Melissa Perenson

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is now shipping, and PCWorld is running it through our gauntlet of tests to see how it compares with its predecessor. Our full review is forthcoming, but in the meantime, here's a quick look at the Tab 2's performance as compared with the original, nearly year-old Galaxy Tab 10.1.

In short, last year's tablet actually outperformed the new model on some of our tests. Some metrics, such as our Sunspider tests, were effectively identical. Others showed a distinct trend toward sluggish performance by Tab 2 10.1. For example, the Tab 2's cold start-up time was 22 percent longer than the original Tab, 44 seconds to the original's 36 seconds. And its results on our GLBenchmark were mixed -- the Tab 2 slightly outpaced the the original Tab on the Egypt Offscreen and Pro Offscreen tests, but it lagged slightly on Egypt Standard and Egypt Pro Standard.

I lot of headlines this week proclaimed that Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors actually run a lot hotter than the Sandy Bridge processors they're set to replace. The truth is not that simple. We'll break it down for you in the podcast.

We also discuss the merits of Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 690 graphics card, which is essentially two GeForce GTX 680 cards for the price of...well...two.

Barnes & Noble announced a $249 Nook Tablet Monday that will compete with Amazon's not-yet-launched Kindle Fire tablet; the Nook Tablet sports a customized version of the Android OS, runs Android apps, streams video from content partners such as Hulu, and (of course) can be used as an e-book reader.

Barnes & Noble's Nook TabletThough it officially goes on sale at the end of next week, you can preorder the Nook Tablet now, according to Barnes & Noble.

Now that tablets are all the rage, it's easy to think e-readers may no longer have a market.

The dual-screen Entourage eDge is aimed squarely at the education market, and the company's deal with textbook makers like McGraw-Hill underscores its emphasis on students. Due out in February, the $490 eDge has a clamshell design (that can flip to be used as a book or as tablet) and dual displays, a 9.7-inch E-Ink and a 10.1-inch LCD.

The LCD side runs Android software, customized with applications for annotations and sharing content, and it comes with a stylus for the tablet LCD side (but you can navigate the tablet side with your fingers, too-just push a little extra hard because of the touch screen overlay).

Let's get the bad news about the Fujitsu FLEPia out of the way: Right now, it's only available in Japan. The good news is that Fujitsu is looking into bringing it to the U.S. Hopefully, the company will do so soon, as this flexible e-paper reader looks very promising.

The FLEPia unit on display here was customized for showing off in the U.S., but its interface was clean and colorful (underneath was Windows CE). It has a 1.2 second refresh rate, and the lightning fast scrolling compared with the Kindle and Nook.

DMC plans to unleash a bevy of e-reader options on the world by June. With six models across two lines-Ocean and Tidal-the DMC Copia e-readers cover a range of options from 3G to Wi-Fi, with keyboard and without, and of course, large-screen versus pocket. In talking with Copia, I was impressed by the company's commitment to the nascent e-reader market, which is underscored by the company's ambitious plans to launch six different models, ranging in price from $199 to $299. Among e-readers, consumers will want choice, and not one size will fit all, literally-- there will be different things that excite different users.

More notable, though, is the company's holistic approach to its e-readers. While the e-readers stayed under glass and couldn't be touched at CES, the designs looked promising. The e-readers are complemented by Copia.com, an e-commerce and social networking-driven site that will launch as the bookstore community for the Copia e-readers.

The Spring Designs Alex E-Reader's road to CES 2010 has been rocky, to say the least. After announcing that the Alex would be using the Google Android OS in October 2009, Barnes and Noble revealed their Nook e-reader a day later, which featured two screens and the Android OS, just like the Alex. Now we're three months and at least one threatened lawsuit later, and the Alex is here at CES 2010.

In spending some quality time with Spring Designs' $349 Alex, I came to appreciate much about the company's approach to an e-reader. It doesn't have the biggest display, nor the most colorful. But it does have a highly usable and well-integrated LCD screen (running Android), and its ability to flow content browsed anywhere on the Web to the e-reader gives this model a unique edge over the competition. Add in the company's announced partnership with Borders for acquiring content, and this is one of the most promising models I've seen.