Review : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB HDD

Okay, for a long time I was debating between the Western Digital and the Seagate 1TB HDD. After a long set of research and thinking I bought the Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB HDD. I'm glad I bought it and I'll tell you why.

All of my past hard drives have been Seagate ones, so this is also one reason that I bought Seagate. My search came to an end when I saw an article on Tom's Hardware. The Seagate HDD scored a max transfer rate of  100MB/s + which was amazing, competing with the Samsung. The noise level on this HDD was quite low too (considered for a normal HDD). I can barely hear the noise of the HDD over my fans, considered they are quiet fans.

As soon as I got my HDD, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on it, loaded up my applications, installed my games and noted the boot time. My old 160 gig Seagate used to take about roughly 3 minutes to boot up with all the applications loaded. The Seagate amazed me, cutting the boot time by almost a minute ! What a speed ! (For a HDD). And also, applications like Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer loaded quicker than my previous HDD.

Here is a screenshot of the 1TB HDD vs the 160 gig in HD Tune -

Although the minimum dipped to a slow 2.4MB/s, the average speed was fabulous !
Also, the temperatures were a bit cool on the 1TB. (Room temp - 30C) It was somewhat hot due to a small, weak 80mm fan blowing air towards it.

It's been two months now, and I haven't encountered any problems yet !

Final Verdict - This HDD is, I consider, to be one of the fastest and cheapest 1TB I have bought.(70$ or Rs. 2800) A great HDD if you are on a low budget, and also if not ! Doesn't matter, because this HDD surpasses the WD in both price and performance !


Please comment !

Review : Sony SRS DB-500 2.1 300W Speaker System

Hello everybody, this is my first review and today I'll be reviewing the Sony SRS-DB500 2.1 Speaker System.

The Packaging: The packaging of these speakers was quite nice and the speakers were well protected and safe inside the huge and solid box. There were no problems in unboxing these speakers and I did it with ease. The package also had a nice picture of the speakers and also specified the full specifications  of the speakers on its right and left side (not shown in the picture).

The Design: I think the best thing that makes this speaker system stand out from the rest is its unique design.

The satellites have a shiny plastic finish around its driver which makes it look stylish but starts developing scratches after some time as you can see in the picture. Also these satellites have a port for bass and they produce substantially satisfactory bass for their size.

Although in this picture you can't exactly it's shape but in person the shape depicts a triangular shape which is kind of strange but unique.

I just can't help but look at the sub-woofer. This sub is the main attraction of the system. It also has the "shiny" finish around its driver and a big port for the air to pass through. The whole sub has a quality metallic grey finish which makes it look sexy. One thing I would like to mention is that the sub is only 15.5" inches deep instead of 17.5" as stated on their website. The sub is so huge that its height is almost as equal as my midtower PC-case at 17 inches tall. But overall, the system has a nice build quality.

Specifications - http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665801072#specifications

Features:

1. This thing has a remote control while not many 2.1 speakers have it.
2. It has a headphone jack, an audio in jack.
3. It incorporates Sony's flagship "S-Master Digital Amplifier".
4. It has bass, treble settings accessible through the volume knob (which is smooth as butter).
5. A 150W sub-woofer weighing 8.5kg and two 75W sat at 700g each.
6. Orange pulsating light around the volume knob (which looks cool).
7. A 2 inch driver for the sat and 6.2 inch driver for the sub (looks small but produces huge amount of bass).

The Sound : The installation took less than two minutes (even a baby can do it) and I was ready for the sound. I played "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles and the sound reproduction was simply superb. The difference between these and my old Altec AVS300B was like day and night. The mids kept up with the drums and guitar as I increased the volume. Each and every instrument played in the song sounded clear and smooth. The drums kicked in through the bass and made the song even more enjoyable. At no point did I experience distortion, even at 80-85% volume, which was simply astonishing.

My second song was a hip-hop song, "Dead and Gone" by T.I. This song mainly consisted of bass, so I turned the bass knob to full and listened to the song. At no point did I feel that the bass was punchy and boomy like the Logitech Z-2300, instead it was clear and powerful. Even at a volume of about 3/4th, the bass was not over-powering, the mids and bass went shoulder-to-shoulder with each other which added a fuller experience to the song. The doors and ears started to vibrate due to the chest-pumping bass, and the sub justifies that it really is a monster.When I turned the treble to +8 (on the sub), it was, however, was like an annoying screech which I did not like at all, so I turned it down to 0 dB and it sounded pleasant to the ears.

I also played Daft Punk music, featured in Tron: Legacy on these speakers, and I was just like "WOW" !

Full video on these speakers : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYEJNuwpW4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxhCS3bDSvc&feature=related

            When I cranked the volume to about 90%, I noticed that it started to bottom out a little, but did not distort whatsoever, so that's a good thing.

Gaming: What a gamer wants is realistic and powerful sound to enjoy the game. The sub delivers it with no problems. Seriously, these sound the very best while best while gaming, and deliver crystal clear sound. I played Mass Effect 2, GTA IV, Mafia II, COD: Black Ops, and the game was much more fun to play with these speakers !

Final Verdict : Recently I had the chance to listen to the Altec Lansing MX5021, and I felt the sound was not as fuller as it sounded on the Sony, also the bass lacked a bit. And the volume was also low. I also listened to the Logitech Z-5500, and the mids sounded muffled, bass was over-powering and boomy. It was however loud. So, after all this, I consider this speaker system to lead over these speakers (even if the Z-5500 is 5.1) by a good margin ! (Also, these looked the most stylish.) 

Overall Rating : 9.5/10. I'm extremely satisfied !

And if these speakers are available for less than $160, then it is a no-brainer, just go out and buy these !