Mike's Thoughts

So you all know that I dabble with photography a bit. I bought myself a snazzy Nikon D40, and threw some of my decent shots up on my site. Well, for those of you who don’t know, my inspiration came from my roommate, who is a full on photo journalist major here at RIT. My photos can’t touch a candle to his work.

Mike Graae has been shooting photography for a few years now, and I can say that he is one heck of a photographer! He shoots with a Nikon D300, among other cameras, compared to my D40 (think his Porsche to my Honda Civic ).

While I will still continue to throw my favorite shots that I have taken up on my site, please take a moment to look at Mike G’s work over at his Picasa site. Send him your comments and thoughts!

Until next time…

Well, it’s official! My new computer is up and running smoothly. The hardware installation went through fine, without any real hitches. I wish that I could say the same for the software installation. After a blazing fast 27 minute Vista installation (I mean that genuinely, not sarcastically… that’s quick for a Vista install), I had the OS up and running, and all of the mother board drivers installed. However, when I went to run Windows Update, the system crashed. To make a long story short, every time I went on the internet, the system would crash. Great! I ended up reinstalling the OS, and since then, everything has been working hunky dork!

I will post pictures and specifications on a new page in my blog called “My Rig.” It should be up in the next few days. Now, the monitor is another story.

So, here is my quick review of the Westinghouse L2610nw 26″ monitor. My first impression was that it was absolutely huge. I mean nausiatingly huge. The unit overall feels quite flimsy considering how big it is. The bottom of the panel had what appeared to be a glass piece bearing the Westinghouse logo, which turned out to be a cheap plastic piece. As for quality, the screen displayed flawlessly using the VGA cable at 1920 x 1200 (the native resolution). However, the monitor is WAY too bright; but this is where the problem comes in. If you turn the brightness down past 90%, the unit starts to emit a whinning, screetching noise. It is definatley noticable when you are working, and becomes louder the more you turn down the brightness. After navigating Westinghouse’s rediculous support menu, I was connected with a very helpful agent on the first ring. I was quite impressed! He said that the noise is not normal, and that it could be the electrical current passing throught the components.

In the end, I returned it to newegg, who made an exception to their normal “non-refundable” LCD policy for me. I am awaiting a credit to my bank account, after which I will be buying another, smaller monitor, perhaps an HP. My final verdict on the Westinghouse… great support, but their products are not up to par. The unit feels too cheaply built, and the noise is completely unacceptable, especially considering the need to turn down the unit’s brightness. If you are stuck with this unit, you have two choices, live with the noise, or go blind from the monitor’s brightness!

So, I just wanted to shout out a thanks to Newegg.com.

I have ordered from them for years with nothing but great results. Usually, it takes them 1-2 days to ship my order, which I think is pretty darn good. However, when I ordered the parts for my new computer this past Friday around 3:00 p.m., the entire order (which is coming from 3 different warehouses) shipped by 7:00 p.m.!!! Now, if my calculus skills are correct, that’s only 4 hours! Absolutely amazing!

They are coming from 3 places, so the monitor and software are coming in two shipments on Tuesday, and everything else is coming on Wednesday. I can’t wait! Thanks again Newegg for what has been the best shopping experience ever!

P.S. – Check out this tour/photo gallery of Newegg’s main warehouse in California on AnandTech’s web site. Very cool! http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=2694