number of previously griped about issues. Here is what they fixed/improved-
1. Purchase now includes a mickey mouse style power cord!
2. Thermal cooling pads are installed near SSD
3. There is an audio out port; horray!
4. 4 USB ports, instead of 3!
5. Even smaller in size!
6. Infrared is pretty cool for media playing.

The only thing that I dont really care for are the mini-hdmi AND display port outputs. Go with one or the other! NOT really a big deal tho.

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TP-LINK TL-WR940N Wireless N300 Home Router, 300Mpbs, 3 External Antennas, IP QoS, WPS Button

TP-LINK TL-WR940N Wireless N300 Home Router, 300Mpbs, 3 External Antennas, IP QoS, WPS Button..

Grab Now TP-LINK TL-WR940N Wireless N300 Home Router, 300Mpbs, 3 External Antennas, IP QoS, WPS Button By TP-LINK

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252 of 266 people found the following review helpful.
Don't toss your old router! ... and other suggestions
By L. Brown
Some suggestions:
(1) Use the instructions in the Users Guide for installing the router - the installation software on the CD didn't work for me, but the written instructions are clear enough.

(2) Update the firmware before you get too far in configuring the router.
There was a nasty bug in the installed firmware that caused the router to freeze if you tried to display wireless statistics. This is fixed in the firmware dated August, 2010.

(2) If you're thinking of replacing an old b/g wireless router with this, don't toss the old router yet!
Many wireless devices such as printers and music systems (like Sonos) do not support the 11n standard yet. At first I tried running the TP-Link router in mixed b/g/n mode. For some reason the performance was exceptionally slow. But, it's easy to link your old router into the network so that the b/g devices will use the old router. The TP-Link router can then be set to 11n-only for excellent performance for devices that support it. Here's how to do it:

- Give each router a different IP address, say 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2. Make sure both are outside the range of dynamic IP addresses.

- Give both routers the same SSID so that they will form a single network.

- Assign each router to different wireless channels. (1 or 6 or 11 are usually recommended).

- Turn off DHCP or other WAN support in the b/g router. Set up the TP-Link with WAN support (such as DHCP) and connect to the ADSL or cable modem.

- In the b/g router, add the MAC addresses of the 11n devices to its MAC filter list. These are devices you DON'T want to connect to it.
(Of course, if you have many more 11n devices than b/g ones, do the reverse: create a filter list with only the devices you DO want to connect).

- Link the b/g router to any LAN port on the TP-Link router with an Ethernet cable.

That should be it. Enjoy!

237 of 257 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome Router for DD-WRT
By Tex
**************************
THIS REVIEW WAS FOR THE OLDER VERSION OF THE TP-LINK ROUTER.
**************************

I bought two of these routers with the intention of flashing them with DD-WRT. Both flashed extremely fast and easily without any hitches and can be flashed via the router's web GUI (no Telnet, etc). Both routers have been running non stop ever since flashing them and have worked perfectly. I have been very pleased thus far with TP-Link products, especially after having a lot of issues with Belkin routers (hangs, slooooow response, rebooting, over-heating, etc). You can't beat the price vs features with this TL-WR1043ND (for sure when using DD-WRT, but even the original TP-Link firmware is still very usable). I my opinion this is the best price vs features gigabit router on the market for DD-WRT.

For those interested, here are some hardware specs:

Platform...........Atheros AR9132 @ 400 MHz
FCC ID.............TE7WR1043NX
Wireless NIC...Atheros AR9103 3x3 MIMO
WLAN..............802.11b/g/n
LAN.................4/gigabit
WAN................1/gigabit
RAM.................32 MB
Flash...............8 MB
Serial Port.......1 (internal)
JTAG...............1 (internal)
USB.................1 (external)
Input Voltage...12V 1.5A

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent WIFI Router
By Dr. Wilfredo M. Viray
I bought this wireless router because of the features and the reviews. It is a good thing I did. This is an excellent router.

Pros:
Ease of Setup - I got this working in less than 10 minutes. Just turn off your Cable modem and computer. Connect the router to the modem using the included cable. Power up everything. Then put in the CD and in a few minutes you are done. That includes setting up the WPA2 security.

Range - My previous Wireless Routers(Apple,Linksys,Zyxel) could only give me at most 61% from one end of my house to the other. This gives me 85%. That is going through 3 Bedrooms and furniture.

Speed - I used to get 12 Mbps with my previous router. I just tested it now and I now have 19.89 Mbps download speed from the same site I always test with.

Price - Excellent value for money.

Network USB Hardrive - You can easily share a USB hard drive. You now have no limit to how much videos you can download and games you can play. Share the drive with your entire family.

Cons:

Not Dual Band - It isn't dual band, but i don't need it so it does not bother me.

Summary:
This is a real find. Never heard of this company before, but I am very impressed with this product.

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