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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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,...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More