New Gadget 2011

Though, like its predecessors, the Dash may resemble an ordinary lunchbox, opening the unit’s top cover reveals the controls and the surprisingly large 3.6-inch LCD screen panel underneath. The Dash is a little bulky, but a separate battery option helps with portability. The unit can churn out about 140 photos per charge, according to Epson.

After a simple setup, the Dash can print from a memory card, PictBridge camera, USB key, or computer. The tiltable LCD screen offers an impressive array of editing commands that let you adjust brightness and color saturation, select black-and-white or sepia modes, remove red-eye, and add frames and graphics.

The Dash is aptly named, coming in at 42 seconds per photo on our standard suite, the fastest time of any dedicated photo printer I’ve ever tested. The Dash excels in terms of output quality as well. All of the photos I printed, regardless of source, qualify as true photo quality. They’re one step down from what you might get at a professional photo lab or from a much more expensive printer, but easily a match for what you would expect from a local drugstore or photo shop. Cost per photo-25.3 cents per print for glossy and 32.3 cents each for matte-is the lowest of any dedicated small-format photo printer I’ve seen.

The Dash delivers a combination of features, speed, and output quality unheard of at this price.

Epson PictureMate Dash Review
Price range: $99.99 direct
Check This Out:

Samsung CLP-300 Review: Cheap Color Laser Printer

Lexmark C782n Review: Paper-Handling Wiz

Xerox Phaser 8860 Color Printer Review: A $2,500 Bargain Color Laser

LED backlights, instead of fluorescent tubes, are the new wave in mobile computing, allowing for thinner screens and greater power savings. Fujitsu’s Crystal View technology accounts for the sheer brilliance of the matte screen, though you may have to put up with some glare wider fluorescent lighting.

The unit’s Intel dual-core processor, generous for an ultraportable, is the kind you’d find in a desktop replacement laptop and is paired with 2GB of RAM to handle the demands of Vista. The S6510 scored -well on our tests, though its SYSmark 2007 Overall score lagged behind those of systems with discrete graphics. Battery life was good at 3 hours 45 minutes, but you can up that to 6 hours by swapping out the DVD burner for an additional six-cell battery.

Features are generous, though the S6510 lacks cellular broadband; built-in Wi-Fi will have to suffice. The system boasts three USB ports, a FireWire port, an S-Video jack, plus VGA, Ethernet, and modem ports. The built-in dual-layer DVD burner is a treat, and the 1.3-megapixel webcam is handy for videoconferences. The S6510 keeps its 120GB hard drive secure with a fingerprint reader, a smart-card reader, and TPM (Trusted Platform Module).

On the whole, the S6510 offers a comfortable computing experience. The full-size keyboard feels a little mushy, but the mouse buttons and touchpad are plenty responsive. Four additional application keys above the keyboard can be customized to quick-launch any program. The speakers were a little weak, but that’s common in business-focused machines. Fujitsu did a good job with air circulation, too; temperature readings measured only 85° F across the base and palm rests.

Thanks to advances in technology and a magnificent widescreen, the powerful S6510 is a fine choice for any business with deep pockets.

Fujitsu LifeBook S6510 Review
Price range: $2.039 direct
Specs:
- 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor
- 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
- 120GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive
- 358MB Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- 14-inch, 1,280-by-800 screen
- 4.0-pound system weight (4.9-pound travel weight)
- 63-Wh, 5.8-Ah lithium ion battery
- Windows Vista

Check This Out:

Apple MacBook Air Review: Thinovation

Panasonic Toughbook CF-52 Review: Rough-and-Tumble Laptop

Asus G1S Review: Notebook for Gamer

One of the slimmest GPS devices on the market, the Nüvi 760 sports an attractive charcoal-grey bezel and a bright, wide 4.3-inch display. Among the most welcome enhancements to the 760 is the addition of multisegment routing (for up to ten routes), an indispensable feature for long road trips. The device will also automatically remember its last position when you remove it from the mounting bracket, so you’ll never lose your car in the parking lot again.

While test-driving the Nüvi 760, I discovered another new feature: speed-limit postings. On major roads, a speed-limit sign will pop up on the map view if the data is available.

The Nüvi 760 comes preloaded with Navteq-based maps for the United States and Canada, as well as a POI database on its internal 2GB of memory. It also has Bluetooth, an MP3 player, a picture viewer, and an SD card slot.

This version of Garmin’s Nüvi adds a number of useful enhancements to the already capable 660. If you’re in the market for a loaded navigation device, the Nüvi 760 is an excellent choice.

Garmin Nüvi 760 Review
Price range: $799 list
Check This Out:

TomTom GO 720: A GPS that’s Always Up to Date

Netropa Intellinav 3: GPS That’s Priced to Move

Navigon 7100: Zagat for the Road

The scanner’s long list of impressive features includes 6.400-pixel-per-inch (ppi) optical resolution and hardware-based Digital ICE for removing dust and scratches. The V500’s LED light source qualifies it as green because, unlike standard cold cathode fluorescent lamps, it doesn’t contain mercury.

Setup is typical for a flatbed scanner. In addition to the Epson Twain driver, the V500 loads Photoshop Elements and the ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Sprint, a capable optical character recognition (OCR) program. The driver, complete with default, Home, and Professional modes, will be familiar to anyone who’s used other Epson scanners.

The V500’s scan quality and speed for both prints and film is on a par with the best of the competition, and the Digital ICE puts it over the top. The unit suffers from some shortcomings as an all-purpose scanner, but that’s inevitable given the V500’s focus on photos. Its combination of remarkable feature is impressive enough to make the V500 as good choice for photocentric scanners in its price range.

Epson Perfection V500 Photo Review
Price range: $249.99 direct
Check This Out:

Taser C2 Review: Leopard Elecric Shot Gun

Nokia SU-27W Review: Bluetooth Digital Pen

Motorola DH01 Review: Mobile TV on Your Hand

Handsomely, crafted, the 47LBX’s design includes a glossy black bezel and an attached swivel stand that provides a generous 50 degrees of rotation-25 degrees of horizontal swivel in each direction.

To guard against narrow viewing angles, which are typical in LCDs, the 47LBX uses Super-IPS screen technology, which helps deliver impressive viewing angles that all but eliminate color saturation loss - even at extreme viewing angles. The luminance of the picture did decrease slightly as viewing angles increased, but this set provides the best viewing angle performance I’ve seen from an LCD TV.

The 47-inch screen has a native resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels progressively scanned (1080p), and the TV’s HDMI, component video, and VGA ports are compatible with 1080p video input. Unfortunately, the 47LBX’s 6 percent overscan with HD video when using component or HDMI input was a detail-sacrificing disappointment. Standard definition overscan measured a moderate but still undesirable 7 percent.

Default color settings were also an issue. The TV’s warm color temperature preset measured a 10 percent red deficiency that gave the picture a slightly cool, bluish look. I found that performing a full white-balance calibration brought back the red while taming some of the bluish-greens that tainted darker details. The coarse response of these controls, however, made achieving an accurate adjustment difficult.

Standard video quality was excellent. The torchlit “Well of Souls” scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark has proven to be a challenging image-smear test for LCDs, and the 47LBX’s 120-Hz display technology handled it well, with no discernible motion-related artifacts. The color quality of this scene appeared slightly off, however, a side effect of the TV’s increased color inconsistencies in the darker details. High-definition video tests using a combination of satellite television, H D DVD, and Blu-ray media also revealed good motion performance.

Overall, LG televisions are among the most stylish I’ve seen, and this one is no exception. But in the end, I’d rather have an accurate, natural-looking picture, and the 47LBX practically requires a professional’s touch to get its image quality into the HD ballpark.

LG 47LBX Review
Price range: $3,499.95
Check This Out:

Samsung Bordeaux Plus LA37R81B Review

CTL 220UW Review: Plain Looks, Dazzling Picture

LG L1760TR Review: Touch Button LCD