chaddesch

To coincide with tonight's video release, LG has given us two units of their PF1000U Short Throw Projectors to giveaway! This will be a worldwide giveaway with no age restrictions, see below for entry details.

Purchase Link: http://bit.ly/29tAdg7
 
 
To enter the giveaway:
 
1. Comment below, tell us your thoughts about the PF1000U projector.
 
2. Go say hi and give LG a follow over on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LGUS
 
*Entries close on 7/18/2016. 
 
The winner will be announced randomly, and you'll see their names edited into the bottom of this post. I will also DM the winners, and they'll have 72 hours to respond.
 
WINNERS:
tanilolli
Darkangel86
 
Thanks Everyone! 
 
 

We are bringing you guys another awesome giveaway today thanks to our friends over at Tesoro! They are giving away:
 
THREE units of their Excalibur v2 keyboard (purchase link: http://bit.ly/1mIFiE0)

 

and
 
THREE units of their Sagitta Spectrum mouse (purchase link: http://bit.ly/1WsEf7c)

 
 
But how do you win one for free?
 
 
As usual, entry is super simple:
 
1. Comment below telling us which product you want to win and why you want it.
 
2. Follow Tesoro on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tesorotec
 
and
 
3. Continue watching the awesome content we produce (we can't actually track that, but hey, even if you don't like the videos we'll probably have more giveaways at some point... ).
 
 
This is a worldwide giveaway with no age restrictions.
 
 
Entries will close in one week, on 3/11/2016. Winners will be selected soon after entries close, individually, by random draw, and will be contacted by this account, here on the forum.
 
 
Best of luck to all who enter!

EDIT: Yes this announcement is late, I apologize.

Anyway, WINNERS!!

Sagitta:

@BroliviaWilde
@AbsoluteFenrir
@xwboy

Excalibur v2:

@RaTheWitcher
@LimeFloss
@brodech2

 
Congrats to the winners, and best of luck to everyone else in the next giveaway!

Hi @megatronends I noticed yesterday that the z97 series mobos only offer two lanes for the m.2 card so make sure you don't spring for the xp941 or sm951 like I did. Like @FuzzyYellow said, some m.2 are sata and some are pcie. If you go for the m.2 pcie card, expect to get capped around 780 read and 650 write or so with most mobos that support m.2 cards since the four lane variety isn't really mainstream yet. I've read that those mobos that do offer four lanes like asrock's don't natively support using the m.2 as your boot drive and require some pain-in-the-butt tinkering. That being said, the speed is still better than sata, but imo the premium for the m.2 isn't quite worth it right now. The sata m.2 cards are still more expensive than their 2.5mm counterparts; so those clearly aren't worth it. That being said, if you can find an m.2 sata card that's selling for around the same price as it's 2.5mm, I'd go for it just to save the space and for no cable management.
 
Alternatively, you can spring for a pcie adapter to get the m.2 card running on one of your pcie slots, but that option seemed silly to me, so I'm just going to return my SM951. You could also spring for an Intel 750 if you want that kind of speed. Those things are BA.
 
 
Also like @Mighty_Miro_WD said, heat dissipation can be an issue with the SM951s. They have no way of dealing with it, so they can end up throttling. I found this review helpful: http://techreport.com/review/28446/samsung-sm951-pcie-ssd-reviewed
 
Cheers,
Chad

I just received mine in the mail today; I too am a long-time (4+ years) M570 user, and have been waiting for a trackball mouse with adjustable DPI.  I ordered the wired version (M-XT1URBK).  Here are my initial observations:
 
- It is a tad shorter in length than the M570, and barely taller with a stronger contour in the center.  The bottom right corner of my palm touches my desk when using it, unlike the M570.  This may be an issue if you have larger hands, but it does not bother me.

- Because the scroll wheel and DPI switch separate the two mouse buttons by a good 3/4", the Elecom forces your hand into a very particular position when using it.  With the M570, I could comfortably rest either my index or my middle finger on the left button, and use my middle or ring finger, respectively, to press the right button.  Not so with this device.  This isn't a big deal, although the Forward/Back buttons don't feel quite as accessible to the index finger as on the M570 without momentarily shifting your hand position.
 
Edit: After a week and a half of using the device, I found that I was using the wrong hand position all along; the scroll wheel is wide enough to rest my middle finger on, with my index on left click, my ring finger on right click, and my pinky on the Slowdown Switch.  This also allows me to reach the Forward/Back buttons without straining my index finder.  Now, this thing fits my hand like a glove, and feels even better than the M570.
 
- The Elecom, on its lower setting, still has more DPI than the M570 (I believe it's 750 vs. 600 or so).  DPI switch doubles it to 1500.  Awesome.  Edit: I have since learned that the M570 has adjustable DPI from 400 to 1200, with a factory default value of 800.  I never figured out how to change the DPI of the M570, though; one could change the sensitivity in the Logitech software or the pointer speed in Control Panel, but it certainly could not be done on the fly like with the Elecom.

- The third mouse button acts as a momentary switch for slowing cursor movement.  Elecom's website calls this the Slowdown Switch.  I can imagine this being very useful to graphic design artists, engineers using CAD programs, or FPS gamers that need pinpoint precision.  Using this feature in tandem with the DPI switch, you can actually get four separate cursor speeds out of this device without changing its sensitivity in the Control Panel (on High DPI setting, pressing the switch moves the cursor slower than when on Low DPI).  Very nifty.

- The scroll wheel is stiffer than the M570, which is a bit of a bummer, but not a deal-breaker.  Edit: This is actually a good thing; see my response to Prof7 below.
 
- The cradle in which the ball rests does not rattle when picking the device up and moving it around.  No way to tell at the moment if it will stay this way for longer than my M570 did.

- It's a bit lighter than the M570, but the four feet on the bottom are significantly larger, giving a much improved grip on smooth surfaces.  One would have to be raging like a maniac to inadvertently slide this around his or her desk.

- I read on Reddit that there were Japanese reviews saying that this has a tendency to miss ball movements.  I really haven't had an issue with that, but if it does occur, I understand that you can fix it by swapping the ball for the M570 one, since they are the same size.  I swapped it out just to try it, and it does fit, although the movement is not as smooth with the M570 ball in there.  That could just be because the two M570 trackballs I tried are both well-used, and the surfaces are not as smooth as when they were new.
 
Edit: I have had this happen to me a couple of times, but it is very infrequent (maybe one in every 200 cursor movements, if even that) and the time period during which the device "misses" movements is less than a second.  I have not experienced any using the M570 ball, so a permanent solution is available if you have one lying around.

- Elecom offers software on its website for button reprogramming. It's a pain to find, so here's a shortcut.  You can reprogram all buttons except for the Slowdown Switch. 
 
- I only learned this by looking at their software, but in addition to the left, right, middle, back, and forward buttons, you also have two additional reprogrammable inputs in tilting the mouse wheel left or right, which by default scrolls horizontally in the respective direction.  That is so freaking cool, I don't even know what to say.

In summary: It has its quirks, but most of them are simply due to the fact that I've been using Logitech trackballs for so long; before the M570, I used a Trackman Wheel, and before that, a old 90's-era Trackman Marble.  So, using a trackball with significantly different contours and ergonomics is strange.  Without being able to comment on build quality or longevity, I do have to say that this is an improvement over the M570, though.  The increased precision from higher DPI, and the flexibility allowed by the Slowdown and DPI switches, make this a much more versatile input device.  I'm honestly considering ordering the wireless version for home use and bringing this one into work tomorrow to use there.