Handy Tech Under $100 Episode 4
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,478 words · ~7 min read
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it's been just about a month since our last episode of Handy Tech under $100
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and I think this might be the best one yet so here we go
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again with its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920
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from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple item number
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one is something I've had for years and only used a dozen or so times to which
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you might reply lus that doesn't sound very handy at all but you'd be mistaken
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sometimes it's not about how often you need something but more about how
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desperately you need it when the time comes this is a 2 Amp 12vt and 5vt
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external power supply with a mlex connector on the end I can't find this
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particular one anywhere anymore but there's a similar item on Amazon it
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lacks the SATA connector but you can always use an adapter if you need to
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hook up a hard drive or an optical drive I've used this thing when I needed to
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hook up drives but I didn't have an enclosure lying around I've used it to
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bin cheap fans to find the ones with the best undervolting characteristics I've
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used it to test LED strips to find out which ones were which color since none
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of them are ever labeled and every time I use it I save at least 10 minutes of
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running around trying to find a doorstop power supply then running around trying
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to find a paperclip to short out the green and the black wires and to top it
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off this is obviously a much more Compact and tidy solution compared to
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having a power supply all over your desk next up we've got something that I
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actually just bought and I am like so stoked on it that I might pick up a
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couple of dozen of them for the office and home now that this one has exceeded
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my expectations so thoroughly this is
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the apply named L Grand desktop USB SL
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multi-outlet Charger station with surge protection basically I'm sure everyone
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has had to dig around under their desk at some point or another trying to find
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another Outlet just like everyone has dug through the same three bins
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repeatedly all the while being certain that they had at least one more USB wall
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adapter to charge their phone or tablet or something well no more if your desk
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has a built-in Cable Management hole you can drop this in and stick it in that
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hole just like that you know what I mean if it doesn't have a cable management
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hole then you can either drill one yourself or just clip it to the back of
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the desk with the included adapter it's got a built-in surge protector and
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gives you three normal wall outlets one for your PC one for your monitor and one
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for I don't know speakers or something and then two USB charging ports totaling
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2.1 amps it's 45 bucks when you can find
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stuff with similar functionality for closer to 25 or just mount power bars
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all over the place for next to nothing but the integrated USB ports the
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professional look and the mounting options are what sold me on this one
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it's very ergonomic I mean they even thought of little things like putting the outlets upside down in case you have
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a bulky wall wart that you want to plug in great product and now on to our last
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item one that I actually have mixed feelings about it's more than I would
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have liked to spend and it's hardly perfect more on that in a moment but
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it's much better than almost anything else out there because most phone and
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small tablet stands are complete and utter garbage this is The Cooler Master
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Jazz mini it's a constructed solid aluminum phone SL fablet slash small
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tablet stand with attractively finished accents on the hinges plastic end pieces
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to keep your phone from being scratched and your table from being scratched and
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a rubber foot on the bottom to keep it from slipping around on the table the
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uses for it are pretty much whatever you can think of I've got a handful of them
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as you can see here and I use it to prop up my phone to watch shows in the bath I
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use it to avoid putting my phone down on my desk where it could get scratched by
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random debris since I'm a bit of a you know be back kind of guy if you know
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what I mean I don't use a phone case and from reading reviews on the Apple Store
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it looks like everyone has their own idea of how to use it best which leads
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me to my criticisms number one the Silver version very attractive by the
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way is only available on the Apple Store although thankfully the other colors are
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available elsewhere and number two while the stand is perfect for portrait mode
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with these nice little rubber pieces up here to keep the phone from getting scratched in landscape mode it actually
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sits up against the metal here so you got metal to metal contact and I wish
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there was another piece of rubber there um it's still better than the other
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options it's just not quite perfect and so there you go that's the Jazz mini
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anyway speaking of phones why not save a few bucks on the plan for yours today's
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they're not available in Canada their whole thing is they want customers to
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have the benefits of a smaller mobile carrier so personalized customer service
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where someone actually picks up your phone call instead of putting you through an automated menu and simple
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flexible billing options that are designed to save you money but without
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the typical small carrier issue of not
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having good reception anywhere because they're on some janky small Network
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they're 100% upfront about the fact that they're actually running on the Sprint
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network so hit up the link in the video description now to try out their savings
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calculator where you enter the details from your last three bills and see if
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you'll save money switching to Tings pay only for what you use system they
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actually did a study recently and they found that 98% of people were going to
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save money by switching to T so that's pretty cool go check it out anyway with
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that out of the way it's time for the full disclosure part of Handy Tech I
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think it's important for these since they're basically product recommendations that you know where the
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products are coming from the external power supply is something I picked up
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years ago when I bought a bucket of yelon fans and wanted to find out which
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ones were best for silent cooling the lran desk stand mounted surge protector
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whatever the heck this thing is I picked this up on Amazon a little while ago
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because we need to do something about the cable clutter in our office
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particularly at uh charging stations where we have like all of our camera
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batteries charging or on test benches where we got monitors and you know
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desktops that are being moved on and off all the time and we need something more
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convenient and finally the Jazz mini
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stands were provided to my company for doing b-roll footage of smartphones when
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we couldn't find anything else out there and just couldn't Source something that
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looked as good or was as well built since then I've actually appropriated a
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couple of them for personal use so that's how they came to be in my
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possession anyway thanks for watching guys like it if you liked it dislike the
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video If You disliked it leave a comment with other suggestions for future future
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handy Tech under 100 episodes if you like our videos the links for where to
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buy these products with our affiliate code are in the video description along with the support us link where you can
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kind of stuff helps us out a lot thanks again for watching and as always don't
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forget to subscribe if you haven't already