Apple iPad 2 (Wi-Fi)

It started as something of a laughing matter. Back in January 2010, as we reported from the theater in the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, Apple's Steve Jobs divulged the details of what he termed a “magical” new computing device. To be sure, there were more than a few snickers at that term. But on that morning, something of a tech revolution welled up…and its rumblings haven't subsided one bit.

At the time, though, within hours, tech pundits everywhere had dissected the details to the nth degree. Online forums were abuzz with vitriol...who really needed a device like this? And plenty of wisecracks were made about Apple’s choice of the product’s name: iPad. Really? "iPad?"

No one’s laughing now.


Approximately 15 million iPads later, this iconic, lusted-after gadget is either the most successful mass-impulse buy in the history of modern electronics, or it struck a genuine chord with plenty of users. We're putting our money on the latter. It has spawned thousands of iPad-exclusive apps; a slick daily newspaper from News Corp. (The Daily); radically new forms of content consumption, such as ad-hoc mashups like Flipboard; and money for the countless developers, small and large, creating the iPad's universe of apps. All the while, a storm of innovation and disruption have swirled around this impassive slab of glass and metal.

Here in March of 2011, it’s time for the slab itself to see some changes of its own. We got our hands on the Wi-Fi edition of the Apple iPad 2 on the day of its release (March 11), and our team put it through a regimen of hands-on trials, timing tests, benchmarking, and much more. We looked at it next to the original iPad (see our deep-dive review of the original Apple iPad), as well as in light of several competitors on the market now (the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Xoom).

Bottom line? Make no mistake: The iPad 2 keeps the iPad family cemented in place as the tablet models to beat—and in many ways, emulate—here in early 2011. We’re not convinced, though, that the iPad 2 is a must-have upgrade for most current owners of the original iPad. But we think the second-gen tablet is a no-brainer choice over the first version, given a choice between the two. (The first-gen model remains available, at least for now, at reduced prices.) If you’re a first-time buyer, or someone looking for a second iPad for spouse or house, this is the one to get.

Worth noting: The unlimited “all-you-can-eat” data plan that AT&T offered for the original iPad is no longer an option, and Verizon doesn’t offer any such thing. As a result, if you’re considering a 3G-capable iPad, you’ll need to estimate your monthly data usage in megabytes. Of course, everyone consumes media differently (streaming video, uploading pictures, and the like), so that number will be different for everyone. AT&T offers a handy Data Calculator that will help you estimate your monthly consumption; it’s useful as a gauge for either carrier’s plans...

When considering whether to get a Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi-plus-3G model, you need to consider a few X-factors. AT&T’s iPad data plans include access to the carrier’s nationwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots; using your iPad on one of those doesn’t deduct from your data usage. If you know you have one of these nearby, you may be able to get by with a lesser data plan. And if you already own an iPhone 4, both carriers also offer $20-a-month iPad Wi-Fi “tethering” plans. You can add one of these to an existing iPhone plan for use with a Wi-Fi-only iPad 2. With tethering, you would use your smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, and your iPad 2 would connect to it. In a nutshell, the tethering plans include 2GB of iPad data access, and you can save some bucks on the iPad purchase itself if you go this route, since the Wi-Fi-only iPads are cheaper.

Consider all of these factors as you look at the panoply of iPad 2 models, since only you can gauge your own usage patterns, locations, and frequencies. Our one firm caveat: The 250MB AT&T plan seems woefully inadequate if you’ll be streaming basically any video or many media files over the cellular signal, and its overage charge is steep. We’d recommend this plan only if you know you’ll be using the iPad's cellular connection for e-mail and light Web browsing, and not much more.

We tested the least expensive model of the iPad 2, the $499 16GB Wi-Fi-only version (incidentally, in black). Here are our impressions.

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Desktop Computer Origin PC Genesis

We’ve been waiting almost a year for it to happen...and it finally did. Origin PC, a newcomer to the boutique-PC world, founded by former Alienware employees, has bagged the benchmark-breaking banner from the $7,000 configuration of Maingear's Shift that we looked at in late 2009. At $6,699 in our test configuration, the Genesis certainly isn't your everyday desktop, but it sliced through our suite of tests like a ninja with a good eye and a bad temper.

Considering the system’s spate of high-end components, its stunning performance is to be expected. Like most boutique systems, though, you can pick and choose your parts. Our Genesis build came stuffed with an Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition six-core CPU overclocked to 4.5GHz. Mated to that was 6GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory and a boot “drive” that consisted of two 50GB OCZ Vertex2 solid-state drives (SSDs) in a RAID 0 configuration, which splits the data across two drives for increased speed. Talk about silicon lighting! (There’s also a 1.5TB mechanical drive for storage, but they’ve become so passe lately.)

However, the Genesis’ pièce de résistance is its graphics subsystem. Not content to go with a pair of high-end cards, Origin tucked three of EVGA's 1.5GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 boards inside. Despite a sextet of very, very quiet fans that Origin calls "Noiseblocker Multiframe High-Performance Ultra" (how's that for hyperbolic nomenclature?), the main components are all water-cooled. And a whopping 1.5-kilowatt SilverStone Strider power supply keeps the whole joint jumping.

To say this collection of PC parts whizzed through our demanding set of benchmark tests with ease would be a gross understatement. Our productivity tests, which represent the typical tasks that most demanding computer users perform on their PCs, didn't faze the Genesis in the slightest. Our 64-bit Cinebench 10 test, designed to take advantage of multicore processors, saw the Genesis score a rather astounding 35,156 against the previous champ, Maingear’s Shift, which managed "just" 23,404. To give some perspective here, the mainstream Gateway DX4840-15 ($849, as of November 2010) turned in a score of 10,363 in this test. Clearly the Genesis' overclocked six-core CPU is a performance powerhouse, but it helped the system turn in more impressive numbers as well.

The Genesis took just 1 minute and 22 seconds to convert our 3-minute test video in our Windows Media Encoder 9 test, while the Maingear Shift needed 1:38. Sixteen seconds may not seem like much of a difference, but if you're working with lengthy HD-quality videos, expect the disparity to increase drastically. The Genesis also converted our 11 MP3 test tracks to AAC equivalents in our iTunes test in a mere 1 minute and 51 seconds, compared with the Shift’s 2:05. Again, 14 seconds difference might not seem like much, but if you're converting gigabytes of files, the time difference will increase substantially.

In PCMark Vantage, a compendium of tests designed to measure overall system performance, we saw the Genesis earn a score of 24,339, while the Shift came in just a bit behind here, with 23,404 (both in 64-bit mode). That mainstream $849 Gateway tower? It garnered 8,472 on the same test.

But while the Genesis' productivity performance is record-breaking by a fair bit, it's gaming performance that these high-end machines are really built for. Last year's Maingear Shift was certainly stunning in that department, packing three ATI Radeon HD 5870 cards. But the folks at Origin have the benefit of a year's worth of PC-component progress at their disposal, and so were able to pack in a trio of more-powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 cards, which certainly don't disappoint.

In 3DMark Vantage, a synthetic benchmark that measures a PC's graphics acumen, the Genesis scored 106,252—our highest result ever achieved on Vantage's Entry setting—against the Shift’s 52,674. Skipping over the two intermediate modes and jumping to the Extreme setting (the level that these beastly PCs were built for) saw the Genesis continue its dominance, scoring 29,662 against the Shift’s 20,663.

Moving on to real-world DirectX 10 gaming, the two systems were fairly matched at resolutions of 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,200 in Far Cry 2, which has its own benchmarking program tucked inside the game. It wasn’t until we stepped up to the 30-inch-screen resolution of 2,560x1,600 that the Genesis pulled away, scoring an average frame rate of 206 frames per second (fps) to the Shift’s 170fps.

Unfortunately, our DirectX 11 benchmark test, Heaven, wasn't available back when we first reviewed the Shift. Still, the Origin’s performance level is unmistakable. At the test’s lowest resolution, 1,680x1,050, the Genesis pumped out 96.6fps. Jumping to the maximum resolution, 2,560x1,600, saw the Genesis’ frame rate fall, but only to 51.6fps. Considering this is the most demanding gaming test we run, and a single GeForce GTX 480 graphics card turned in just 23fps on this test at the maximum resolution, the Genesis' score here is stunning.

Performance aside, whoever came up with the concept of good things coming in small packages might want to rethink the issue as it applies to the Genesis. It’s not often that record-breaking performance results come from a small-form-factor PC, and that’s certainly not the case here. In fact, the Genesis rolled up to our door as 118 pounds of extreme technology packed in a 34x32x17-inch wooden crate. Our UPS guy, a veteran deliverer of many a hefty PC, noted, “This thing is really packed well,” as he transferred the Genesis into our care. That vocal validation from a packaging professional should give you some assurance that your high-end PC investment will arrive in one piece. Of course, almost anything can happen when shipping a large PC full of heavy components, but Origin certainly isn't skimping when it comes to packaging.

That said, we suggest you invite your friends over to watch with envy as you unpack this behemoth—after all, you'll likely need some help. Even uncrated, the Genesis case itself measures 24x9x24 inches (HWD), and is still a lot to handle. (Besides, with extra people standing around, you'll have more eyes to notice the expansion foam stuffed inside the case that needs to be removed before you can power up the Genesis.)

Inside the case, thanks to the three double-wide graphics cards, PCI-card-expansion options are essentially nonexistent. Technically, there's a free PCI Express x1 slot, but while the slot is visible, unless the card is as thin as they come, it won't fit next to the bulky graphics cards.

There is, however, room for two additional 5.25-inch external drives, two 3.5-inch internal drives, and one 5.25-inch internal drive. A second optical drive, to complement the PC's existing 12x Blu-ray burner, might be a smart upgrade if you burn a lot of discs. The 40-in-1 flash-card reader poking through the front panel should suffice for your varied flash-card needs.

External expansion options certainly aren't lacking. The Genesis has a drop-down panel up front that reveals three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, and connections for a headphone and microphone. Around back, you’ll find the usual analog/digital connections (here, supporting 8.1 integrated audio), as well as four more USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a FireWire port, and a powered eSATA port to keep you connected to a plethora of devices.

So, for the moment at least, the Maingear Shift has been toppled as the all-out performance king. Origin has certainly earned the benchmark-buster label with its impressive Genesis tower. It's a stunning performer with top-of-the line performance. We'd prefer slightly more spacious SSDs as the boot drive, but you can configure those, along with most other components, at the Origin PC site before buying. But the battle of boutique builders is never over (so long as enough well-heeled consumers keep buying these beasts, at least), and a new, upscale 2010 version of the Maingear Shift has also just arrived on our test bench. We can only wonder, for the moment at least, whether the Genesis will retain its well-earned purple reign.

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Apple iPad 2 (Wi-Fi & 3G Version, AT&T)

In early 2010, Apple rewrote, or one could argue, revivified, the tablet-computer market with the original iPad. With the success of Apple's tablet, makers started scurrying to catch up, and we saw product after product that attempted to siphon off some of the iPad's mojo. More than a year and 15 million iPads later, we are only now starting to see a few, such as the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, that can even be considered competition. But with the iPad 2, Apple takes the standard-bearer of tablets and makes it thinner, lighter, and more powerful. And perhaps just as exciting, those that opt for the 3G version are no longer strong-armed into using AT&T as their wireless carrier, since, like the latest iPhone, the iPad 2 is available in discrete versions that run on AT&T's or Verizon's network.

For a full review of the Apple iPad 2, read our deep-dive analysis of the Wi-Fi version. Indeed, most of the core features are exactly the same between the Wi-Fi and 3G versions. Here, we'll concentrate on the performance of the 3G version of the iPad 2, as well as take a closer look at the differences between the two versions of the iPad 2.

Key Features of the 3G iPad 2

The 3G version of the iPad 2 is almost identical to the Wi-Fi version in every way. It's ever-so-slightly weightier than the Wi-Fi version—by 0.02 ounce to be exact, such a small amount that it's hardly worth considering. Once you activate your cellular plan (click here for a breakdown of costs associated with the various plans), your 3G service will automatically default to being active on the device. To turn it off (to preserve battery power, for instance), just tap on the Cellular Data menu under the Settings icon, and tap the slider to Off. Here, you can also turn data roaming off (important for avoiding a costly bill when traveling outside of the boundaries of your data plan) and view your account status.

3G Performance

To test the iPad 3G's data service performance, we used three tests. We ran all three tests outdoors, in six areas of Manhattan: The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the island's Upper East Side, Grand Central Terminal in Midtown East, Times Square in Midtown West, Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District, Union Square, and on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, in downtown Manhattan.

The first trial we ran was SpeedTest.net's Speed Test, which measures download and upload times on the 3G network. Since this test can be highly dependent on outside-network traffic factors and other variables, we won't use numbers to compare it with other tablets. What we did learn from this test, though, is that, while AT&T's service may not always be quite as bad as its reputation, we certainly did see huge variances in numbers, depending on whether we were in a busy area or a low-traffic area. As we suspected due to past experience, and as we had seen before on our iPhone, AT&T's service in ultra-busy Union Square is abysmal. When we sat in relative solitude in a park near the Brooklyn Bridge, however, the performance was outstanding.

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Tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB)

Place the Galaxy Tab 10.1 next to the iPad 2, and you might mistake one for the other. They both have a black bezel that surrounds the screen and a silver edge all the way around their bodies. The most immediate difference between them is that the iPad features a physical home button on the bottom bezel (when you hold the tablet in portrait orientation), while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t have any physical buttons anywhere on its bezel. (Honeycomb instead uses onscreen buttons exclusively.)

The second thing you’re likely to notice is that they’re not the same size. At 10.1 inches high and 6.9 inches wide, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is higher than the 9.5x7.3-inch iPad 2, but not quite as wide. This disproportion is mostly a function of their different screen sizes. The Galaxy Tab 10.1’s display measures 1,280x800 pixels, while the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen is 1,024x768. This also means that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a wider aspect ratio (16-to-10) than the iPad 2 (4-to-3). If your primary reason for wanting a tablet is to watch lots of wide-screen movies, the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s higher resolution and wider screen would be the smarter choice.

The 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab is on the left; the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is in the middle; and the 9.7-inch Apple iPad 2 is on the right.

You’ll also find fewer physical buttons on the edges of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 than on the iPad 2. They both have power/lock buttons and volume-rocker switches, but the iPad 2 also has a switch that can mute the volume or lock the display’s orientation. If you want to mute the Galaxy Tab 10.1, you have to manually lower its volume or set the volume level in the device’s onscreen settings. Also, locking the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s display orientation is only possible via its settings menus. Both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2 sport 3.5mm stereo-headset mini-jacks. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with a stereo headset in the box, and the iPad 2 does not.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad both include front- and rear-facing cameras. The iPad 2’s front-facing camera is positioned on the top bezel when holding the tablet in portrait orientation. In contrast, the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s front-facing camera is on the top bezel when holding the device in landscape orientation. Where the respective manufacturers placed their front-facing cameras indicates how each envisions the devices being used most often. For the Galaxy Tab 10.1 it’s landscape mode, for the iPad 2 it’s portrait mode.

Among the things the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has that the iPad 2 doesn’t is a flash for its rear-facing camera. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 also has a pair of stereo speakers (one on each side, when in landscape mode), while the iPad 2 has just a single speaker located on its back face. One thing that both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad lack, though, is the ability to add removable storage. Unlike the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s 7-inch predecessor, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t have a MicroSD card slot.

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Sony Tablet S - Android Tablets

The first thing you’ll notice with the Tablet S is its shape. Its wedge-shaped design is meant to mimic a magazine, bent at the fold, with one side thicker than the other.

When using the tablet in landscape mode, you hold the thinner side of the tablet at the bottom, with the thicker side at the top. Either way, holding the tablet by the thicker side in portrait mode in your right hand (or your left, leaving your right to tap the screen) or by the thinner end in landscape mode in both hands, is quite comfortable. The back is coated with a textured, smudge-resistant coating that also adds to the overall comfort of holding the tablet. In addition, the Tablet S has two little feet on the back, near the top (or thicker) edge, that elevate the rear of the tablet (in landscape mode), making it easier to see and use while lying flat on a desktop or other surface. Doing this with a flat tablet produces so much glare that you usually need to stand directly over the device to see the screen, so here, the wedge design is a definite winner.

Sony has done a good job squeezing a lot of tablet into a small, light package. It measures 9.5 inches long by 6.8 inches wide by 0.3 inches deep (at the thin end), and weighs only 1.3 pounds. Compared with most other tablets, the Tablet S has very few buttons and ports. In landscape mode, along the left edge are an audio jack, a Micro-USB port, and a full-size SD Card slot. You also get a Micro-USB–to–standard-USB adapter, which allows you to plug in a jump drive for additional storage or data transfer.

Along the right edge are the power button, a battery status light, volume controls, and a reset button. All other buttons, such as Back, Home and Keyboard, are onscreen icons that display in the lower-left corner. The power adapter is located on the upper-left, or thin edge, of the wedge shape so that it is positioned on the bottom-left in landscape mode.

This tablet has the obligatory two cameras—a 5-megapixel on the back for shooting pictures and movies, and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) camera on the front for videoconferencing. We took several snapshots and short clips with the rear camera and got passable results—the ho-hum, okay-but-not-clear-enough pictures and movies we get from many tablets and smartphones. The front camera worked fine for videoconferencing, though.

As you'd expect from Sony, the 9.4-inch, 1,280x800-resolution, IPS (In-Plain Switching) LCD shows photographs and movies beautifully. The IPS technology, also used in Apple's iPads, makes for excellent viewing at any angle, and the TruBlack Technology coating, which Sony also uses in its digital photo frames, provides rich blacks and high contrast with reduced reflections. That said, the screen wasn’t very bright: We had to turn the brightness all the way up to get the best results. The iPad 2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 screens are much brighter. Brightness aside, movies and photographs displayed as well or better than we've seen on most other tablets. And sound was also quite good—distinctively better than many notebooks we've seen with touted high-end sound systems.

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Desktop Computer Digital Storm ODE

Whether you’re being pelted by a hailstorm of components flying at you from an online PC configurator, or just tired of putting boxes of parts together on your own, reaching the "confident and contented" stage of computer buying often isn't easy. That's especially true when you're buying a configurable performance PC. For some buyers, having too many choices can be almost as bad as none at all.

Digital Storm is no stranger to custom PCs that give buyers an almost infinite, and potentially paralyzing, choice of parts. The company has rolled out an alternative, however, to its own overabundance in the form of its new ODE lineup of desktop tower computers. The ODE line consists of four preconfigured systems, ranging from a Level 1 model (rated “Good”) at $1,199 to a Level 4 (“Ultimate”) model at $3,499. These PCs are prebuilt, pretested, and ready to go out the door within three to five business days, rather than the usual weeks of waiting that often tie up the arrival of a fully customized system.

Design-wise, Digital Storm has also decided that white is the new black (which, itself, was the new beige). Mac owners have known for years that white computers can look good, but the ODE line is one of the few Windows PCs we've seen to make the leap. The systems are housed in Corsair's white version of its very smart-looking Graphite Series 600T mid-tower case, with black trim accents and black ventilation grilles on the left side, front, and top. (Read our full review of the Corsair Graphite Series 600T.) The grilles are there for improved interior cooling, but visually, they work well, too. The black-on-white, understated aesthetic is a pleasing alternative to the typical over-the-top styling that's the norm among gaming PCs
Components & Caveats

We have to warn you of something before we go any further: The specific configuration of the “Level 2” ODE system we tested doesn’t exist anymore. It officially slipped out of the standard configuration while we were in the process of reviewing and editing. As a Digital Storm spokesperson told us, "Depending on current pricing of components, Digital Storm will switch some [parts] out so the ODE always has the fastest components at the best possible price." So Digital Storm may well change the parts even further by the time you actually read this.

While that complicates our review, it sounds like a good policy for potential buyers. Looking over the current ODE offerings (as of this writing, in the first week of December 2011), it appears that the Level 2 review system that we tested now most closely matches the current ODE Level 1, packing the same Intel Core i7-2600K processor and 8GB of RAM, and with a pretty-close price of $1,539 (versus the previous $1,599 price of our review unit).

So, what are the main differences between our test system and what's currently offered in the ODE Level 1? Our test machine sported a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti cards and an 80GB solid-state drive (SSD), paired with a 1TB hard drive. The current Level 1 configuration makes do with a single, more powerful GeForce GTX 570 graphics card, and it nixes the SSD. Our system also shipped with a Blu-ray optical drive, while the current Level 1 is saddled with a plain-old DVD burner. We wouldn't exactly call those changes a step up, but Digital Storm has now pegged this system the Level 1 (rather than the Level 2 we tested) and dropped the price by $60.

So bear all that in mind while you read through our review. PC parts change rapidly as new products get introduced, and price changes make different options more appealing to PC makers. By the time you read this, more of the ODE's internals might have changed. So be sure to reference Digital Storm's ODE page to be sure of what you're getting before buying.

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Desktop Maingear Shift Super Stock

So, you could attribute the Shift Super Stock’s sterling gaming performance largely to the advancement of technology that’s occurred since late 2010. But Maingear's got more in its repertoire than just shiny new high-end components. This Shift carries a quad-core Intel Core i7-2600K CPU that, while a speedy and smart balance of price versus performance, is normally outclassed by the costlier six-core Core i7-980X that was found in our Origin PC Genesis configuration.

But Maingear took the Core i7-2600K CPU, which normally runs between 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz (its speed is variable, thanks to Intel's auto-adjusting Turbo Boost tech) and adds what it aptly calls its "Redline Overclocking Service," cranking the CPU up to a mighty impressive 5GHz. Do this without the right expertise and impressive cooling, and your CPU will supernova in the blink of an eye. But Maingear has added its (aptly dubbed) "Epic 180 Supercooler" to the hyper-clocked processor in this rig. The Epic 180 is a new self-contained water-cooling system backed by a 180mm fan. We're exceedingly impressed with the cooler since, despite the aggressive overclock, the Shift's CPU was still solidly ticking after days of testing. That being said, we're happy that, given how much the CPU is being pushed in this PC, Maingear includes a generous three-year parts warranty with the Shift. (More on that in a bit.)

Two memory slots are free, but don't expect to plug any extra expansion cards in between the three graphics cards.

Moving away from the CPU, to the rest of the Shift's innards, you’ll quickly notice that there’s not very much room to move about inside the case. Perhaps surprisingly, none of that is because of the cooling system. The bulk of the Epic 180's hardware (namely the radiators) are stashed below the motherboard. What does dominate the interior real estate are the aforementioned trio of GeForce GTX 580 graphics cards, each equipped with 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory. They take up the bulk of the space inside the case, blocking all other card expansion, unless you happen to have a PCI Express x1 card lying around that's about three inches long. The memory slots are easily accessible, however. Two slots are filled with 8GB of Patriot DDR3-1866 memory; the other two are unoccupied, so adding extra memory will be an easy upgrade.

If external port expansion is more your speed, there are enough USB ports (four 2.0, six 3.0), eSATA , and FireWire sockets on the back panel and under the pop-up cover on top of the computer (where you'll also find a multi-format card reader) to handle a plethora of peripherals and external drives. The usual analog and digital connectors for 7.1 surround sound are also present so that your external audio can be as impressive as what's inside the Shift.

In a bold move for a computer at this price point, or perhaps once again indicative of the progress and price drops that bring bleeding-edge tech to more affordable levels, Maingear included two 120GB OCZ solid-state drives (SSDs) our test config of the Shift. They're configured in a RAID 0 (striped) array that improves performance but doesn't offer the protection of file redundancy. Since this system is aimed squarely at gamers and speed freaks, that's fine by us, especially since the Shift is also equipped with a 2TB mechanical hard drive to store your voluminous media library. An LG 12x Blu-ray reader/DVD drive burner is also on board for HD movie duties.

You can fill the three internal drive bays (as well as the two externally accessible bays) with whatever you want, either when configuring the system on Maingear's site for an added up-front cost, or down the line on your own when you decide the Shift's generous drive assortment is no longer sufficient for your needs. We think that day, if it ever comes, will be at least a few years in the future. The 1,200-watt Silverstone power supply Maingear includes with this configuration of the Shift should suffice for about all conceivable future upgrades we can think of.

As for the case itself, the Shift is housed in the same chassis that we've seen previously: a brushed-aluminum beauty that's large and intimidating, and feels very solid. Instead of the traditional motherboard orientation, where the ports and card connectors run along the back of the case, the Shift's case rotates the motherboard 90 degrees so the ports live on top of the case, underneath a snap-off panel. This orientation is becoming increasingly common in high-end systems and cases, as it lets the heat from components rise naturally up and out of the case.

If you're tired of black being the new beige, however, you do have options at Maingear, but don't expect them to come cheap. Six colors other than the basic black our review unit shipped with are available (Brandywine, Purple, Cobalt Blue, Frost White, Organic Green, and Root Beer) for an added $599. If you're up for a two-tone look, the same color palette is available on the inside too. Brandywine is a mere $235 extra, while the others will set you back $349.

If you're selling the family farm anyway, you can toss $1,200 more into the pot and opt for carbon-fiber-reinforced panels on the exterior of the system. That doesn't guarantee your PC will be bulletproof, but it will sure look that way. At least you'll have something to hide behind when the angry creditors come calling.

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Desktop Apple iMac (27-Inch, 2011 Version)

While the insides of the iMac have gotten a compete overhaul, the outside is almost exactly the same as the 2010 version. But we certainly don't count that as a bad thing. Like all of Apple’s products, the iMac’s design is sleek and minimalist. It's encased in a single-piece aluminum enclosure, much like Apple's other laptops and desktops now sport, giving the whole Mac family a unified look.

On the right side of the screen is an SD-card reader (which also supports the SDXC format) and a slot-loading optical drive. Other than the power button (which sits almost invisibly on the lower-back-left side of the body) and a little patch of ports, you won't find any other features to interrupt the iMac's mostly bare rear panel.

On the rear of the iMac, you'll find a strip of ports, the power connection, a power cord, an Apple logo...and that's about it.

The minimalist design helps draw your eyes to the gorgeous 27-inch LCD, which is glossy and LED-backlit. Its wide-screen aspect ratio (16-to-9) and 2,560x1,440 native resolution make for an impressive HD viewing experience. Unfortunately, the iMac doesn't come with a Blu-ray player option, which would have been great to pair with such a stunning screen. Like all glossy screens, this one picks up a bit of glare off of ambient lighting, but colors represent nicely, and, unsurprisingly, we noted no motion blur when viewing video. However, considering this beautiful screen, notably absent from the iMac (apart from the Blu-ray player) is an HDMI port for connecting a gaming console. That said, we've yet to come across another AIO with a 2,560x1,440 native resolution screen. And while this system's asking price may sound pricey, you'd have to pay at least close to $1,000 to get a comparable 30-inch monitor, or $999 for Apple's 27-inch LED Cinema Display. For those considering such a large screen anyway, that makes the price tag of this $1,999 iMac a lot easier to swallow.

The iMac’s body sits nicely on an aluminum base that provides a sturdy rest for the screen and components. The display is tiltable, and the adjustment motion is refined and smooth. There's no left/right swivel adjustment, but Apple claims that its iMacs have a 178-degree off-center viewing angle, and that minimizes the need for fine swivel adjustments. (Based on our testing, we believe it; we noted no appreciable deterioration of color or viewability when we looked at both video and still images far off center.)

One new feature that comes to the iMac with this generation is a built-in ambient-light sensor. (You'll find it on the top strip of the screen bezel, next to the Webcam lens, but it's almost invisible to the eye.) This sensor adjusts the brightness of the screen depending on the brightness of the room you are in. (You can turn it off if you're not a fan of this option.) We applaud Apple for bringing this feature, which has been on its MacBooks for a few generations, to its desktops. (You'll know the value of this feature if you've ever tried looking at a bright screen in a dark room. Talk about an instant headache.)

The iMac ships with either Apple's Magic Mouse or the company's Magic Trackpad. You previously had to pay an extra $69 to get the Magic Trackpad separately; now, you can get it bundled with your iMac instead of the Magic Mouse, for no additional charge. The Magic Mouse works almost like the touch pad of a laptop. Looking like a tiny spaceship, the Magic Mouse has no buttons—or rather, like its MacBook touch-pad counterpart, it’s one big button. (Click here for our full review of the Apple Magic Mouse.) The Magic Trackpad, on the other hand, is actually the is the touch pad of a laptop, lifted off and made a free-standing peripheral. If you've used the touch pad on a MacBook Pro, you'll be very familiar with how this unique pointer works. (Click here for our full review of the Magic Trackpad.)

Along with your choice of pointing peripheral, the iMac also ships with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard that adheres nicely to the Apple minimalist aesthetic. About three-quarters the size of a traditional keyboard (partly thanks to the lack of a numeric keypad), it’s almost totally flat except for a rounded area in the back that holds the batteries and props up the keyboard slightly.

Despite its tiny body, we didn’t find the keyboard hard to type on. Like the mouse, it bears a striking resemblance to Apple’s laptops, with the Chiclet-style keys rising only slightly from the body of the keyboard. It's tiny and may take some getting used to, but if you're an Apple fan, it will definitely fit your style.

The super-thin keyboard comes with built-in Bluetooth and requires two AA batteries.

Apple's new 720p FaceTime HD camera lives in the middle of the top of the screen bezel, along with a camera-indicator light, which lights up to warn you when the camera is on. The FaceTime camera features three times the resolution of the iSight camera that came on previous iMacs. We first used the FaceTime camera when it made its debut on the latest line of MacBook Pro laptops, and we immediately noticed the huge improvement in video quality. As far as using the camera, we noticed no lag, and it performed well even in a dimly lit office. You can make FaceTime calls to other Mac devices that have a camera and the FaceTime app installed. (You can download the app from the Mac App Store for 99 cents; it also comes loaded for free on new iMacs and MacBooks.)

The built-in speakers are located on the underbelly of the bezel. They deliver a loud, bass-filled sound that could easily fill a small room. You'll want to consider hooking up some external speakers, though, if you plan on pumping music from the iMac to entertain at a party, as it doesn't quite have the sound to fill a large room.

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Desktop Acer Aspire M3470-UC30P

We’re wholly in favor of PC makers attempting to break away from the glossy, rectangular, black-plastic box that has epitomized mainstream desktop-PC design for the past several years. But as you can see in the profile image below, the arcing front face of the Aspire M3470’s tower looks a bit, well, unusual.

About a third of the way up the front of the PC, the black-plastic face of the case begins sloping outward, so the optical drive bays and the flash-card-reader slots mounted in the upper drive bays stick out an inch or more beyond the bottom of the case. It’s not an inelegant design, and it doesn’t interfere with the PC’s functionality, but we’re pretty sure it’s a look that won’t appeal to everyone.

On the top of the tower, as you can see below, we noted a few features that we'd consider more universally appealing. Inside the large, recessed tray sit four USB 2.0 ports, as well as mic and headphone jacks. We like the tray for storing gadgets while they sync and charge via the USB ports. (If most users are anything like us, we're pretty sure the tray will also end up being a collection point for a motley bunch of USB flash drives, spare change, paperclips, and other desk detritus.)

When we took our review system out of the box, however, the top USB ports weren’t lined up perfectly with the holes made for them in the case. This made it difficult to plug in our USB key full of test files the first time we tried. Once we got the drive plugged in, a little wiggling seemed to force the ports to line up correctly, but this left us with a feeling that the fit-and-finish of the Aspire M3470 leaves something to be desired.

The same can be said for the bundled monitor. While its 1,920x1,080 resolution is luxuriously roomy for a budget PC, its connectivity is minimal. You get just VGA and DVI inputs, plus a single audio-in jack. The stand offers only a bit of tilt adjustment (that is, forward and back), and it feels a bit wobbly.

Plus, the screen, as you would expect, isn’t a top-end one. Colors looked a bit washed out compared with pricier models we've tested, especially when you're not looking at it straight-on. Still, the screen is bright and roomy, and it will impress most folks upgrading from an old CRT monitor or an early-era LCD that has a lower resolution. In short, don’t expect stunning, top-notch visuals from this LCD, but this is nonetheless a whole lot of screen for the price.

The bundled peripherals are, as expected, nothing to get excited about. As you can see in the image below, both are glossy black, plain, and of the wired-USB variety. The mouse is notable only in that it doesn’t feel quite as cheap in your hand as some low-end HP mice that we’ve seen bundled with systems lately.

The keyboard, though, is a bit odd, in that its keys are extremely flat. Also, the key design is of an odd floating-Chiclet style, similar to those found on some laptops. We found the keys a bit disconcerting to type on at first, but we could see ourselves adjusting to them in time. If you don’t make your living typing, this keyboard is probably adequate, and dedicated media-playback control keys along the top of the board are a nice touch for a keyboard in a budget-priced PC. Still, trotting down to your local big-box store and spending $20 or so on a keyboard upgrade from Logitech or Microsoft would be a vast improvement.

Getting back to the Aspire M3470 tower itself, its rear port selection offers another nice surprise for a budget PC, in the form of two high-speed USB 3.0 ports. Four additional USB 2.0 ports also reside on the back panel, along with an Ethernet jack, a trio of analog audio connectors, VGA and HDMI ports for connecting to a monitor or HDTV, and a pair of PS/2 ports for old-school peripherals. An antenna for the included Wi-Fi card sticks out under the port panel from one of the expansion-card slots.

Ports and design are important, but the internals are what dictate what you can actually do with a PC. And on that front, the Aspire M3470 is an interesting mix of components. The 6GB of RAM and roomy 1TB hard drive are both generous for a budget PC. And the DVD±RW drive won’t play back Blu-ray discs, that's fine; we wouldn’t expect a Blu-ray drive in a system at this price.

The most interesting component of the Aspire AM3470, though, is its AMD A8-3800 processor. Running at 2.4GHz, it’s a stepped-down version of the AMD A8-3850 processor we reviewed at the end of June 2011. Like that processor, the A8-3800 is a four-core CPU that isn’t quite as fast as competing Intel Core i3 processors in most everyday computing tasks. But the A8 line makes up for that with the best integrated on-chip graphics we’ve seen yet on a mainstream processor. We wouldn’t exactly call the Aspire M3470 a gaming PC, but if you’re looking for a low-cost family machine that can handle many of today’s games at a basic level (at lower resolutions, and with some of the in-game settings dialed back), the Aspire M3470 makes a pretty good case for itself, as you'll see in our testing.

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Laptop Lenovo ThinkPad T420

With the ThinkPad T420, the name has changed, but the design remains the same: It’s the same squared-off, matte-black ThinkPad chassis you’d expect. We understand that you don’t mess with a classic, but we can’t help but steal furtive glances at the more au courant laser-etched metal chassis of the HP Envy 14 and others, and wonder what a ThinkPad might achieve given an extreme makeover.

What the ThinkPad T420 lacks in curb appeal is more than compensated for in the internal design. That basic-black chassis is mostly made out of a magnesium alloy for added strength with minimal weight. As with other T-series ThinkPads before it, the T420 features Lenovo’s roll cage: an internal carbon-fiber skeleton that protects the components within from flex. The T420 has also passed eight U.S. military testing specifications ("Mil-Spec," for short), including those for humidity extremes (up to 98 percent), low/high temperature, sand resistance, high-altitude operation, vibration, and mechanical shock. And as before, the keyboard is spill-resistant, with drainage holes on the bottom of the chassis to quickly route spills—up to 4 ounces of fluid, according to Lenovo—out of the machine.

At 4.8 pounds and 1.2 inches thick, the ThinkPad T420 is on the bulky side for a machine at this weight, but it’s still easy to tote around the office and zip into a laptop bag for travel. That said, if you need a 14-inch-screened machine for frequent road trips, you might want to pay the premium for the lighter (3.9-pound) and thinner (0.9-inch-thick) ThinkPad T420s.

While the ThinkPad T420 looks nearly identical to the T410 it replaces, it is not a carbon copy. With the T420, Lenovo has moved to an imperceptibly smaller 14-inch screen, versus the 14.1-inch LCD on the older model. The new panel has an aspect ratio of 16-to-9 (versus 16-to-10 for the 14.1-inch panel), which means the screen resolution matches common HD-resolution specifications, at the expense of a bit of vertical height.

The T420 is not as slender as the T420s, but it still fits comfortably in the thin-and-light category. The left edge sports a VGA connector, a LAN jack, a DisplayPort connector and a USB port.


The edges of the machine contain a good selection of ports. VGA and DisplayPort connectors, for exporting the onscreen image to an external display, are on the laptop's left edge, accompanied by a USB 2.0 port and an Ethernet jack. The right edge houses a headset jack, another USB 2.0 port, an eSATA/USB combo port for connecting external high-speed drives, a memory-card reader, and an ExpressCard/34 slot for popping in expansion devices.

The right edge is also home to a modular-device swappable bay (an "UltraBay," in Lenovo-speak). Most of the time, this bay will hold your laptop's optical drive, but it can also accept a second hard drive or battery. These swap-in accessories are added-cost options.

Hiding around back is a FireWire connector and a third USB 2.0 port. This USB port is the “always on” type, which you can use for charging smartphones and other USB-connected devices when the laptop is off or in sleep mode. Note that the ThinkPad T420 lacks the faster USB 3.0 ports that are becoming common on high-end notebooks. Also, if you need to connect to an external display via HDMI (many HDTVs rely on these, for example), you’ll need to use a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter.

The right edge of the ThinkPad T420 houses the removable optical drive, memory card and ExpressCard slots, a classic USB port and an eSATA/USB combo port.

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Laptop Gateway ID47H02u

A laptop with a 14-inch screen generally offers a good balance between utility and portability. Machines at this screen size are large enough to keep multitaskers productive by day and film buffs entertained by night, while also being compact and light enough for daily travel. The Gateway ID47H02u balances those factors out better than most, though—especially considering it's a budget machine.

At a hair less than 4.5 pounds (4.48, to be exact), the Gateway ID47H02u weighs less than most 14-inch laptops. The competing Dell Inspiron 14R, for example, is a typical 14-inch model and weighs in at 5.3 pounds. Conversely, the 13.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Z370, with its smaller screen, is only barely lighter than the ID47H02u, at 4.4 pounds. And despite the differences in screen size, the IdeaPad Z370 and the ID47H02u share similar dimensions. The Gateway machine measures 13 inches wide by 8.9 inches deep, and it's only 1.1 inches thick. The IdeaPad Z370 has almost exactly the same footprint, but it's way thicker, at 1.4 inches. By contrast, the 14-inch Dell Inspiron 14R is significantly bigger in all three dimensions.

The Gateway ID47H02u boasts clean lines and a simple design, though the glossy, buttonless touch pad may take some getting used to.


The Gateway ID47H02u is so compact, in part, because of its thin screen bezel. The LCD nearly reaches the edges of the lid, where the bezel is only three-eighths of an inch thick, and this measurement includes both the plastic frame and the black border below the display glass. Also helping the Gateway ID47H02u cut such a thin profile is its use of aluminum in places, which is thinner and stronger (and better-looking, to boot) than the plastic that dominates many under-$1,000 laptops. The competing Dell Inspiron 14R, for example, has an all-plastic chassis.

The Gateway ID47H02u features aluminum on both the lid and keyboard deck.

The bottom of the Gateway ID47H02u is made from a single piece of plastic with smooth, rounded edges. It offers a better feel than the often-uneven underside of your typical laptop, but the trade-off for this is that the battery is sealed inside. (More on that in a bit.). Also, the bottom has no panels to access the hard drive, the memory, or other components inside.

The keyboard sits in a piece of aluminum that is sunken and separate from the rest of the keyboard deck. A small gap surrounds this keyboard tray, and we weren't too keen on that; it will likely attract dust and dirt over time. Keep some canned air handy, and it shouldn't be a problem, but we still wish the keyboard deck were fashioned from a single piece of aluminum, as it is on pricier laptops such as the Apple MacBook Pro and HP Envy 14.

The keyboard features Chiclet-style keys, which are generously spaced and offer good travel. Although they are plastic, the keys are not clacky and offer a subtle, soft feel. Gateway adds a column of keys to the right of the keyboard that offer volume and mute functions along with a "social media" button. The last item launches a small, instant-messenger-like window in which you can track Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube activity. We tried it out, but we ultimately found it easier to access our social-media sites via a Web browser.

The keyboard features generously spaced Chiclet-style keys.

Below the keyboard is a large, buttonless touch pad that extends to the front edge of the laptop. It supports multi-finger gestures, and basic scrolling with two fingers was smooth and responsive. You'll need to get used to mousing without your thumb resting on the bottom edge of the touch pad, however. We made a bunch of accidental cursor jumps and mistaken mouse clicks before we made a conscious effort to keep our thumb clear of the pad. Also, the glossy black surface of the touch pad doesn't provide the best feel. Our fingertips tended to drag against it.

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Laptop Dell XPS 14z

It takes more than fancy tattoos and a cool haircut to be a rock star—you need to have the complete package. That includes being thin, attractive, and powerful—and you have to hit all the right notes. Dell attempted this with its slim, gorgeous Adamo XPS a few years back, but the company soon realized that the system met only two of those requirements. What could have been a great laptop lacked power and features, with a low-powered processor, limited storage and ports, and short battery life.

So on October 24, 2011, Dell is launching its XPS 14z, a thin, gorgeous, full-featured notebook that brings to mind the old Adamo. It’s meant to be a rock-star notebook for rock-star professionals who buy their own PCs and use them at work—just like many of us have been doing with our smartphones for years. And while we tested the base unit (minus 2GB of RAM), we see enough raw talent here to pass it through to the next round and recommend it for the rock stars among you.

Unlike the Adamo, which was heavy on the beauty but light on brains, the XPS 14z is equipped with solid components, even at its lowest configuration. Our test unit featured an Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, a 500GB hard drive, Intel's on-processor integrated graphics, and 4GB of RAM. (U.S. models will come with 6GB of RAM standard for the same price.) This base configuration is $999. Dell offers three more configurations that reach up to $1,599. The top one has a Core i7-2640M processor, a 256GB solid-state drive, 8GB of RAM, and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 520M graphics processor with 1GB of video memory. The mid-level models use one of these two processors, 750GB hard drives, and the same Nvida graphics card as in the high-end model. You can find those for $1,199 and $1,299, and they all go on sale November 1.

The thinnest 14-inch laptop with an internal optical drive, Dell’s XPS 14z showed us a lot to like in our trials. We have some quibbles about the audio, as well as the placement and selection of the ports, but if you’re just as serious about design as you are about your work, the Dell XPS 14z deserves an equally serious look.

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Laptop Sony VAIO F Series (VPCF233FX/B)

With the VAIO F Series, Sony plays to its multimedia and entertainment strengths, delivering a 16.4-inch-screened notebook with plenty of power and features for serious media creation and consumption. It's a good value, too: Sony throws in a terrific software bundle and enough power for casual gaming, all without saddling the machine with an untenable price tag. In fact, at $999 for the base model and $1,149 for the Best Buy-specific VPCF233FX/B configuration we tested, the VAIO F Series is among the best-performing multimedia laptops for the money that we've seen in 2011.

The 16.4-inch screen on this machine positions this laptop at the high end of what we call a "mainstream notebook," a kind of laptop that usually comes with a 15.4- or 15.6-inch screen. The extra inch here makes a big difference not just in screen real estate but also in performance, in an indirect way. With a larger screen, you get a larger chassis, which allows for more airflow and therefore the inclusion of faster, hotter-running components. And since this machine is not quite a 17.3-inch behemoth (what we'd call a true "desktop replacement" machine), you get a little more portability, as well.

Our Best Buy configuration is fixed, meaning you can't configure it the way you want. It comes with the same processor that you'd get in the $999 base model F Series directly from Sony, which is a nonetheless-impressive 2.2GHz Core i7 quad-core chip, capable of auto-speedup via Intel's TurboBoost technology. If you have your sights set a little higher, though, you can opt for one of Sony's configure-to-order (CTO) F Series models. You can spend $90 more (beyond the $999 base price) to bump up the processor speed to 2.4GHz, or $290 more for a 2.5GHz Core i7 CPU.

The Best Buy model we tested does come with the better of the F Series' two possible graphics options, however. Our system included an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M with 1GB of dedicated memory. You can save yourself $50 and go with the GeForce GT 520M and 512MB with a CTO model, but we'd recommend this splurge in whatever model you get. Variations in hard drive size and the amount of RAM are also available on Sony's site. Whether you go with the fixed Best Buy model or you configure your own, however, all the F Series notebooks come with impressive audio, a gorgeous screen, and excellent viewing angles for both work and play.

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Laptop Apple MacBook Pro (15-Inch, Fall 2011 Version)

On the heels of the hugely hyped release of the Apple iPhone 4S, it's hard to imagine Apple releasing anything on the QT. (And by that, we don't mean "QuickTime.") So imagine our surprise to learn that Apple ever-so-quietly rolled out a refresh of its MacBook Pro line. There was no official announcement, and few rumors and speculation preceded the release, which is all but unprecedented for a new Apple product. Sure, Apple just refreshed the MacBook Pro earlier this year, and its signature laptop has never generated the mass hype that the iPhone and iPad have. But for a company whose every whisper is analyzed by Apple fanatics the world over, we're surprised at how low-key this refresh rolled out.

That said, the latest MacBook Pro isn't a landmark revamp of the line, by any means. All told, the understated improvements match the understated announcement. The 13-inch version of the machine simply got a slightly faster processor than the early-2011 13-inch MacBook Pro had, jumping from a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 to a 2.4GHz one. (Both are dual-core chips.)

When closed, the MacBook Pro is just less than an inch thick.

The $1,799 15-inch base model, which we reviewed here, gets a slightly more impressive bump. This MacBook goes from a 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor to a 2.2GHz quad-core Core i7, and it gets an excellent improvement in graphics, from a single AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics chip to a switchable-graphics arrangement. The late-2011 model is powered by both the Intel HD Graphics 3000 circuitry that's built into the processor chip and separate AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics, backed by 512MB of onboard video memory.

Our test unit also had a 500GB hard drive. In sum, the base-model 15-inch MacBook Pro now has most of the components that were previously found in the top-level 15-inch MacBook Pro—and for $400 less. The new, higher-end $2,199 15-inch model, as well as the 17-inch MacBook Pro, also get speedier processors, better graphics, and larger hard drives than their previous iterations, without price increases. But before we go in to more detail about the inside of the new MacBook, let's talk about the outside.

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