The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20131225232936/http://www.engadget.com/latest-reviews/
Apple

Mac Pro (2013)

Pros

  • Compact, space-saving design
  • Strong graphics performance, fast disk speeds
  • Runs quietly 
  • Supports up to three 4K displays

Cons

  • Runs a little warm, and can take a while to cool down
  • Many apps still need to be optimized to take advantage of two GPUs

Conclusion

There isn't another computer we know of that's this powerful and also this compact. With a starting price of $2,999, going all the way up to nearly $10,000, it's quite pricey, but for videographers, photographers, animators and other creative professionals, it could be well worth the investment. 

Nest

Protect

Pros

  • Remote control via a mobile app
  • Gesture control
  • Clever uses of color notifications
  • Sleek design

Cons

  • Expensive for a smoke detector

Conclusion

The Protect brings plenty of innovation to the staid world of smoke detectors, but the $129 price will be too steep for most people to swallow.

WobbleWorks

3Doodler

Pros

  • Innovative
  • Affordable
  • Simple setup

Cons

  • Tough to master
  • Tethered connection
  • Can get old fast

Conclusion

The 3Doodler is fully unlike any product we've seen. Be warned, however: It's easy to use, but hard to master.

Dell

Venue 8 Pro

Pros

  • Bright screen with good viewing angles
  • Long battery life
  • Great bang for your buck
  • Allows for pen input

Cons

  • Awkwardly placed Start button
  • Display defaults to a very dim setting on auto-brightness
  • Pen input can be unreliable

Conclusion

The Venue 8 Pro offers good value for a $300 device, but we suggest you wait for Dell to issue some bug fixes, and also for more competing tablets to start shipping.

Motorola

Moto G

Pros

  • Crisp 720p display
  • Near-stock version of Android
  • Impressive performance
  • Affordably priced

Cons

  • Up to just 16GB of non-expandable storage
  • No LTE
  • Slightly sluggish web browsing

Conclusion

Forgiving the absence of a microSD slot and LTE radio, we commend the Moto G for its bright display, superb all-around performance and versatile camera despite a low megapixel count. At this price, it's a bargain.

3D Systems

Sense

Pros

  • Relatively affordable
  • User-friendly software
  • Huge scanning area

Cons

  • Tethered by a cord
  • PC-only for now
  • Doesn't work well on small objects

Conclusion

The Sense is a capable and user-friendly 3D scanner at a great price. Still, it has a ways to go before it becomes a mainstream device.

Jawbone

Up24

Pros

  • Bluetooth syncing
  • Simple design
  • Integration with home automation apps
  • App can now estimate how long you slept

Cons

  • Sleep tracking still hit or miss
  • Battery life took a hit

Conclusion

The Up24 is Jawbone's best wearable to date thanks to wireless syncing. It's definitely worth buying over the older, less expensive Up band.

LG

G Flex

Pros

  • Phenomenal battery life
  • Top-notch performance
  • Flexible screen adds to the phone's durability

Cons

  • Very expensive
  • Camera lacks optical image stabilization
  • Self-healing finish needs work

Conclusion

The G Flex has lots of unique features that make it fun to use, but we can't recommend a curved phone until the price drops.

Lenovo

Lenovo Yoga Tablet

Pros

  • Sturdy, lightweight design
  • Offers good functionality for the price
  • Great battery life

Cons

  • Poor display
  • Sluggish performance
  • Heavily skinned version of Android

Conclusion

The Yoga Tablet sports an innovative kickstand design and offers great battery life, but those pluses don't make up for poor performance and a mediocre display.

Nokia

Lumia 2520

Pros

  • Attractive design
  • Long battery life
  • Bright, vibrant display
  • Good camera performance
  • Offline music and maps

Cons

  • No WiFi-only option
  • Picks up scratches and fingerprints
  • Typing in the lap isn't comfortable
  • Windows Store still has holes

Conclusion

The Lumia 2520 is a good Windows tablet, with long battery life, a lightweight, modern design and best-in-class camera. However, it doesn't work well as a laptop replacement.

Nike

FuelBand SE

Pros

  • Decent battery life
  • Sleek design
  • Connects to your Facebook friends list

Cons

  • Still no Android app
  • Not geared toward fitness buffs
  • Pointless sleep monitoring feature

Conclusion

The FuelBand SE doesn't offer any earth-shattering changes from its predecessor, but its design, longer battery life and enhanced social features ensure it continues to be a solid choice among fitness trackers.

Microsoft

Xbox One

Pros

  • Wake-on-voice is very impressive
  • Excellent multitasking experience
  • Games are beautiful; console runs quietly

Cons

  • The most expensive console available
  • Limited selection of exclusive titles worth playing
  • Missing key promised functionality at launch

Conclusion

The Xbox One is quick, quiet and capable of handling live TV and gorgeous games, all at the sound of your voice. $500 is a lot to ask, but it's much more than just a gaming console.

Nokia

Lumia 1520

Pros

  • Vibrant display
  • Top-of-the-line hardware
  • Great imaging experience
  • Solid build quality

Cons

  • Can be uncomfortable to hold
  • 6-inch display may be too big for some

Conclusion

The Lumia 1520 offers a Windows Phone experience unlike any we've seen before. With its top-notch hardware, fantastic imaging and constantly improving firmware, this is by far our favorite WP8 device.

Kobo

Arc 10HD

Pros

  • Improved build quality over the previous generation
  • Some nice, reading-focused software features

Cons

  • Heavy
  • Mediocre battery life

Conclusion

Added reading features aren't enough to help Kobo stand out in a crowded tablet market.

Automatic

Automatic Link

Pros

  • Tracks trips and fuel automatically
  • Easy to set up
  • Slick, easy-to-use app

Cons

  • Costs more than competing trackers
  • Tends to miss trips
  • Only works with iPhones
  • Limited customization options, unable to export data

Conclusion

The Automatic Link is great if you're simply looking for a way to help conserve fuel, but car geeks and road warriors will be left wanting more.

Samsung

Galaxy NX

Pros

  • Impressive battery life
  • Global 4G connectivity
  • Excellent image quality
  • Hybrid autofocus system

Cons

  • Grossly overpriced
  • Buggy photo sharing

Conclusion

Samsung's Galaxy NX may be the first of its kind, but $1,700 is simply too much to shell out for an Android device.

Adidas

miCoach Smart Run

Pros

  • Performs the job of multiple devices
  • Real-time training plans
  • Well-built hardware

Cons

  • Poor battery life
  • Music playback too quiet
  • Unable to export your data

Conclusion

The Adidas miCoach Smart Run is effectively a personal trainer, run tracker and media player you wear on your wrist. It has a premium feel and performs well, but poor battery life and a high price dampen our enthusiasm.

Lenovo

Yoga 2 Pro

Pros

  • Gorgeous 3,200 x 1,800 display
  • Lighter than the original, well-built
  • Highly versatile design
  • Reasonably priced

Cons

  • Relatively short battery life
  • Keyboard still exposed in tablet mode
  • Some undersized keyboard buttons

Conclusion

The Yoga 2 Pro addresses many of our complaints about the original, and is now one of the best touchscreen Ultrabooks you can buy, especially at this price. We just wish the battery life had improved more.

Apple

iPad mini with Retina display (2013)

Pros

  • Stunning display
  • Solid performance
  • Long battery life

Cons

  • No Touch ID
  • Relatively expensive

Conclusion

The iPad mini matches the full-sized iPad Air in display quality, design and performance. Just be prepared to pay more than you would have for last year's model.

ASUS

Transformer Book T100

Pros

  • Solid performance, long battery life
  • Runs traditional desktop apps
  • Screen offers good viewing angles
  • Inexpensive, includes keyboard dock
  • Almost no bloatware

Cons

  • Cramped, flimsy keyboard
  • Cheap build materials
  • We wish the screen were brighter

Conclusion

With cheap build quality and a mediocre display, the T100 is far from perfect. But thanks to some solid performance and generous pricing, it still offers incredible bang for your buck.

Oppo

Oppo R819

Pros

  • Long battery life
  • Good camera for its class
  • Slim design

Cons

  • Slower than its peers
  • Expensive for the features
  • Not expandable, 16GB is the only storage option

Conclusion

Oppo's R819 is a battery champ and has a better-than-usual camera for its price class, but rivals outperform it in both performance and value for the money.

NVIDIA

Tegra Note 7

Pros

  • Solid performance
  • DisplayStylus works much better than a passive stylus
  • Reasonably priced

Cons

  • Cheap, heavy hardware
  • Relatively low-res display
  • Disappointing camera

Conclusion

The NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 is a decent mid-sized tablet priced at $200, and impressively packs a top-notch processor, but the rest of the hardware leaves much to be desired.

Sony

PlayStation 4

Pros

  • Fast
  • Powerful
  • Great gamepad
  • Beautiful design

Cons

  • Short gamepad battery life
  • Weak game lineup at launch

Conclusion

Sony's fourth PlayStation console is fast, sleek and powerful. Its new DualShock gamepad is the best Sony's ever made. And the console is just getting started.

Amazon

Amazon Kindle HDX 8.9

Pros

  • Great screen
  • Strong performance
  • Mayday tech support and other helpful software features

Cons

  • No Google Play access
  • $80 more expensive than its predecessor

Conclusion

The latest Fire tablet has some top-of-the-line specs and nice software enhancements, but Amazon's closed-off ecosystem will continue to be a sore spot for shoppers who prefer regular Android.

Fitbit

Fitbit Force

Pros

  • Simple, understated design
  • Information-dense OLED display
  • Wireless syncing over Bluetooth 4.0
  • Stunning battery life

Cons

  • Cumbersome app design
  • Food database still lacking

Conclusion

The Force takes what made the Flex fitness tracker successful and adds an extremely useful OLED display. Unfortunately, the diet and sleep tracking features are both still in need of improvement.

Barnes & Noble

Nook GlowLight

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Much-improved frontlight
  • Better display than last time

Cons

  • No more physical page buttons
  • The microSD slot has been removed
  • Frontlighting still not on par with the competition

Conclusion

The GlowLight has a much nicer display than the last-gen model, but other e-readers still offer better screens. In the meantime, too, the GlowLight has lost some defining features like a microSD slot and physical page turn buttons.

PlayJam

GameStick

Pros

  • Portable
  • Inexpensive
  • Slick user interface

Cons

  • Limited selection of games
  • Hardware risks being outdated quickly

Conclusion

The GameStick is fun to use, but right now there aren't enough sophisticated games to lure in more serious gamers.

Google (LG)

Nexus 5

Pros

  • Beautiful 1080p display
  • Quad-core processor delivers top performance
  • Amazing value and price
  • Android 4.4 brings welcome software enhancements

Cons

  • Battery life could be better
  • Doesn't work on Verizon
  • Doesn't offer global LTE

Conclusion

The Nexus 5 offers the best bang for your buck, with amazing specs and the latest OS for a very reasonable price.

Samsung

ATIV Book 9 Lite

Pros

  • Thin and light, especially for a machine in this price range
  • Low-glare display
  • Comfortable keyboard
  • Fast disk speeds

Cons

  • Performance hiccups
  • Short battery life
  • Touchscreen wobbles when you touch it
  • Finicky trackpad

Conclusion

Samsung naturally had to cut corners to make an $800 version of its flagship Ultrabook, but the performance and battery life here are inferior compared to other laptops in this price range.

Apple

MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, 2013)

Pros

  • New, lower price
  • Gorgeous display
  • Thinner and lighter than before
  • Long battery life
  • Good graphics, improved SSD speeds

Cons

  • No discrete GPU option on the 13-inch model
  • Fans can get loud

Conclusion

Thanks to a lower price, longer battery life and lighter design, the 13-inch Retina MBP is a better deal than it was a year ago. It's so compelling, in fact, that you might even choose it over the Air.

Apple

iPad Air

Pros

  • A7 chip offers fast performance
  • Thinner and lighter than before
  • Global LTE support
  • Long battery life

Cons

  • Touch ID not included
  • Retina display is good, but no longer the best

Conclusion

The iPad Air is incredibly thin and light, and it's the most comfortable 10-inch tablet we've used. It also comes with a nice boost in performance while maintaining good battery life.

Sony

Sony SmartWatch 2

Pros

  • Well-built
  • Easy to use
  • Large number of apps

Cons

  • Some software issues
  • Average battery life

Conclusion

We really wanted Sony to lead the way with the SmartWatch 2, but some buggy software and poor app choices keep this from being the de facto option.

Microsoft

Surface 2

Pros

  • Thinner and lighter, sturdier kickstand
  • Well-crafted, premium design
  • Long battery life
  • Sharper display, great viewing angles
  • Full-sized USB port

Cons

  • Windows Store is growing, but still has holes
  • More expensive than tablets running full Windows

Conclusion

Microsoft has already proven it makes the best hardware of any Windows OEM, but the Surface would be more competitive if it ran full Windows and supported traditional desktop apps.

Microsoft

Surface Pro 2

Pros

  • Attractive, well-built hardware
  • Great display
  • Fast performance, improved battery life
  • More comfortable to use in the lap

Cons

  • Still heavy as a standalone tablet
  • Typing experience hasn't improved much

Conclusion

The new Surface Pro is more viable as a laptop replacement, but it hasn't made much progress as a standalone tablet. Ultimately, it's at its best in laptop mode, but it's still not always as comfortable to use as a proper Ultrabook.

Apple

Apple OS X Mavericks 10.9

Pros

  • Free
  • iBooks and Maps now available on the desktop
  • Productivity features like tags and tabbed windows

Cons

  • OS X is feeling a bit stale these days

Conclusion

Like the last few upgrades, Mavericks doesn't do anything particularly bold, but a slew of new features (and zero cost to download) make the upgrade worth it.

Wacom

Cintiq Companion Hybrid

Pros

  • Stellar pen display
  • Solid performance
  • Customizable interface

Cons

  • Heavy
  • Mediocre screen resolution
  • Can't run all the apps creative pros need

Conclusion

Wacom's Cintiq Companion earns its keep as a pen display and provides a solid Android slate experience, but doesn't provide all of the software tools needed to be a reliable mobile workstation.