Hypertec MicroBoards CX-1 Disc Publisher

Advantages: "works" with Mac and Windows
Disadvantages: Too many to list.

...To put it simply, this is a horrible bit of kit. Now, going into more detail: - The software (Discribe) is glitchy at best (running under OsX 10.4). - The drivers (should you decide not to use Discribe) refuse to work with other programs (again, under OsX). Even though the manual says that you can install the drivers and print from any application (I tried Photoshop CS3) the printer will tell you "out of discs" even though you've fed it with discs. -The hardware is terrible. >Build quality is very low (bits will come unglued, yes, it is GLUED together!) >The CD holder has some weird design whereby you need to load 5-discs flat and then the rest at some angle (no mention of this in the manual - contact their support after days of frustration to find this out) >Speed!!! It is ludicrously slow! If you're burning, you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks nice, software is well appointed.
Disadvantages: Unreliable, expensive re-badged cartridges, noisy

...Very poor experience over the last 12 months with the DX-1. Never reached 48 speed CD burn, usually between 16-24x speed. The printer typically lost register on every other disc and in order to use the MB branded rather than HP ink cartridges there's a barcode on each cartridge that increases the cost from £30 to £50. Not once did this unit burn 100 discs unattended, it typically varied from 4 to 15 discs, requiring manual intervention due to: a) 'invalid ink cartridge' even though I religiously (stupidly?) stuck with the branded carts. b) sync cache error very frequent burn fault. c) discs misfed in the drive tray, requiring the stack to be removed. d) print transport jumping requiring a restart of the unit. In spite of running this unit on many different workstations, and with many different media types it never failed... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Multi tasking, quality, fast
Disadvantages: availability, cost, has to be installed in pairs

...2002 and Rambus was to be the new gold standard in memory. My Dell 8200 had 256 mb Rimm Memory. Alas the inferior DDR memory took over the market and all those who needed Rambus upgrades were left out. The cost of upgrading the Ram is just not worth it. Dell is the worst on pricing but others are also expensive for ECC modules. As the memory has to be installed in pairs, one cannot simply add a 1gb module but 2 512mbs. I gave up and bought a new PC with DDR3 Ram memory of 1gb and added another gigabyte of Orca memory for good measure and it was still cheaper than buying a memory rimm upgrade alone. Rambus/Rimm nice idea for would be lottery winners. My advice turn your Rambus PC into a Linux back up and buy a new Computer and add Hypertec, Orca or Kingston DDR3 ram modules and have a meal out on the money left over... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful