Epinions Recent Reviews for toast822

SL-2: Lots of fun and reliability in a small package

Sat, 1 Jun 2002 09:18:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why the Saturn SL-2?

Back in 1999 my wife had quit her job to go back to school, and, for the first time since we were married, we definitely needed a car. But it had to be cheap, since we were down to my measly salary, and she...

The 7 things I don't get, and the 8 things I love about Ep2

Fri, 17 May 2002 01:52:45 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Ever since I was 7 years old and Star Wars opened in theatres to change the way we watch movies, I have been a Star Wars nut. My wife, who is neither here nor there on Star Wars, but heard that the fellahs from *NSync had cameos, gave me the movie...

Magellan GPS Companion: Yet another use for my Handspring!

Sun, 12 May 2002 12:05:48 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - What is GPS?

GPS is short for Global Positioning System. The basic concept is pretty simple: It uses triangulation to calculate your current position displayed as a longitude and latitude. A GPS receiver does it by finding at least 3...

A great and functional gadget/conversation piece, but slightly unrefined.

Sun, 31 Mar 2002 18:22:12 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - UPDATED 5/15/02

Why the VisorPhone?

When I got my Handspring Visor Deluxe PDA, I thought I would never use the Springboard expansion slot, but I did like the option. At that time (Dec '00) the Visor Phone was $400!
...

eBatts.com: So-so customer service but amazing laptop batteries

Sun, 10 Feb 2002 13:02:53 GMT
rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Update

OK, so the first battery I got for my Persario 1675 died in about a week, so I emailed them, got a Return Authorization, I returned it (on my dime). After 3 weeks the replacement arrived, and only holds its charge for 2 hours!...

The Sidekick: Versatile and fun, but slow and bumpy...

Wed, 9 Jan 2002 20:53:44 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why the ’95 Suzuki Sidekick?

It became obvious that one car in our household was simply no longer going to be adequate, so we began looking for a second car. I had always wanted something I could take off-road or onto the beach,...

Ahhh, DVD!

Fri, 4 Jan 2002 23:52:17 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why the Pioneer DV-440?

I had been looking around for a DVD player for about 6 months, and I kept coming back to the DV-440, because of its slim design. I had just 2 1/2 inches of room to play with on my stereo/TV stand, and I did not...

Good value for a 19" monitor, but needs lots of space!

Sat, 15 Dec 2001 19:19:38 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - How could one not be tempted by the sheer size of the display?

When I bought my 150 MHz Pentium in 1996, it came with a 15” CTX Monitor that I had been using ever since. Frankly, when I got it, it seemed amazing, esp. since I was used...

Cheap, quick and easy... Netgear makes networking a piece of cake!

Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:14:07 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why this card?

My wife was going back to school in 1999, and we decided to live on campus, mostly for the low rent. Another great perk was the always-on on-campus Ethernet Internet connection. Of course, my old Pentium did not come...

Fast and easy... get your laptop on a network.

Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:06:57 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why this card?

I had just bought my new Compaq 1675 laptop, and I needed to have a way to access the on-campus Internet, as well as files from my other PC. A friend of mine had a 3com 10/100 PCMCIA card, for which I found drivers...

A magazine for Nerds and Geeks: But oh so cool!

Fri, 7 Dec 2001 21:13:25 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - In March of 1999 I was nonchalantly huddling in a corner of Borders Books, flipping through a copy of Cinescape magazine, hoping no one would spot me…Why? On the cover was the silly smile of Jar Jar Binks, the forever reviled digital character of...

The PC-Chips/Alton MB-577: Adventures in Motherboard upgrading

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 10:41:21 GMT
rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - You get what you pay for!

In late 1999, I decided that my Pentium 150 MHz was just too slow: It could not even run the hot new Mech Waririor 3 game! Since I was on a relatively tight budget, a new system was not really in the cards,...

S3 Diamond Viper Ultra 770: The grand-daddy of 3D accelerator cards can still speed along!

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 00:56:25 GMT
rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why this card?

The Diamond Viper 770 Ultra was among the fastest and highest rated 3D accelerator cards in late 1999. Its core is the nVidia TNT2 Ultra/Pro chipset supported by a then whopping 32 MB of RAM. By today’s standards these...

eMachines eMonster: The eMonster 600: Beware!

Wed, 21 Nov 2001 20:20:26 GMT
rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Intro: why eMachines is unreliable

This review is pretty much the same review that I wrote for the eMonster 600 category. The eMonster 600 truly is a monster! EMachines built my system very poorly: The DVD drive was not connected to...

Great Office grade printer, but may be too much for home.

Sun, 18 Nov 2001 17:43:03 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why did I buy this printer?

My wife was in Grad School, and my old Epson Color IIs was just not cutting it. So we decided to go with a laser printer, but we were on a limited budget. After consulting various websites ad magazine...

Whoa, this thing can do EVERYTHING! So what if it's just 2 megapixel??

Wed, 14 Nov 2001 21:23:21 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - UPDATE: Windows XP and the Coolpix 950

Nikon has "no plans" to make NikonView compatible with the Coolpix 950. Considering it was a pretty lousy interface, it’s no big deal. However, Microsoft touts the Windows XP as a full...

Worth the wait: DSL is the way to go!!!

Tue, 30 Oct 2001 12:53:26 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - Why DSL?

After having lived on a university campus for 2 years, where they have an always-on internet connected to a T-1 line in each student apartment, I knew it would be impossible for me to go back and use a pokey 56k modem. I...

Fast, inexpensive internet security and sharing.

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 11:28:25 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - What did you use this product for?

I recently got a DSL connection and I wanted to network my 2 computers together so they could share the internet connection (I had tried the Windows 98 SE Internet Connection sharing, without success) and I...

Handspring Visor Deluxe Handheld: The versatile Handspring Visor

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 10:51:05 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - The Handspring Visor Deluxe is an elegantly simple design. The unit measures 4.8" x 3.0" x 0.7" It is a flat box with the front area taken up mostly by the screen. The screen is the same size as comparable Palms (such as the Palm IIxe): 2.375" x 2.375"...

Slick and light design, pokey file transfer

Tue, 12 Dec 2000 21:21:57 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - I bought this mp3 player on a whim when I was in Germany, mostly because it was so inexpensive. The dollar so strong that, at DM 179.- (about $80), it was a bargain. Ever since they were introduced, I had wanted to get a portable mp3 player, but I...

I don't leave home without it. (UPDATED!)

Tue, 12 Dec 2000 13:21:05 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - UPDATE (3/31/2002):

I upgraded the system with a K6-III+ 450 MHz (overclocked to 500 MHz with the Central Tweaking unit), for a 185 % speed increase!!! Anything to breathe new life into this system and to avoid the $2000 for a new one!
...

The eMonster 600: Beware!

Sun, 10 Dec 2000 18:10:01 GMT
rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author toast822 - UPDATE (11/21/01):

I did a 3DMark2001 benchmark from madonion.com on the system, and it got a decent rating (1061, where a system running a P4 with GeForce3 rates around 3000). BUT, I discovered yet another way eMachines skimps on it's systems:...