The Yamaha RX-V473

What you should know: 
The Yamaha RX-V473 looks no different from other mainstream AV receivers. It's big and boxy, with a two-tone look of glossy black on the top and matte finish on the bottom. If you're looking for something more stylish, Denon's AVR-1913 has better looks, while the Marantz NR1603 is attractively compact.
The RX-V473's remote is as bad as it gets. It's covered in tiny buttons, most of which are unnecessary and many are poorly labeled. Even something as simple as a power button is confusing. There are two identical power buttons at the top, one to power off the receiver and one that can power off other devices if you program the remote to do so.
The RX-V473 has four HDMI inputs, which is definitely on the skimpy side for this price range.
The RX-V473's Ethernet port allows for all kinds of networking functionality, including firmware updates, AirPlay, smartphone control, and media streaming via Internet radio.
If you own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, the RX-V473's built-in AirPlay is a nice bonus, although it's not essential since you can always add AirPlay later with a $100 Apple TV.
What it offers: The Yamaha RX-V473 is a serviceable 5.1 AV receiver, but with only four HDMI inputs, competing models offer a better value.

The advantage: 
The Yamaha RX-V473 has built-in networking functionality, including AirPlay and Internet radio. It can also be controlled with a smartphone app available for iOS and Android. And its sound quality is solid with both music and movies.
The unfavorable: 
Nearly every competing receiver offers more HDMI inputs at this price level. The included remote is difficult to use, and the user interface looks painfully dated.
The price:
$349.00 to $399.95

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The Slingbox 350

What you should know: 
Slingbox is a personal video broadcaster. It takes any video signal you send into its AV inputs -- such as your cable/satellite box or DVR -- digitizes it, and streams it to you, live and in real time. Think of it as Netflix, but instead of streaming a catalog of on-demand title, you're streaming your TV programming, in real time.
Streaming alone is impressive, but the Slingbox (and its remote viewing software) lets you also remotely control the source TV, via on-screen controls (for PCs, phones, and tablets) or the hardware remotes of the streaming video boxes (like Boxee and WD TV).
The Slingbox 350 is a black box that’s about the size of three standard DVD cases stacked on top of another. The box has a diamond mesh design.

What it offers: 
Slingbox 350 is an excellent way to watch your TV or DVR video content anywhere.

The advantage: 
Slingbox 350 streams video from your TV or DVR (or any analog source) to your PC, tablet, smartphone, and some streaming boxes at resolutions up to full 1080p HD. IR blasters are built into the box’s body, eliminating the need for annoying extra external wires. There are no monthly charges or fees.
The unfavorable: 
Smartphone- and tablet-viewing apps cost extra. Unlike the step-up Slingbox 500 model, this one lacks Wi-Fi and HDMI support. It duplicates some of the features found on TV anywhere apps you may already be using. As always, streaming capabilities are only as good as your home bandwidth.

The price:
$173.38 to $179.99

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The Roku 2 XD

The Roku line breaks down:

Roku LT ($50): The entry-level Roku includes all of the features above, and retails for just $50. HD video output is limited to 720p, and it includes standard RCA (yellow/red/white) jacks for connecting to older analog TVs.

Roku HD ($60): The Roku HD is basically identical to the LT, except for the color scheme (black instead of purple). Unlike the LT (mostly an online-only product), the HD is available in many brick-and-mortar stores. The list price is $60, but it's sometime discounted to as low as $40.

Roku 2 XD ($80, our item): The Roku 2 XD is a slightly smaller box than the LT/HD models, and it adds full 1080p HD video output. It supports an optional Bluetooth motion remote, but only a standard infrared remote is included in the box. Analog video output (for pre-HDTVs) is enabled via an included breakout cable.

Roku 2 XS ($100): The top of the line Roku also offers 1080p video output, an Ethernet port, and a USB port for limited local file access. It includes a Bluetooth motion remote and a free copy of Angry Birds.

Roku Streaming Stick ($100): This is a "Roku box on a stick." It offers the same basic functionality as the XS (including the motion remote), but it adds dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. Note, however, that the Streaming Stick is only compatible with TVs that offer an MHL port.

All of the Roku models can turn any TV -- an HDTV or an old analog model -- into a "Smart" TV, with the ability to stream hundreds of online video and audio channels and services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, HBO Go, Vudu, Crackle, Pandora, Mog, Rdio, and MLB.TV. (Most of the best channels require separate subscription fees, but some -- Crackle, Pandora, and others -- are completely free.) All models offer wireless Wi-Fi streaming and a universal search function (for finding content across multiple video providers). Rokus can also stream photos, music, and video from smartphones and tablets via the free Play On Roku app (which can also double as a remote control), and stream media from PCs and Macs with the Plex app.

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The Drobo Mini

What you should know: 
Measuring 7.3x1.8x7.1 inches, and weighing just about 3 pounds (with the four drive bays fully loaded), the Drobo Mini is the most compact four-bay storage device. This is mostly because it's designed to house 2.5-inch laptop hard drives and not the regular 3.5-inch desktop hard drives. The Drobo Mini is not exactly "the size of a deli sandwich" as described on Drobo's Web site, however; rather, it's about the size of a Mac Mini, slightly thicker and heavier, in fact.
Generally, there's basically nothing to the setup process of a Thunderbolt drive. For most of them, you just have to plug the drive into a power outlet and the computer, using a Thunderbolt cable, and that's it. Within a few seconds you can use the drive. With others, you might have to format the drive using the Disk Utility (Mac) or Disk Management (Windows), a process that takes less than a minute to do.
It's got a slew of unique little features including an mSATA drive bay, a built-in emergency battery, a cool magnetic drive bay door, and many colorful LED status lights. There's also a little bit of money-saving: like most recent Thunderbolt drives, the Drobo Mini comes with the necessary Thunderbolt cable included.
On the down side, the Drobo Mini bears a crazy price tag of $650 with no storage included; it takes a long time to start up; and it's noisier than most Thunderbolt drives. In terms of performance, when hosting four high-speed 2.5-inch hard drives, the drive fell short in my testing when compared with its peers, using both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connection types.

What it offers: 
The esoteric Drobo Mini seems unique mostly for being unique's sake, and offers very little in terms of usability considering its crazily high cost.
The advantage: 
The Drobo Mini is compact, can host four drives with dynamic storage scalability and protection, supports both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0, and offers an excellent drive bay design.
The unfavorable: 
The Drobo Mini is very expensive, comparatively slow, hot, noisy, takes a long time to start up and overall proves to be a cumbersome storage device to use.
The price:
$569.00

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The Kobo Glo

What you should know: 
The Glo, which lists for $129.99, also features a 1,024x768-pixel-resolution, 6-inch e-ink display (yes, it's a touch screen) that Kobo says makes text and images appear crisper.
Like the Nook and the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Glo uses front-lighting technology and has a thin layer film on its screen that aids in dispersing the light uniformly. Like the Paperwhite's, the Glo's screen is illuminated from the bottom rather than the top of the unit (as the Nook's is), projecting the array of tiny LED lights upward instead of downward.
The WiFi-enabled Glo is a touch smaller than the Paperwhite, both in terms of dimensions and weight, coming in at 6.52 ounces. Overall, its design is pretty straightforward, even slightly generic (at least from the front), though its textured back panel, which has a sort of argyle pattern and comes in various colors, gives it a bit of flair. My review unit was white with a blue back, but you can also get the Glo in black.

What it offers: 
Kobo Glo is an excellent Kindle alternative, especially for readers seeking EPUB compatibility and international options.
The advantage: 
Kobo Glo is a lightweight, WiFi-enabled e-reader that has an impressive front-lit, high-res e-ink display with a touch-screen interface. It also features an expansion slot for additional memory, supports EPUB files, and is compatible with any e-book store that uses the Adobe DRM format.
The unfavorable: 
Kobo's selection of e-books lags behind Amazon's and Barnes & Noble's. Loading library loaners and third-party e-book purchases requires tethering to a PC.
The price:
$129.99

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The Acer Aspire S3-391-6046

What you should know: 
The S3-391-6046 is more portable, with a 13.3-inch screen with a 1,366-by-768 resolution (720p). That is smaller than the 1,920 by 1,080 resolution (1080p) found on ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A-R5102F, but that's okay, since you'll pay quite a price premium for that 1080p screen, and it's not absolutely necessary at this budget price point.
The S3-391-6046 comes with a bunch of pre-loaded programs (Amazon, eBay, Evernote, newsXpresso, Office 201 trial, WildTanget games, Netflix, Skype, etc.), and while they aren't obtrusive in the new Windows 8 Start screen, they do clutter up the system's desktop mode (aka the screen that looks like your old PC). Connecting the system to our 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks were easy, as the S3-391-6046 support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, giving you extra flexibility.
The S3-391-6046 comes with a second generation Intel Core i3-2367M processor, four GB of system memory, Intel HD Graphics, a 320GB hard drive and 20GB SSD for speed. The SSD is invisible to the user, it's here to provide speed in booting, launching apps, and waking the system from sleep. It's a little slower than an SSD-only ultrabook, but SSD-only ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook Prime cost hundreds of dollars more.
The system's Core i3 processor is much better than the Intel Celeron processor found in lesser budget systems. For example, the S3-391-6046 got a modest 1,883 point score at the PCMark 7 benchmark test, but that's still better than the Celeron-powered Toshiba Satellite C655-S5542 and Acer Aspire 5349-2635 that couldn't run PCMark 7 to competition.

What it offers: 
The Acer Aspire S3-391-6046 gives you a full-blown Windows 8 ultrabook at a decent price. If you want a thin, light, reasonably fast ultrabook to learn Windows 8 on, this is worth a look.
The advantage: 
Inexpensive ultrabook. Light weight. Responsive multitouch trackpad. Two USB 3.0 ports. No confusing USB 2.0 ports. Full size HDMI port. 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi.

The unfavorable: 
Uses last generation Intel Core processor. Non DX11-compatible graphics. No touch screen. Small arrow keys.

The price:
$648.00

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