User Rating:
Good: The HP Pavilion g4-1215dx has a great price, an attractive-for-the-price design, and better than average speakers, as well as enough graphics performance to play basic games.
Bad: A slower-performing AMD A4 processor is better than other bargain-basement processors, but less powerful than Intel's Core i3; screen colors look washed out; battery life is merely average.
Bottom Line: Budget shoppers take note: the extremely aggressively priced HP Pavilion g4-1215dx is a worthwhile laptop pick for those who want a basic cheap computer. It's hard to find a decent laptop for less--and we've seen lesser laptops that cost more. [Read more]

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Bottom Line: Amazon's Kindle Fire 7-inch tablet is poised to shake things up in the tablet world. But is the device all it's cracked up to be? [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: A solid upgrade to one of our favorite laptops, the new HP Pavilion dm1z adds Beats Audio, a better touch pad, and an updated AMD processor.
Bad: Benchmark scores and battery life are about the same as those of the previous dm1z, and a promised Intel Core i3 version is still MIA.
Bottom Line: There have been plenty of 11-inch AMD-powered ultraportables this year, but HP's Pavilion dm1z was the first, and this updated version puts it back in the lead in this crowded category. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: Sony's SMP-N200 streaming-media box supports Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Vudu, and Pandora. It's also DLNA compliant, so it can stream media from your home network, including Xvid and MKV files. The external design is also considerably improved over last year's, especially the new simple remote.
Bad: The user interface is poorly designed for a streaming-media box, especially when browsing movies via cover art that is too small to read. Cover art isn't supported at all when browsing music on your home network. The video search doesn't hit any of the services you want, and the included browser is frustrating to use.
Bottom Line: Sony's SMP-N200 streaming-media box packs a lot of functionality, but it's hampered by a subpar user interface. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The Motorola Electrify boasts a dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch qHD display, and world-roaming capabilities. The Android Gingerbread handset also has an 8-megapixel camera, HDMI port, and built-in kickstand.
Bad: Motorola's custom user interface isn't for everyone. The handset is on the larger side. Camera quality wasn't that great.
Bottom Line: The Motorola Electrify is a great Android device for U.S. Cellular customers seeking power and the latest and greatest in smartphone technology. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The LG 55LW9800 showed excellent color and shadow detail, and handled 1080p/24 sources properly. Its Smart TV Internet portal is well-designed with a solid selection of streaming services, and there's built-in Wi-Fi. The secondary motion-sensitive remote provides a cool, easy-to-use control option. Passive 3D on this TV has minimal crosstalk and is brighter than active, and LG includes four pairs of lightweight, nonpowered glasses.
Bad: This expensive full-array LED TV can't match other flagship models in picture quality, with lighter black levels in its best-performing local dimming mode and poor gamma and shadow detail in the modes that deliver deep black levels. Its screen performed poorly in ambient light, and blooming was relatively common. The LW9800's Smart TV lacks Pandora, and its search is next to useless. Its passive 3D shows a softer image with more artifacts and worse overall quality than active.
Bottom Line: The expensive LG 55LW9800's picture quality doesn't live up to the promise of its full-array local dimming LED backlight. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: With a broad feature set aimed at enthusiasts, tilting LCD, nicely implemented filters, good performance, and excellent raw photo quality, plus a price that's less burdensome than the E-P3's, there's a lot to appreciate about the Olympus PEN E-PL3.
Bad: The PEN E-PL3's video disappoints, and the camera's lack of a grip may prove annoying for some shooters.
Bottom Line: While it's not the best in any particular aspect, and you probably don't want to use it for video, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 offers an excellent balance of size, features, performance, and photo quality for the money. [Read more]