Reviews by Hakuryustar17

Hakuryustar17 says "Its no Cadillac, but whose complaining?" about Nissan Versa - 2009

Hakuryustar17 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:48:58 GMT

I must say, that I made the purchase of my Nissan Versa in a bit of a hurry and a pinch. I bought it roughly a few days ago due to my former car being totaled by mechanical problems and out of desperation. However, despite this, I must say I'm very pleased with the Versa. I went with a hatchback design over the offered sedan, and I did so for the sharper design in the hatchback than the sedan. The sedan looked plain while the hatchback looked to offer a little more space and lets face it, cuter.

However, my first impression of the car was that this was going to be a small and cramped vehicle, with lower grade fabrics and build materials as whats expected of fuel efficent, economy cars. Boy was I in for a surprise. Upon first glance, yes the Versa looked small and cramped, till I opened the door. I haven't had this much space in the previous economy sedans I've owned before and was pleased at how comfterble it was, granted the head restraint is a smidge annoying, but in the......

Hakuryustar17 says "One of the best online shopping experiences" about eBay

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:45:24 GMT

I've oftened dreamed of the days as a kid I could beat Wal-mart prices, and the day I discovered eBay, I do believe I found that dream. Not only has it proven to be the most value concious resource from everything from books and paper and up to car parts for my car, but just about asbolutely everything inbetween. I've bought and sold everything from cell phones, to laptops, and anything else I happened to have needed at the absolute lowest prices on the net. Its also been a good experience for me as a seller, I've learned quite a bit and established for myself a bit of credibility thats helped outside sales and what I've bought, its helped me establish two online businesses, and earn my spot as a member of management at my work.

Some of the highlights I would have to say about eBay is the incredible amount of selection available at the site. Its well organized and finding what you want can be a breeze, buyers and sellers are well protected from fradulent activity if buyers shop......

Hakuryustar17 says "Nice prices, but painfull at times" about Amazon.com

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:49:50 GMT

Well I must say, I finally get a chance to throw in a few opinions I have about this online superstore, and trust me, not all of them have been terrible, however, I've had a few cringing moments as both a buyer and a seller. Which explains the small business owner status, I own and operate two stores out of the internet, one on eBay and one formerly on Amazon for items I know wont sell as quickly as a eBay listing will permit without getting costly. However that has recently changed, and this is why.

From my experience as a seller, at first, Amazon was blazingly great. No up front costs, just list and wait, which for a eighteen year old college freshman trying to sell her first years worth of college texts, was a great idea. One small step hopefully into a better more benefical world. Then the commision costs hit, and well, thats so so, and okay they are the middle party, and then you look at what you actually get for shipping. Now I do understand that shipping costs are something......

Hakuryustar17 says "Great phone and excellent PDA" about Palm Treo 700w Smartphone

Hakuryustar17 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:10:48 GMT

I've seen the good and bad side of phones, and I've read my fair share of reviews on this particular little phone, but with the track record I've had with flip-style cell phones, I bought my Palm Treo 700w in a fit of frustration and I must say, this has been a excellent choice. I'm well aware of newer more advanced models, however considering everything new and current I've owned has fried on me, and cost me literaly $100s of dollars out of pocket in gas and handset exchange fees, a older phone like the Palm Treo 700w for $119 with all accessories on eBay used, vs. facing another handset exchange fee along with the gas spent after my current phone croaked, what was there to lose?

I've owned one smartphone before and even though it was a good phone, it was quite large and more features than I could ever hope to use. The Palm Treo, however, has turned out to be much smaller and much more comfterble to use. I've truly never liked Verizon OS or a phone manufacturers OS on any phone......

Hakuryustar17 says "Excellent old school features!" about Samsung - SPH i700 PDA/Smartphone Cell Phone

Hakuryustar17 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:08:37 GMT

What I'm reviewing here today is something I wouldn't have been reviewing a couple weeks ago with my old LG from Verizon. Instead, I'm here to give my opinion of what has truly been a nice find. A couple weeks ago my ever faithful LG croaked on me, another way to say simply, it gave a odd noise and was no more. After some carefull research online and on eBay I ran across the Samsung SPH i700, which after a few bad occurances in the past, I'm never one to buy a used phone, however, this phone was offered as brand new and significantly off the original retail price and with the dealer being close to where I live, I ordered it.

I've had my doubts about this phone considering it was released back in 2002-2003 and was very tenative when it arrived about what I was getting into. Turns out that was not necessary. This has been flat out one of the better phones I've owned. Call reception for a PDA/smartphone is truly impressive and a winner for me. I live back in the Blue Ridge......

Hakuryustar17 says "Superb Quality" about Dell Computers

Hakuryustar17 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:05:06 GMT

At the current moment, I use two Dell machines. A two-three year old Dell Dimension E310 for personal and home use and a newer laptop, the Vostro 1500 that I run my photography business out of. Both machines are some of the best computers I've used in my long history with Apple and PC computers. And I've used everything between them as well, and in terms of a well performing machine for the price, I'm most impressed with Dell.

At the time of my purchase of the older of the two I currently own, my faithfull HP of almost seven years had died on me and was in the market for a computer at the time for school. (Which seems everyones story when it comes to computers, I've worked with them way too long) However, Dell was recommended to me by a member of my family, and at the time, Dell was running a promotion for a free LCD display with their desktops (At the time I was still using a dinosaur monitor as well) and designed my dear and faithfull Dimension E310 that this review is currently......

Hakuryustar17 says "Nice Player!" about Apple - iPod Classic Black Digital Media Player

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:15:41 GMT

Alright, anyone who knows me personally knows I flat out hate Apple, I've worked on their machines for almost 13 yrs and have a long standing loathing of the whole outfit. I will, however, bury the hatchet when it comes to the 80 GB iPod Classic. Its the one Apple product I love and enjoy, I still glare at iTunes simply becuase I still love Winamp and Media Player and it does annoy me to have to use a whole new application to load songs onto my iPod, but the iPod itself is pure joy. I considered getting a iPod nano simply becuase of the cheaper price till I begin comparing the amount of storage between Classic and Nano, and went with Classic due to being able to utilize more storage space along with a strong recommendation that the iPod was a better mp3 player over previous, generic, models I've used in the past.

I've always been frugal, and it was hard parting $200 + for a player from a company I still despise, however I will say that it was one of the better $200 I've spent in......

Hakuryustar17 says "Excellent Value!" about Epson Stylus Photo RX595 Photo All-in-One Printer

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:24:15 GMT

Alrighty, this little printer so far has proved to be almost saintly. As we enter into a era where HD media is the way to go, its nice to see a printer following in that idea and producing higher definition and higher resolution photos. Photos that are printed off this printer are the closest thing you'll ever get on a personal printer to lab quality prints without either buying a lab printer or going to a photo lab yourself. The fact that its a all-in-one, save for fax, it doesn't have that capacity, just makes it absolutely beautiful. It even prints on CD/DVDs, and does so in a easy fashion!

Controls on the copy, scan and print function are intuitive and easy to operate, scans well and prints text at a reasonable speed. The 2.5" LCD display is great and its easy to navigate through, with comfortable controls that aren't confusing or add difficulty to copying and printing. The ergonomics of this printer are also well laid out, all major controls are placed reasonable, the USB......

Hakuryustar17 says "The absolute worst!" about Hewlett Packard Photosmart Pro B8350 Printer

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:52:42 GMT

Alright, here's a quick sotry of the B8350, its one of HPs Photosmart line printers, which comparing a HP Photosmart 7660, have been solid performers. However, the B8350 is what has made me entirely stop buying HP merchandise entirely. As a freelance photo journalist, in my home office, its always a great idea to be able to make large photo prints of what I've been working on, and the B8350, at the time, fit the bill. Large format printing, reasonably high resolution, capable of printing text should I need it.

What I didn't know when I purchased this was the hell I was about to find myself in. Four hours of attempting to install it on my laptop, two hours with shitty HP customer service, and another hour of making a guy at Staples miserable trying to get the drivers to work. Finally after all of this intensive effort to get the bloody thing to work, I get off the Staples guys case and go looking for a new printer.

I come up with a Epson Stylus Photo RX595, which where this a movie......

Hakuryustar17 says "Hideous" about HP customer service

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:31:02 GMT

Never ever expect any form of customer service from HP, on any of their products. I have two experiences to relate to, one of my own, and one I witnessed.

On my personal account, I had several issues with a HP photo printer, and as a freelance photographer and photo journalist, you really need a decent photo printer for a wide range of things you simply have to do, for starters and for sarcasms sake, printing photos. However HP customer service after several attempts to email, chat on-line, and communicate with them proved to be the absolute worst. I will NEVER again buy so much as a pen from HP. Do yourself a favor, buy a Dell, at least you get American based and not 'worldwide' support.

Onto a friends issue I had the horror of hearing. Her case is alot worse than me being savagely annoyed about a photo printer. I'm fairly certain everyone remembers when MS brought out the Media Center PC. Well, a dear and close friend of mine, bought a $1000 Media Center from HP. She......

Hakuryustar17 says "Absolutely love it!" about Microsoft Vista Home Premium

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:17:49 GMT

Alright, for the longest time, I have always given Vista alot of mouth and never gave it a try, however with the purchase of my new Dell, I decided for $30, lets give it a try. And what a try its been. I absolutely love this OS, better than the version of Basic on my desktop. Everything Basic lacks, Premium flat out improves upon a hundred times better. The graphics with Premium are absolutely gorgeous and running Stardock LoginVista on it, I'm able to load my favorite photos as a login screen (I'm aware you can do this with XP, just different version of Login for XP).

As someone who handles alot of photos and does freelance photography, Windows Media Center in Home Premium is a vast improvement over Windows XP Media Center 2005 that had a hideous history crashing on the machines I've used it on and seen on friends computers.

The only real pet peeve I've had with Vista in general was with a HP printer that HP for some odd reason on a brand new, 'top of the line' photo printer,......

Hakuryustar17 says "Excellent sytem for the value" about Dell Vostro 1500 Laptop

Hakuryustar17 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:57:42 GMT

I currently own a Dell Vostro 1500 with a Intel Duo Core T8100, 3 GBs of RAM, 128 MB Dedicated graphics, and a 160 GB hard drive, running on Windows Vista Home Premium and all I can say is I absolutely love it. I've heard plently of people complain about Vista in general and have spent my fair share of time swearing at the version of Basic on my desktop, however, Vista Premium on the Vostro flat out runs beautifully. Dell came up with a great idea when it opened its small and medium business line and started to make Vostros.

I own and operate a small freelance photography service, and was in need of a laptop that I could take into the field with me, have nice capacities and overall, nice graphics and no need for upgrades for at least a year or two, and if it could be done at a reasonable price, all the better. The Vostro 1500 delivered that and much more. I choose a smaller hard drive to get the more powerfull T8100 Dual Core Processor, the 3 GBs of RAM, and couldn't be more......