IBM Computer, Laptops and Servers

Pros: BIOS is nice and easy to use, PXE booting is nice and works out of the box. No issues putting in my components and is easy to work with. I didn't find it a pain to get two HDs into it. Has nice upgrade paths to 8 GB ram and a quad core CPU. Cons: The main blower fan is noisy as it runs at 5000+ RPM most of the time and the second HD bay tends to be a little warmer than the first due to no fans sucking air across it. Doesn't include rails sadly. Other Thoughts: Overall it makes an excellent barebone server and I definitely recommend it. Personally I don't find the noise an issue but it could bother some people. Did you find this review helpful Yes No Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided! Other Thoughts: Its internal 3.5" drive bays are a huge pain to work with, but you can fill it for a modest RAID0/1 setup. 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you Yes No Pros: low cost, good for pizza box RAID1 SATA server Cons: wouldn't boot with XEON3060. no video, even with no mem, no HDD, no CPU never could get even a beep. tried ASUS tek support, no response. did their TS and step 6 is return defective unit. Fortunate to have Newegg fullrefund so I can try something else Other Thoughts: great to work with newegg! better them than I dealing with ASUS. I bet they just chuck this unit to avoid the aggravation... 8/18/2007 4:03:10 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Very impressed! Pros: Very high build quality, I have experience with the comparable supermicro and this one is just as good but much cheaper. Cons: The bios had to be updated on one to get rid of a cpu id bios error on a newer conroe, but booted freedos from a usb fob and updated the bios. problem solved. Other Thoughts: I was going to give a bad review just because I want them all to myself 8/14/2007 11:13:41 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Decent Appliance Box Pros: Simple to setup. Comes with own CPU Cooler. Two screws to open case. Primary hard drive mounts from underneath and is very straight forward. Excellent box for developing networking appliances. Riser card for PCI-e X4 slot. Cons: the CPU fan seems to be proprietary and would be difficult to replace. Other Thoughts: I was pleasantly surprised at the quality for the price. Would defiantly reccomend for any of my customers. 7/6/2007 6:46:53 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Good Server Pros: Great price, solid hardware. The drive installation can be confusing but the manual explains it pretty clearly. You do not have to take the front off to do it. Cons: Very loud, not a bad deal for a datacenter but if you expect to use it at home be prepared to stuff it in a closet. Other Thoughts: Overclocking servers is a bad idea. It provides minimal real world gain on the desktop, so its not really bad that the motherboard doesn't support it. 6/30/2007 7:37:49 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Great little inexpensive server Pros: Stable, inexpensive great little sever, has LSI Logic SATA Raid on MB plus takes either Core 2 Duo or Xeon CPU. The guys is wrong about install of 2nd hd - the inside chassis separator is flexible and you push it back a bit and drive slides in. Cons: Very tight fit. A bit loud. Only has one case fan that operates as case and CPU fan - beside the one in the PS. So if if fails you are out of luck. Other Thoughts: Think they should make the case a bit bigger to give more room to the HD and add a second fan. 6/27/2007 6:12:23 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 So far it is working excelently Pros: Cheap for 1U barebone compared with other systems. So far it works just fine. Supports serial console out right from the BIOS so I can access it remotely easily at my data center. Cons: No overclocking support in the bios. The CPU can easily be overclocked 20-40% (I have mine @ 50% in my desktop) but it looks like this bios doesn't support overclocking at all. Intel is very stable with decent overclocks so it surprises me they didn't enable it (unless it was Asus). Just because people want a server doesn't mean they don't want to OC it too. Temps were around 100F in BIOS. Other Thoughts: All in all it was a good buy. I originally ordered a different 1U barebone kit (same chipset) from another company and called before hand to verify it was in stock. They told me it was and after ordering it on thursday and it had not shipped on monday I called them up and they told me it won't ship until Wed. from Florida (I am in California). This was unacceptable so I looked on new egg and found this 1U which was $80+ cheaper. I ordered from new egg and it shipped that day and arrived two days later. Gotta love newegg! To the guy who says its hard to put in a second drive my oppinion is that anyone with moderate experience building computers should have no problems with this so don't think it is super difficult or anything because one person had problems with it. It really was no big deal. Other Thoughts: The price does not justify this item as a purchase. As pointed out elsewhere, you can get a better system with memory and disks for about the same money. Did you find this review helpful Yes No Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided! 11/7/2007 6:05:25 PM Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Mixed Feelings Pros: On paper, this barebones server is great. Asus motherboard, lots of cooling, hot swappable hard drive cage in front, CD Burner, Floppy Drive. Good construction. Cons: 1. I am disappointed this is a software RAID 5. Initialization doesn't occure until OS is installed. Initialization takes 3 to 8 hours depending on load. During Initialization everything is SLOW !!! 2. Fans will drastically change RPM Up and Down over and over. Small Office so client hears it and complains. Haven't tried to set static RPM in bios yet. Other Thoughts: If you want RAID 5 then get a seperate RAID card. Onboard controller sucks. As for the fans, you have been warned. With that said, this really is a good barebones. I would sell again. 11/7/2007 6:03:01 AM Rating + 3 Rating + 3 Rating + 3 Rating + 3 Rating + 3 Alternatives Pros: Nice size and capacity for a small server. Includes support for Xeon, PCI-X, for true server benefits. Cons: Quite pricey for no CPU, memory, or disks. Other Thoughts: Would you put something like this in your home or a small office I don't think I'd bother given the loaded cost compared to some Dell and HP low-end servers. For home, look no further than HP's EX470 MediaSmart Home Server. For $570 (at a competing large online site named after a rainforest), it comes with a processor, 512MB RAM, and a 500GB hard disk. 10/30/2007 2:52:41 PM Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Rating + 4 Intel Xeon 30x5 series not currently supported Pros: Very well made system. Cons: Currently none of the Xeon 30x5 series are supported by this system. These are the ones with 4MB L2 cache. 8/22/2007 11:31:43 AM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Nice unit Pros: - all steel construction - good quality power supply - Asus mainboard - excellent thermal management - lots of room - 2 embedded SATA RAID controllers (LSI, Intel) Cons: - none so far Other Thoughts: This is a nice piece of gear. I have been building systems for many years, and I usually use Antec cases and power supplies with Asus boards for my own use. I saw this when researching server-class gear for a client, and I have to say that I am impressed with the overall quality and design of this case. The mainboard is excellent, as is the Asus documentation. There's lots of room, and the thermal management is excellent (1 case fans, 1 PS fan, 1 CPU fan, 1 SATA drive cage blower) w/excellent air flow. The case comes with a 3.5" floppy and IDE DVD-ROM, and all cables installed. All you need to do is add a CPU, RAM, storage, configure the BIOS, configure the RAID controller, and blam -- instant server! The drivers on the included CD were mostly up-to-date, although I grabbed the latest ones from the Asus website. Don't forget to make a floppy with the RAID controller drivers before you load your OS of choice. I have no doubt that this machine will last for many years of constant use. 8/6/2007 8:25:33 AM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Impressed Pros: Excellent system. I installed a quad-core Xeon (X3220) with 8GB ram (G.SKILL F2-5300CL4D-4GBPQ). No problems. Came with a DVD-ROM. I wasn't expecting that. I bought a SATA DVD burner, but should have bought an IDE burner because the four SATA ports are already configured for the removable hard drives. Cons: Loud when starting / rebooting. Reminds me of my father's boat where you have to run the blower before starting to prevent the engine housing from exploding from built up gas vapors. But once it's started, it's relatively quiet. (My laptop is louder.) Also, RAID support could stand to be a little more user-friendly, but the provided instructions are fine. Don't lose that manual! Other Thoughts: I'm using Solaris 10's containers / zones to create a entire virtual lab on one machine. 6/29/2007 10:21:15 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Excellent Barebones Pros: Excellent design and construction, included heatsink is awesome, great thermal management overall, drive trays work great, cables pre-routed and tied off. Locking door is substantial. Cons: HEAVY!! Does not include RAID drivers on floppy - you must make them yourself, would prefer more PCI slots instead of mgmt card slot, needs WAY more USB ports - only 2ea on front back.

Pros: Computer is small and easy to handle. The touch screen has been fun to work with.This computer has everything and was a great price. Newegg was great with the shipping, got it very quickly, and their customer service people are great also!

Cons: Don't like Windows Vista as well as XP, but will upload XP in order to use Microsoft Word instead of Works.

Other Thoughts: I loved it so much I bought 2 more for my daughters in college.

Pros: stylish, decent specs, and overall great 'entertainment' tablet pc. speakers are surprisingly good, though of course not bassy. finger print reader is a nice touch, you could theoritically go keyboardless from boot. able to stream 720p (x.264) hd content from network shares and it plays without a hitch. vista 32 seems happy. remote is a plus, though i need to figure out how to make this work with other apps other than media center. webcam w/ built in mic works flawlessly while skyping wirelessly about. drivers from hp support website are spot on. no conflicts thus far. no issues with the keyboard and track pad. stylish black and silver casing with little give (plastic), and great portability. spdif out, two headphone jacks, and s-video out add to the entertainment value. I could definitely see myself using this tablet pc, for a long-long time.

Cons: viewing angles not so great. passive pen input 'laggy' / delayed when it comes to corel painter 10.5 -input is good, but not as great as a 'true' tablet pc input, interaction is more along the lines of a pocket pc. bloatware uninstallation is a nuissance. viewing angles not so great. contrast / brightness vividness not so great either. battery life seems premature. *nit pickiness: wished the battery pack did not protude as much, but hp still managed to make this fit with this tablet pc aesthetics. video in dvi out would have been a really nice plus for me.

Other Thoughts: overall, best value on the market as far as tablet pcs go. newegg rocks! got this laptop within 3 days on standard FedEx shipping! cheapest in town! ;)

Pros: Nice screen. Good size for carrying. Fast (I'm running Sabayon Linux). 1G of RAM is enough for a decent OS like Linux. Passive pen input works better than I had expected, but not perfect. Keyboard has a nice feel. Nice scroll feature to right side of trackpad. DVD burner works fine.

Cons: Hot! I knew this from other reviews, but I may get a pad or fan cooler for underneath. Not Linux friendly, but I did get enough working that it is very usable. Right shift key on keyboard is small. pgup, pgdn, home, end, insert, and delete keys are awkwardly lined up horizontally along the top, making it difficult to touch type them. Some features like the fingerprint reader function in Linux but are not usable since the software in Linux cannot match my fingerprints to the ones I already stored. Sound buttons don't work for me in Linux, so I have to use alsamixer. Screen rotation doesn't work right for me with xorg. I haven't figured out how to permanently turn off the tapping feature of the trackpad under Linux yet. I wish I could angle the webcam up and down (it is fixed in the top of the screen.)

Other Thoughts: I called HP asking for a Windows refund since I hate Windows and will never boot up into it. I did NOT accept the Windows license agreement! The HP tech support guy on the phone was very nice and said they would call me back. I haven't gotten the refund yet, and I don't really expect to from other stories I have read, but it seems like they at least are listening. Other Tablet PCs get better ratings, and the ones at the store I tried which use active pens are a lot nicer for handwriting. But this HP model is a great value. I am very satisfied with it. I haven't tried the Lightscribe DVD labelling feature or most of the ports, including the headphone port, yet. The webcam worked fine under Linux, but I don't online chat much at all. Battery life is OK, not the longest.

Game anywhere! That's the promise of the G1S-A1 from Asus. The main engine is a Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.20GHz and it is backed up by 2GB of DDR2 memory. But you can't really game if your screen can handle it. The 15.4" LCD panel can handle resolutions of up to 1680x1050 for incredible detail that's delivered by the GeForce 8600M GT GPU. So, yes it will handle your DirectX 10 games. For the ultimate gaming experience plug the notebook into your widescreen TV with the HDMI port. Keeping you connected on the go and at gaming parties is important. That's why Asus included Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n wireless connectivity. There's also Bluetooth V2.0+EDR to round out the options. You could use the modem if you really wanted to. The Express Card slot lets you plug in a multitude of options including cellular broadband for anytime-anywhere connectivity. It looks like Asus has thought of everything to make your portable computing experience shine!

Pros: This laptop is beautiful, from the aesthetic design (yes, including the fingerprint-savvy carbon fiber) to the location of different physical ports/utilities. Function keys are splendid, 1680x1050 15"" display is amazing, the interals are easily accessible, built-in webcam is quite nice, included laser mouse is actually very impressive, included backpack is awesome looking as well as functional, and just the LOOK of the laptop makes me want to have babies with it. c2d 7500 + 2GB ddr2667 (and expandable!!) + 1680x1050 w/8600mGT + HDMI out + DVD burner + wireless N + GREAT WARRANTY for 2k = wow! The ASUS ""eye"" thing below the touch pad is a little weird but not bad. Wireless a/b/g/n are all up to snuff for their respective speeds. The overall function of this machine blows away pretty much every contemporary laptop in price and performance.

Cons: well- 5400rpm hard drive + no ddr2800 = why ! just why ! As if the battery life wasn't short enough already, what would a 7200rpm HD and some faster RAM matter The RAM isn't a huge deal, honestly, but the hard drive is obviously what's keeping this system down. Also - beware the bloatware! Gets a little hot, but it's a gaming machine. Buy a laptop cooler like the Zalman ZM-NC1000. This machine is made with a focus on gaming, which causes heat build-up due to constant load. The hard drive compartment and RAM seem to get a little too hot for my liking, but it doesn't appear to affect performance. Read the user manual. Keep this thing on a flat, hard surface. Vista seriously ticks me off, but there are a few problems with the XP drivers for this computer. It seems unable to run certain applications correctly, which I assume will be corrected in future updates.

Other Thoughts: Though I have just given it a good bashing, I'm actually VERY happy with this laptop. I have had it for about 2.5 months now and I'm still quite impressed with its looks and most of its hardware. I agree that the USB ports could be located better for some people, but I'm quite happy with them. USB cords are kept out of the way. I used this laptop to play Oblivion, which it did VERY well considering that it's working w/a 90w PSU. I also understand that at my time of purchase, ddr2 800 RAM (especially in a laptop) was quite expensive, and ASUS aimed to make an affordable high-power compact machine, thus; For the price you simply can't beat this purchase. It has impressive looks, bells + whistles, hardware and some rather nice accessories. I gave it 4 stars because I expected more out of this hardware combo, but I wouldn't exactly say I'm disappointed. I wish there was a quarter-star system on newegg, because I give it 4.75 stars, not 4. I just can't give it 5 due to the slow hard drive.

Pros: In terms of design the lid, track pad and palm areas have a cool carbon fiber look to them. Asus gives you a screen cleaner that works effectively and I use it for the whole laptop to keep it looking new. In terms of performance, this laptop beats out all of its competition in its price range, you can check the forums at notebookreviews. The mx518 is really a nice bonus and goes to show you that Asus thought this out and expected most of their G series customers to need a mouse. The screen doesn't have any glare and HDMI output works like a charm at 1920x1080(1080P) resolution. The digital audio works very well too. For people wanting to install XP, drivers are now available via the Asus Forums. Also, I agree with a previous reviewer that the green eye lights are not an eye sore at all once you have the laptop in your hands.

Cons: It tends to run hot and you can feel the heat on the right side of the keyboard and obviously under the laptop. The bloatware that comes with it seems unnecessary but you can easily reformat/uninstall. The cpu is 64bit but vista that comes installed is 32bit. The speakers are bad but that is expected. The lid can attract dust fingerprints but that is a small price to pay for the beauty of this design. The manual is pretty light on explanations (like the S/PDIF functionality.) The battery life is 2-2.5 hours but this can be slightly improved using Asus utilities (decreasing CPU speed.) There is currently a BIOS problem that limits the CPU speed to 1.2ghz when the battery is below 90% and the laptop is plugged in and charging.

Other Thoughts: The VFD screen above the keyboard can't be customized to show info from programs, games or cpu/hd, (except skype, outlook, msn messenger). But I'm sure Asus will get around to doing that. As for hackintosh's, I have been trying to get MacOSX x86 to work but with no avail (ACPI Problems.) btw: to use the digital S/PDIF you need to buy a toslink 1.8mm cable that goes into the headphone jack. And set the Digital Output as default in Control Panel.

Pros: Great screen, fast processor, HDMI and E-Sata are another nice addition.

Cons: The hd is only 5400rpm, and the ram is only ddr2667. And this laptop has terrible battery life, about 1 hour with full performance settings, 2 with battery saving.

Other Thoughts: Great laptop for the price, there is a certain other wow laptop that is way over double the price and all you get is another video card, a physx card, and a 17"" screen

Pros: Excellent monitor with crisp and clear resolutions. Designed very well, nice and sturdy. The hardware is awesome, thats the whole reason i bought it, now we just need the rest of the industry to build more multi-threaded apps. Overall really nice quality product, what i expect from Asus.

Cons: There is always something that's ackward with every product. With this one there is no LED for the ethernet jack. i like my LED's and its a good indicator for low level troubleshooting. Plus it ships with vista, with is just an overall horrible operating system and uses way to many resources for simple things. I recommend throwing linux on it, but then you'd be limited with gaming. Oh, and the battery life is horrible = 2hrs.

Pros: The instant savings on it makes it. It looks awesome, totally blows away anything out there in that regard. No, the 8600m GT is not the absolutely fastest thing in a laptop anymore, but its still very good. It almost maxes The Witcher and World in Conflict, and runs Crysis smooth on Med settings. 1680x1050 resolution blows away most other laptop monitors by far! You CAN install XP on it, no problem, with a simple BIOS flash from the ASUS website, no need to slipstream anything! If ya run the vista recovery ya can load most of the ASUS programs and just pull the disk when its almost done, go into XP and install everything. All but the Power4gear and the Webcam work just the same, and for everything else that doesnt work theres XP versions of them online, just search for em. Just make sure to have Vista and XP installed on 2 different partitions.

Cons: DDRII 667, 5400 RPM HDD, Vista, bad speakers, smudgy. I've already replaced the RAM with 4 gigs of Geil, though of course XP/ vista 32-bit only read 3 gigs. HDD i'd like to swap when i get the money, but it works just fine. Runs hot.

Other Thoughts: Overall its spectacular. The ASUS Direct flash/ customizable text on the clock LCD is uber cool, plus the IM warning that flashes if ya have windows messenger minimized. The built in Wireless A/B/G/N card flys. Runs hot, but never does anything stupid from the heat, but ya should buy a cooler anyways. Havent really found a use for the ExpressSlot yet, but its a nice addition.

Built-in DVD Super Multi with LightScribe Support The built-in DVD Super Multi burns any DVD+R/-R, DVD+RW/-RW or DVD-RAM disc and supports the dual-layer function allowing up to 8.5GB data to be burned and saved on a single dual-layer disc. Burn your own DVD/VCD movies or backup data with ease! The innovative LightScribe technology for direct labeling of optical discs burns any image or text onto the surface of CDs or DVDs without adhesive labels, paint or ink. Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Camera and Microphone With an integrated camera and microphone, video chat or record videos and share them with your family or friends! Windows Vista Home Premium Microsoft's innovative Windows Vista Home Premium provides the productivity, entertainment and security you need from your desktop or notebook PC and brings your world into sharper focus with its breakthrough design.

• Lowepro Parsley/Green Tea 17" Notebook Case Model Messenger Factor L (Parsley/Green Tea) - Retail
• Lowepro Parsley/Green Tea 17" Notebook Case Model Messenger Factor L (Parsley/Green Tea) - Retail
• $59.99

• BELKIN Jet / Cabernet Messenger Bag for notebooks up to 17" Model F8N051-BR - Retail
• BELKIN Jet / Cabernet Messenger Bag for notebooks up to 17" Model F8N051-BR - Retail
• $49.99

• hec HEC-AP100-XXV 100W max adjustable Volt Universal Laptop Adaptor - Retail
• hec HEC-AP100-XXV 100W max adjustable Volt Universal Laptop Adaptor - Retail
• $42.49

The G in Asus' G2K-A1 notebooks stands for Gaming. This powerful system is run by a powerful and efficient AMD Turion 64 X2 processor running at 2.2GHz with 2GB of DDR2 memory. 160GB of hard drive space gives you plenty of room for all your files. Seeing is believing, and after looking at the 17" display running at 1900x1200 you will believe. The screen is driven by an ATi Mobility Radeon HD 2600 GPU with a dedicated 256MB of memory. To ensure the best picture possible, Asus included their Splendid video technology that delivers higher brightness, sharper details and better contrast, along with increased color saturation and vivid skin tones. A major part of today's gaming and digital lifestyle is communication and the G2K-A1 has you covered. The built in microphone and web camera compliment the speakers for VOIP calls and other conferencing methods. Built in 802.11a/b/g wireless, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth mean you'll always be connected.

Pros: The laptop is great, screen is excellent. Battery life is at best 2 hours but what do you expect from a desktop replacement. Lots of nifty ASUS software features. Runs much faster with XP. Will play UT3 =)

Cons: No XP Drivers shipped or available on support.asus.com so you have to use the asus FTP. Power4 Gear Extreme is currently only available under Vista. No XP driver for IR Remote Device.

Other Thoughts: To get XP installed you will have to FTP to ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/drivers. There you will find the drivers you will not see on the website. Some are available under ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/G2K anything that says VT is Vista unless it specifically says XP do not run it or you will have issues. It will take a while. Most importanly the Video drivers are located at drivers\VGA\ATI\V8.401 on the FTP. This will save a great headache. The touchpad is an APLS so its driver is at drivers\touchpad\V5.5.xxx on the FTP. The eSATA XP driver will have to come straight from JMicron. The wireless card is an Atheros AR5008X. The XP driver for this is a bit tricky to find because officially it does not exist. Google atheros_v6.0.4.13 and you should find what you need. Hope this helps, buy this laptop its a great deal.

Solid Gaming Laptop

Pros: The screen looks beautiful at 1920x1200 and the graphics are very impressive at this price. The screen is very bright and I have not had any problems with glare. For graphics performance, I have played Oblivion, Counterstrike: Source, and Half-Life 2 with HDR at 1920x1200 with few hiccups and the graphics look great. Crysis will play on this machine, but the graphics need to be on medium settings. Photoshop Elements 5 also runs very smoothly.

Cons: This laptop is a BEAST - over 9 pounds and a large form factor. It's fine for occasional travel. The keyboard is a little bit awkward - small for the size of the case and a bit uncomfortable on the wrists. Not a dealbreaker for me but could be better. Battery life is short, but acceptable for a gaming laptop.

Other Thoughts: I'm very happy with this laptop overall - the price is very competitive for the performance you get and I have not experienced any setup or maintenance problems after 3 weeks. As with any Vista machine, compatibility is still a concern with older apps, so it's worth doing some research before upgrading.

Pros: Bioshock : 15 fps high settings 1400*900, 25 medium settings CSS: 60-80 fps 1400*900 high settings (NO VS, HDR, Reflection Company Of Heroes: 45 Average fps, HIGH SETTINGS, 1400*1900 Excellent build quality, Excellent sound, Flawless camera and MIC, Mx518 mouse and Carrying bag for free!! the screen is probably the best thing about this laptop, it looks amazing.

Cons: There's a constant annoying fan noise, not to high but im a little annoyed by hearing it all the time. Not the best fps on newer games like bioshock or crysis, but they are playable. VISTA VISTA VISTA, Its really hard to find all the windows xp drivers.

Other Thoughts: I Installed windows xp and noticed a 10 - 15 fps jump in many games, specially on CSS, but there was absolutely no difference in newer games like bioshock. The computer handles windows vista well, but still its the only downside of this computer, since there is no support from Asus when trying to install win XP.

Initially was disappointed, but now love it

Pros: After upgrading to 3Gb memory, vista's performance improved measurably. After reading about vista 64bit, I purchased it along with the extra 1Gb of memory...and have to admit that now along with 4Gb of memory...I am very pleased and am getting used to vista. I have no complaints now. Go with vista 64 and upgrade the memory...you will be pleased.

Cons: As purchased, took forever to initally load. Didn't like the lag time for everything. Wiped the harddrive, tried to install winxp 64bit, but couldn't find all the drivers. Went back to vista.

Pros: Nice bright high res screen. Great video, sound, communication options and my all time favorite HDMI. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this rig and if you get the rebate the price is not just sweet, it's smoking. Best bang for buck I could find in a month's worth of looking.

Cons: Power cord gets in the way of the optical drive tray. Heavy. Wasn't free with purchase of the Logitech mouse instead of the other way around.

Other Thoughts: I've been using it for a set top home entertainment device. It's very nice to just plug the HDMI into my 60"" 1080i TV, set the desktop res to 1080 and fire up VLC with the media streaming from my server wirelessly. No remote but, I only have to get up once every hour and a half or so to change the file being played. That just rocks and I'm saving a small fortune in blank DVDs.

Modem LAN WLAN Bluetooth Ports USB IEEE 1394 Audio Ports Audio Speaker Input Device Touchpad Keyboard Supplemental Drive Card Reader Webcam Power Battery Physical spec Manufacturer Warranty Accidental Damage Warranty Parts Labor Introduction Highlights AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-core Mobile Technology Featuring the most advanced and powerful dual-core Turion 64 processor made for mobility, AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-core Mobile Technology is uniquely optimized to deliver supreme multi-tasking performance in thinner and lighter notebook PCs. ATi Mobility Radeon HD 2600 Graphics Card The ATi Mobility Radeon HD 2600 graphics card with 512MB HyperMemory (256MB dedicated, 256MB shared) fully supports Microsoft DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, ATi Avivo HD Video technology and PowerPlay 7.0 for the ultimate high-definition 3D gaming and HD video experience as well as minimized power consumption. 17-inch Widescreen The 17-inch widescreen displays more visual information with almost no black bars for enhanced viewing comfort during movie playback. Widescreen displays also enable convenient panoramic image editing and viewing with less horizontal scrolling. 12/17/2007 6:38:37 AM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Yay! Pros: Yay! We just ordered 2 more of these servers. Nvidia released a new RAID driver and it fixed my issue of not being able to setup a Raid 5 with 4 x 750GB drives (read my previous review below). 10/30/2007 6:08:02 PM Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Rating + 5 Great System Pros: Purchased 4 of these. This system has excellent quality and ships with everything you would need in a barebone intro level server. Fast and easy setup. Will be ordering 10 more of these in the next week or so. Cons: monebaggasse