Hi-Val, low expectations
Written: Oct 30 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Unit works
Cons: Terrible manual, ugly faceplate
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| WRC123's Full Review: Hi-Val CD-RW |
BILL'S HI-VAL CD-RW REVIEW
DON'T WORRY, THERE IS A REVIEW IN HERE!
The story thus far:
6:00 PM BILL'S HOUSE
Marc calls on the phone. Bill picks up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Bill this is Marc. I got that CD-RW I told you about."
"Cool. Do you need me to install it?"
"Uh, yeah. That would be great."
"Ok. Come and pick me up. I'll be ready in three minutes."
Okay. I got to Marc's house and find he purchased a Hi-Val CD-Writer for about $120. It seemed like a good value. However, some dark clouds loomed on the horizon.
The first thing that struck me was the manual for installation; it was terrible. It barely described how to install it; and I am a computer fixer-upper so it was really bad. I eventually rigged it to work as the master, and let the old CD-ROM work as the slave. After a quick reboot the system had found the CD-RW drive and it looked fine.
The next step was installing the software that came with it, called "Nero." Surprisingly, it seemed to work pretty well. Installation went without a hitch, and I soon began to work on burning the first CD. I must say that the software isn't too difficult to use, but it isn't intuitive either.
The first burns went very well, with no problems. You may be wondering why I am giving this product a "two-star" review. Here are the reasons:
1. The manual is so terrible it might as well have not come with one.
2. The actual CD-RW unit looked quite a bit different from the picture on the box. The one on the box looked great, but this one looked quite crappy. The we found the small print next to the picture that said: "Actual product may not look like this picture." thanks for telling us (sigh.)
Overall, if you have some hardware experience, you should be able to install one of these drives without a hitch. However, if you are a beginner, I strongly recommend steering clear from this unit and buy a HP CD-RW instead. (I have a review of the unit I purchased.)
Well, I guess you get what you pay for.
-Bill Cutter
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
WRC123
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Location: North East, Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 120
Trusted by: 18 members
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