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Belkin PC Monitor Cable
by Randal
For whatever reason, my monitor cable on my desktop computer at home started to play up. The colours appeared to be washed out and there was a bit of a strange flicker going on across the screen. At first I wasn't sure whether it was the monitor, the cable or the video card, but after borrowing a monitor cable from a friend to try out, ... I managed to quickly confirm that the monitor cable was indeed at fault. The problem then was that the cable was totally sealed, and hence, any attempted diagnosis or repair was going to be pretty much impossible. Quickly looking on Amazon, I found the 3m version of this Belkin cable for just over £7 delivered, which arrived very quickly.
3m might seem excessive when most people opt for a 1.8m cable. But in my experience I've always found the 1.8m to be just a little too short if I wanted to put the monitor on say one end of the desk and the PC unit underneath on the other side. So a 3m cable would give me plenty of flexibility and length to do what I wanted, and any spare could be wrapped up and tucked behind the desk. For those interested, you'll find that these cables will come in various lengths from 1.8m right up to 15m.
Another thing worth considering is that the brand name of Belkin also drew me towards this cable. Belkin make many different computer cables and bits and pieces, and through the years I have used many of their products with various computers. In each case, although sometimes slightly more expensive than their competitors, the quality of their products that you get in return for the cost is excellent - durable, well made and look good. In the case of this cable, the cable itself feels quite thick and is well sheathed and protected. The protective shields over the back of the plugs are also securely in place around the plug and the cable, and it seems that no degree of flexing of the joint in this area is going to expose the inner cables in any way. So in true Belkin tradition, this cable has been well made.
The cable I have is a 15 pin male VGA plug to 15 pin male VGA plug cable, which you use to connect your computer monitor to your PC unit. You can normally recognise this type of cable because they will have 3 rows of 5 connectors in each plug. The plug bits on either end look like the bottom bit of a cut off triangle with 2 sloping sides, and these plug in to the corresponding sockets on your monitor and your PC unit. For added security of fixture, you also have 2 screw in bits on either side of each plug. These have a knurled section on the back of each screw which will then allow you to screw them down into the corresponding fixed nuts by the sockets, ensuring that the plug is then securely held in position once fitted.
When I first connected it up between my computer and my monitor, I was quite surprised at how vivid and the bright the colours suddenly became on my monitor screen. My old cable must have been gradually deteriorating over time, and I hadn't really noticed it until it finally became really bad. But this new Belkin cable gave my monitor a new lease of life, making everything colourful and bright - so much so that I had to turn down some of the settings on my monitor's display, and now nearly a year later, the display still seems very vivid and bright thanks to this new cable.
In summary, although this is pretty much a fit and forget type cable, the quality of it did make quite a noticeable difference to my monitor's display. In true Belkin fashion, the cable is well made and durable, and if Belkin's trusted reliability is anything to go by, I don't expect that I will need to buy another monitor cable for many years to come. So an easy 5 star recommendation.
Review also on Ciao under Randal1.
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Fellowes Easy Screen Cleaning Set Small
by Randal
This is one of those products that I never really thought about before, and now find that I very much can't live without. For those of you who use computers, particularly those with the thinner LCD screens as you find on laptops and many desktops, you'll know how the screen will gather much dirt and dust, and more annoyingly finger ... prints and smudges as people touch the screen to show a point or something. But this problem is not just confined to computers, where such screens are also used in many TVs etc. Over time, all of these marks become quite unsightly and, in some cases distracting, blurring or hiding the detail presented on the screen. Hence, in order to maintain clarity of the screen, it becomes a necessity to clean the screen every so often.
The debate is then what do you use? You could try a cloth dampened with water, but that tends to just smudge things and will leave streaks. Dedicated window cleaners (like those purchased from a supermarket) are good, but not always handy or readily available in the office or when you are out and about. Hence, I needed something that was easy to use, would be readily available, and give some very good results, and thus I discovered these Fellowes Easy Screen Cleaning clothes which I purchased from my local computer store for just under £3.
What you get is basically a small pack of damp clothes for wiping your computer screen. But looking more closely at the technical aspects, each cloth is about the size of a small tissue and is a very fine lint free microfibre material, meaning that it is nice and soft (and is also apparently bio-degradeable). The cloth itself has been slightly pre-dampened with an alcohol free cleaning fluid, not so much that you could wring it out, but just sufficient to do the job. The fluid itself doesn't really give off too much of a odour, and doesn't seem to harm the skin at all, making them very user friendly. The impregnated fluid appears to be a little like a window cleaning fluid that you buy from a supermarket, in that it is strong enough to remove smears etc from you computer screen without too much effort, and yet won't leave any smears or smudges behind - just a crystal clear dry screen.
The cloth also features anti-static properties to leave your screen with a neutral charge. That may sound a little strange and perhaps not much of a problem for the modern day LCD screens, but the older CRT screens (the ones with the large bulge out of the back often used on older computers or older TV screens) used to be notorious for generating a static charge over time, and that used to draw any dust etc to it, making them very dirty. What this cloth tries to do is neutralise that static charge to stop the dirt/dust being drawn to the screen in the first place.
In use, cleaning with these clothes is a very easy process - pull out a cloth, wipe down your screen and then dispose of the cloth. Very simple, quick and gives excellent results.
Negative issues? With the product itself, there are none to speak of. The only thing that could perhaps make it better is having a re-usable cloth. The problem I find is that with the cloth being pre-impregnated with fluid, once you remove it from the packet, the fluid will start to evaporate slowly, since it is a fluid designed to be quick drying in order to leave your screen streak free. So you can give your screen a quick wipe and dispose of it. But if you leave it in the corner of your desk with the intention to re-use it again later, that isn't really an option because the fluid dries out and leaves you with just a dry cloth, which then isn't very effective at removing smears etc. You could try to squeeze it back into the packet, but that is a bit of a challenging process. So in a way, you are sort of 'forced' to use and dispose of these clothes with no chance to get more than one use out of them. Perhaps a very minor point, but I like to try and recycle when I can and get my money's worth out of a product.
In summary, this screen cleaning set is cheap, simple to use and very effective at leaving you with a clean, crystal clear screen. The packet is small enough to carry in your pocket or suitcase, meaning that you can have them readily available when required for you laptop or computer. Hence, a 5 star recommendation.
Review also on Ciao under Randal1.
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Belkin PC Monitor Cable
by danny691
This is one very basic product but it serves a very useful purpose in my house. As I have a TV/Monitor rolled into one (see a previous review) I connect my Home PC Tower to my screen using a product that does exactly as this does, though it is a different brand. I use the Belkin PC Monitor Cable for when I wish to stream live video to my ... large widescreen TV in the living room. The cable is designed to connect a laptop or Home PC to a monitor, though my TV also has the capability to connect via this cable also.
The Belkin PC Monitor Cable has a 1.8m cable, so it isn't ideally designed for my use, buy it does a reasonable job. I could do with a longer length of cable in all fairness. Priced at £10 when I bought it from a local computer shop it can be purchased online for cheaper, so overall it is terrific value for money. At both ends of the cable are 'male' connectors, which are designed to fit onto the slots available on the suitable devices. Each connector has 15 pins which meet with the 'female' connector on the device. I find the connectors on the Belkin cable to be very robust and a lot more durable than unbranded ones I have used and discarded in the past. The process is simple and the connection can be strengthened by attaching the screws on the cable to the device it is attached to. This allows you to have a more semi-permenant connection and improves reliability by eliminating the chance it has to fall out.
The cable itself is thick and very robust. It is finished in a flexible white plastic and hasn't suffered any damage since purchase. I am happy to say this one is built to last, and it has withstood a good amount of use as i am regularly attaching/detaching it from my devices. Often these cables are attached to a Home PC and monitor and simply left in place for many years, I am always moving mine about, so it is good to know it is durable.
Once the cable is attached to the laptop and TV it is very much a case of 'away you go'. The simple plug and play nature of the cable allows you to easily operate with it with no fuss at all. The high standard of construction is also a plus-point, though personally I find the cable a little too short for my purposes.Belkin products continue to live up to their high standard reputation and I will keep buying Belkin products in future.
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