The Acer Aspire S7

What you should know: 
The Acer Aspire S7 is one of the sharpest-looking laptops of 2012. It's incredibly thin and light, although the glass-covered lid makes it a bit top-heavy. The HP Envy Spectre had a similar glass-heavy design, putting glass on the back of the lid and the wrist rest. Here the wrist rest is thankfully glass-free.

The rest of the body is aluminum. Acer calls it a unibody chassis, much as Apple does, which means the base of it is carved from a single block of material. Its materials and coloring are different from a MacBook, but there's a certain stylistic similarity. 

The screen itself has a full 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution, which is a great premium feature to have on a 13-inch laptop, and at least part of the reason this system is so expensive. Many PC makers have told me that adding touch to an ultrabook screen will add some thickness, but in this case, the lid still seems very thin, with decent off-axis viewing and a screen that's glossy, but not overly reflective.

What it offers: 
One of the few standout products from the first wave of Windows 8 laptops, the Acer Aspire S7 proves that Apple does not have a monopoly on great design.

The advantage: 
The Acer Aspire S7 is a premium-looking ultrabook, with great performance, strong battery life, and a high-res touch screen.
The unfavorable: 
The expensive S7 is priced well beyond most other touch-screen Windows 8 laptops. The touch pad is not as responsive as it should be.
The price:
$1,649.99

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The Acer C7 Chromebook

What you should know: 
Pick up the Acer C7 and you'd swear you're holding a Netbook. Acer's clearly taken a Netbook body and shoehorned Chrome OS in. That's okay, but the Acer C7 isn't as thin or as clean-looking as Samsung's recent Chromebook offering. At 3 pounds and a little under 1 inch thick, it's still easy to tuck in any small bag, and the AC charger plug is pretty small, too.

The plastic body feels undeniably "budget," without the often more premium touches of many tablets. A somewhat flexible plastic top lid, glossy plastic screen bezel, and thicker-than-you'd-expect sides with ugly vent grilles complete the portrait of a product that defies any desire to show it off.

Its 11.6-inch display has a standard-for-a-laptop 1,366x768-pixel resolution, with adequate but not impressive brightness, color richness, and off-axis viewing angles. It's good enough for Web browsing and basic apps, but pictures and movies won't look that impressive.
What it offers: 
At $199, the Acer C7 is an attractive proposition for anyone looking for a supercheap portable laptop, but the Chrome OS and short battery life mean you'll have to accept a lot of compromises.
The advantage: 
The Acer C7 Chromebook's very affordable price is its best asset, plus it's got plenty of ports and a large hard drive. It boots up quickly and is simple to use.
The unfavorable: 
Saddled with an ugly design, finicky touch pad, and short battery life, this feels like a far cry even from most budget laptops. The Chrome OS is still too limiting, though it's made some strides in a year.
The price:
$199.00 to $289.96

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The Epson WorkForce WF-3540

What you should know: 
You'll need plenty of space to set up the WorkForce WF-3540, which is 17.7 inches long, 22.2 inches deep, and 12.1 inches high; the dual paper trays on the bottom contribute to its large footprint. Also keep in mind that you'll need to keep the printer no higher than eye level, as the control panel in the center that houses the 3.5-inch touch screen doesn't rotate up flush with the unit. The paper output tray in the center also folds out few inches to corral outbound prints, but there's no question that this machine jams a generous amount of features into a relatively small space.

You'll find the control panel just below the scanner bay with prominent access to the 3.5-inch LCD screen in the center. The machine has only one physical button, the power button the left -- the rest of the functions light up virtually, either on the screen itself or as brightly lit icons that illuminate on an as-needed basis on the right.
The flatbed scanner and 30-sheet auto document feeder (ADF) sit at the top of the unit, and there's an adjustable latch that moves back and forth on the ADF to hold paper sizes up to 8.5x14 inches.

What it offers: 
Complete with wireless access, remote printing in the cloud, an interactive touch screen, and several paper trays, the Epson WorkForce WF-3540 is well-prepared to handle large workloads for home offices, corporate teams, and everything in between.
The advantage: 
The Epson WorkForce WF-3540 workhorse multifunction is built for performance with cloud printing capabilities, extra-large-capacity ink cartridges, dual 250-sheet paper trays, an intuitive touch-screen display, and an external USB port for standalone copying and scanning.

The unfavorable: 
The 3.5-inch touch screen display works well with gesture navigation, but its fixed angle inhibits its usability in higher positions.
The price:
$149.99 to $199.99

The 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe SE

What you should know: 
Elantra sedan already has a very rakish, coupe-like design. While the visual differences between the Coupe and the standard Elantra sedan are obvious when the vehicles are parked, you'd actually be hard pressed to tell these cars apart if they passed you on the street. So you're not really getting a sportier looking car out of the two-door deal. No, what you really get when decide to go Coupe is a rear seat that's harder to get into and front seat belts that are harder to reach every time you hop behind the wheel. And maybe it's just me, but I couldn't find a seating position in the coupe where my knees didn't bash into the steering column over every bump.
The Coupe is powered by the same 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine that powers the sedan. Output is rated at 130 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque, thanks to more stringent emissions tuning.
The Elantra Coupe is available with a six-speed manual transmission at both of its trim levels.

What it offers: 
The 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe SE is a good value, but its sporty pretenses work to its detriment. Check out the more laid-back sedan, instead.
The advantage: 
The 2013 Elantra Coupe SE is an attractive, fully-loaded economy car at an entry-level price. Bluetooth, USB, and iPod connectivity are all standard. Active Eco mode helps to maximize mpg.

The unfavorable: 
The "sport-tuned" suspension exhibited unnerving behavior over uneven surfaces. Fuel economy comes nowhere near EPA estimates.

The price:
$20,745.00

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The 2012 Tesla Model S

What you should know: 
Tesla Motors turns our idea of an automobile on its head with the first real fruit of its labors, the 2012 Model S. The electric drivetrain takes center stage, of course, and the cabin tech takes its cues directly from the consumer electronics industry.
Performance trim, could hold 85 kilowatt-hours of electricity, the maximum offered by Tesla and good for 300 miles of range at 55 mph, according to Tesla. (The EPA rates the Model S' range at 265 miles.) Tesla also offers 40- and 60-kilowatt-hour versions, costing less but with less range.
The electric motor takes up very little space compared with an internal combustion engine, and nestles neatly between the rear wheels. This architecture frees up room within the car, such that there's a flat floor in the center both in front and back. A console rising up between the front seats merely serves as an armrest, storage, and a mounting spot for two USB ports. Likewise, drive components do not intrude into the hatchback area, and the hood covers extra cargo space.
Tesla keeps control surfaces in the cabin to a minimum, putting everything from navigation to climate controls on the massive, 17-inch center touch screen. Though other car companies have gotten backlash for hiding climate controls on touch screens, I believe Tesla can get away with it, partly due to good design -- the temperature controls, for example, are always visible -- and partly due to the fact that the Model S' early adopters will no doubt be tech-friendly.
No analog gauges mar the techie nature of the car, and few would be actually needed. An LCD acts as the instrument cluster, showing a central virtual gauge in modern graphical glory courtesy of an Nvidia processor. That virtual gauge indicates power usage and regeneration, while a digital speed readout occupies its center. The two other essential bits of information shown in this gauge are the remaining range and battery charge level.

What it offers: 
The 2012 Tesla Model S sets a new standard for cars of the 21st century by integrating cabin tech equal to anything from the consumer electronics industry and incorporating a long-range, powerful, and efficient electric drivetrain.
The advantage: 
The 2012 Tesla Model S delivers extraordinary range for an electric car, along with excellent power efficiency and tremendous acceleration. A 3G data connection powers Google Maps for navigation and Internet radio. The 17-inch touch screen reacts promptly to input.
The unfavorable: 
The navigation system lacks a favorite destinations list and the maps only show in one orientation (north up). The only driver assistance feature is a backup camera.

The price:
$57,400.00

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The Canon PowerShot SX160 IS

What you should know: 
The Canon PowerShot SX160 IS is not for everyone. It's big and bulky. It doesn't have the best shooting performance or image quality. And it certainly doesn't have all the latest and greatest features found in many of Canon's higher-end PowerShots.
But, here's why I like it. For about $150 ($80 less than its original price), you get a competent point-and-shoot camera that does more than just automatic snapshots. That makes it a nice fit for those who want to learn more about controlling shutter speed and aperture without a big investment. Its 16x zoom lens with image stabilization gives you some good framing flexibility. And although some might prefer a high-power rechargeable battery, the SX160 IS' two AA batteries make it very convenient when traveling or for infrequent photographers.

What it offers: 
The Canon PowerShot SX160 IS has a large selection of shooting options from full manual to full auto; big, easy-to-press controls; and the convenience of AA batteries.
The advantage: 
The Canon PowerShot SX160 IS is a good, inexpensive travel-zoom option for those wanting more control over results or who are just getting into photography and don't want to empty their wallets.
The unfavorable: 
The SX160 IS will eat through alkaline batteries; shooting performance is good, but not fast; and picture quality drops off above ISO 400, so it's not a great choice for handheld low-light shots.
The price:
$139.99 to $261.98