Bryan Hastings

The very sturdy Dell Latitude XT3 is an enterprise-class laptop that comes with a twist: You can quickly fold it into a tablet PC by rotating its screen on its single central hinge. Such so-called convertible PCs often land in large organizations, including those in the health care, education, and law enforcement fields. This kind of machine needs to perform well both as a laptop and as a tablet, hold up well in hectic environments, and deliver good battery life. For the most part, Dell's third-generation Latitude XT fits the bill nicely.

The hefty but attractive midlevel model I tested sells for an equally hefty $3003 (as of April 12, 2012). The moment I picked up the XT3, I knew that it was made to take some knocks. The case is constructed of thick, stiff plastic with magnesium-alloy reinforced corners. I found almost no flex in the PC case or the display panel. Dell claims that it made the XT3 spill-resistant; I didn’t test that, but the thin rubber gaskets that line the keyboard, the screen bezel, and the perimeter of the computer’s top panel are reassuring.

Introduction

Over the past few years, the trusty camcorder has weathered a sea change of epic proportions. Due to the popularity of HD-shooting smartphones and pocket cameras, as well as DSLRs with stunning video-capture capabilities, the current crop of consumer camcorders has had to sprint in order to keep up.

The sum of all those parts is a buyer's market. Today's high-definition models are smaller, lighter, and more affordable than ever—and despite their tiny sizes, they capture more-vibrant colors, sharper video, and smoother motion than ever before. They also let you save footage to flash memory or hard-disk drives, upload footage to the Web with ease, and capture 3D video.