Reviews

Think of the Nikon D3000 as the smaller cousin of the long-standing models it replaces. With the D3000 ($550 as of December 17, 2009), Nikon improves on its previous entry-level model (the Nikon D40), refining the design and adding a slew of features that make the D3000 a great choice for point-and-shoot owners looking to explore the digital SLR world.

The 10.2-megapixel D3000 adopts much of the design of its predecessor. The D3000 weighs only a smidgen more than the older model, at just over a pound. But that's still light enough that I could carry the D3000 for a week in my tote bag, and I easily forgot that a DSLR was in there. Though lightweight, the D3000 feels substantial in its build--the only letdown is its flimsy-feeling SD/SDHC card door. In all other respects the D3000 offers just what Nikon enthusiasts have come to expect, namely solid design and attention to detail.

At first blush, the Lenovo Skylight is exactly what the netbook should've been.

Instead of slapping a pared down OS onto low powered hardware, the Skylight approaches the widget-centric Internet we've grown accustomed to on our mobile phones, armed with a full-sized keyboard and clamshell design.

The Canon Color ImageClass MF8350Cdn color laser multifunction printer offers a tempting purchase price ($699 as of 12/09/2009) and some good features. Like most low-cost machines we've tested, however, it has trade-offs--including pricey black toner and uneven photo quality.

Paper handling is a strong suit. Automatic duplexing comes standard; even the higher-ranked (and cheaper) Brother MFC-9450CDN lacks that feature. The automatic document feeder (ADF) and multipurpose tray (MPT) both take up to 50 sheets, and the main tray takes up to 250. A second 250-sheet tray costs $199, according to Canon (some third-party prices we found were higher). Legal paper causes the main tray to jut out the front; Canon provides a partial dust cover. The 125-sheet output tray lurks, cavelike and dark, below the scanning unit.

Samsung is the first company out of the gate with a major camera announcement at CES 2010, unveiling the first model in its NX series. The company announced the NX series at PMA 2009 early last year, but the NX10 is the first real-world NX series offering.

The Samsung NX10 is an interchangeable-lens model that's slightly less bulky than a DSLR, offering a 14.6-megapixel APS-C-size CMOS sensor that's significantly larger than the sensors found in Micro Four-Thirds system cameras from Panasonic and Olympus. The NX10 has the ability to shoot 720p HD video as MPEG-4 files at 30 frames per second.

HP has churned out a number of multitouch-capable machines under the TouchSmart line, and the 20-inch TouchSmart 300 is its latest effort.

At $930 (as of 12/23/2009), it costs more than similarly-sized budget all-in-one PCs (20 inches or smaller), but also outperforms them all. It's score of 98 in our WorldBench 6 test suite edges out touch-enabled, budget-priced competitors like the 18.5-inch Dell Studio One 19 (93) and the 20-inch MSI Wind Top AE2010 (60). That performance is also tantalizingly close to pricier rivals like the 24-inch Sony Vaio L117FX/B (105); and actually faster than HP's own 23-inch TouchSmart 600xt (92).

The HP Photosmart Plus color inkjet multifunction printer is well priced for student and home users ($150 as of December 9, 2009). It also pumps out great-looking output quickly--something that few other models in its price class can achieve.

HP makes things easy from the get-go. The installation wizard includes a library of animated instructions for setup and basic operation. The control panel features a 2.3-inch color LCD, surrounded by touch-sensitive LED buttons that light only when needed. Menu items include how-to animations, as well as troubleshooting instructions for clearing paper jams, replacing cartridges, and other everyday tasks.

The Canon Pixma MP560 Wireless Photo All-in-One color inkjet multifunction printer is priced to appeal to students and home users ($150 as of November 24, 2009). Compared with the like-priced Epson Stylus NX515 and HP Photosmart Plus, it offers better paper handling and ink costs--but slower performance.

In our tests, the unit's performance was generally middling, but sometimes better. The unit printed plain text at a rate of 6.4 pages per minute; graphics averaged about 2.6 ppm. Its scanning speeds were the fastest among our test group, while its copying speed was average. On plain paper, black text and copies looked just slightly fuzzy, while line art and halftones looked detailed. Flesh tones appeared artificially pink on plain paper but improved on Canon's own photo stock.

The Epson Artisan 810 color inkjet multifunction printer has speed and versatility to spare. Considering the price ($300 as of November 24, 2009), however, we expected better overall output quality.

Though the Artisan 810's text-printing speed was just average at about 7.3 pages per minute, it finished at or near the top in all of our other print, scan, and copy speed tests. The output quality was less stellar. On Epson's own photo paper, flesh tones looked warm and natural. On plain paper, all photos had a filmy look. Plain text looked fuzzy and dim. Scans and copies were acceptable despite some general fuzziness; a photo enlargement looked murky.

The Dell Inspiron 11z is an attempt to rectify the biggest drawback of current netbooks--low processing power--by using Intel's ultralow-voltage Celeron and Pentium CPUs. The 11z--which starts at $379--is available with either the single-core Celeron 743 or, as with our test unit, the dual-core Pentium SU4100. Both CPUs run at 1.3GHz with an 800MHz bus. Besides two cores, the Pentium SU4100 has 64-bit support. Oh, and it adds $75 to the price.

Choosing 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium--which our test system came with--will cost you $30 more over the default Vista Home Basic operating system. And if you want any color other than "Obsidian Black," that will run you $40 more. Boost the RAM from 2GB to 4GB and choose a larger hard drive, and you can easily turn this under- $400 netbook into a nearly $700 companion device to your main system. In addition to the dual-core CPU, our test system had the 250GB drive upgrade but not the 4GB RAM option, a mix making for a fairly pricey netbook.