High Technology Product Reviews | Trends and News

The Samsung SCX-5635FN ($500 street) is a serious monochrome laser multifunction printer (MFP) for a small office or a workgroup. It provides good print speed and paper handling, and a low cost per printed page. But though it provides an abundant range of all-in-one features, setting the printer up to take full advantage of them is unwieldy at best. The boxy (18.4- by 17.1- by 18-inch), two-toned gray MFP weighs 41.5 pounds. Among its all-in-one features are printing, copying, faxing, and scanning—it copies, faxes, and scans either standalone or through a PC. It can scan to a computer, to e-mail, to an FTP or SMB server, or to a USB key. Specifications Printer Category Laser Type All-In-One Color or Monochrome Monochrome Technology (for laser category only) Laser Connection Type USB, Ethernet, Wireless Maximum Standard Paper Size Legal Direct Printing from Cameras No Rated speed at Default Resolution (Mono) 35 ppm Standalone Copier and Fax Copier, Fax Duplexing

On the surface, the 16.2-megapixel, Sony Alpha55 ($849.99 with 18-55mm lens) looks, feels, and shoots like a traditional D-SLR, but it's different on the inside. Sony uses Translucent Mirror Technology in the Alpha55, which gives the camera always-on access to its phase detect autofocus sensor, so it can autofocus between still shots faster than most traditional D-SLRs. It also allows for blazing-fast continuous autofocus during video recording—something no D-SLR can do. Image quality is also D-SLR caliber. But there's one major trade-off here: the Alpha55 doesn't have a true optical viewfinder. Translucent-mirror cameras use only electronic viewfinders (EVFs), which could be a dealbreaker for some photo enthusiasts. Specifications Type D-SLR Megapixels 16.2 MP Media Format Secure Digital High Capacity, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Secure Digital Extended Capacity 35-mm Equivalent (Wide) 18 35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto) 55 Optical Zoom 3 x LCD size 3 inches Wireles

It's hard to believe that two years has passed since my last look at Carbonite, one of the two leading online backup services, along with Mozy ($4.95/month/PC, 3 stars). Since then, Carbonite has come a long way, redesigning its application for version 4. Key to the new version are improvements to the restore functionality, which gave me problems when I last tested the app. Unfortunately, the new Carbonite lacks many capabilities you'll find in competitors like SOS Online Backup ($9.95/month/5 PCs, 4 stars), and I still had trouble performing full restores in my testing. Specifications Type Business, Personal, Professional OS Compatibility Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, Mac OS, Windows 7 Setup You can try out Carbonite for yourself using its free 15-day trial. No credit card is required, but after the trial period the service will cost you $54.95 a year for unlimited back up storage of one PC. The pricing is in line with the rest of the industry, but competitors like

Design and Features The i560-3910NBK is built into the same glossy black chassis that I've seen before in previous Inspiron 560 and 580 desktops. The optical drives, front USB ports, and media card reader are hidden behind a door, presenting a sleek front panel to the user. You will need a screwdriver to get under the hood, but once inside you have room for upgrades. There's space for one optical drive, one hard drive, two SATA ports for the drives, two PCIe x1 cards, a PCI card, and a PCIe x16 graphics card. Just about the only thing you can't upgrade is the memory, since all the slots are filled. However, 8GB should suffice for 90 percent of users out there. Out back, there are the usual ports: Audio, VGA, 4 USB 2.0 ports, and a port for the power plug. What's out of the ordinary is the included HDMI port, a rarity in entry-level desktops. The desktop comes with a 500GB (7,200rpm) hard drive, a capacity that used to be found only on expensive desktops, and more than

The HTC Desire ($199 direct) is US Cellular's best cell phone. It's about as powerful as the HTC Droid Incredible ($299.99, 4.5 stars) on Verizon, but it's cheaper to own. The Desire is also similar to the unlocked (and now discontinued) Google Nexus One, but in some ways, the Desire is even better. HTC's slick Sense UI, combined with the Desire's beautiful screen and fast processor, make this handset our new Editors' Choice for US Cellular smartphones. Specifications Service Provider US Cellular Screen Size 3.7 inches Screen Details 480-by-800, 262K-color, TFT LCD capactive touch screen Camera Yes Network CDMA Bands 850, 1900 High-Speed Data 1xRTT, EVDO Rev 0 Processor Speed 1 GHz Design and Call Quality The HTC Desire measures 4.7 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. The soft touch housing is a mixture of black and dark grey, and looks a bit rounder than the Incredible's. The Desire feels expensive, and it's comfortable

Shedding weight is a common practice in business laptops, but it's also important that they shed the right kind of weight. The Lenovo ThinkPad T410s ($1,504 direct) is the undisputed leader, and best laptop, in terms of designing the lightest 14-inch laptop with an optical drive. While other business laptops shed screen size, performance, and features to hit a target weight, the T410s does so with minimal drawbacks. The biggest letdown is that the 6-cell battery delivered less than 4 hours of battery life, and larger batteries, which are offered by the ThinkPad T410, aren't part of the equation. Specifications Type Ultraportable, Business, Small Business Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Processor Speed 2.4 GHz Processor Name Intel Core i5-520M RAM 4 GB Weight 3.9 lb Screen Size 14.1 inches Screen Size Type widescreen Graphics Card Intel GMA HD Storage Capacity (as Tested) 250 GB Networking Options 802.11n Primary Optical Drive Dual-Lay