Here's our weekly roundup of the new products CNET reviewers liked best.
Apple MacBook Air Fall 2010
Editors' rating: 4 out of 5
The good: Apple's MacBook Air is thin and powerful enough to use as a mainstream laptop. It has an excellent battery and includes an SD card slot.
The bad: The Air has limited connections compared with other 13-inch laptops, and its keyboard isn't backlit. It's outclassed by the new MacBook Pro line.
The bottom line: The second generation of Apple's MacBook Air fixes many of our issues with the ambitious original, adding more USB ports, an SD card slot, and a more powerful processor.
The good: Muve Music is a unique, impressive offering that's priced well and will be useful to Cricket Wireless subscribers.
The bad: The music software is a bit slow, and its interface is imperfect. The Samsung Suede's hardware doesn't do Muve Music justice.
The bottom line: Cricket's Muve Music plan is a bright idea that's priced to sell to audiophiles, but there's still work to be done to overcome hardware and software flaws.
The good: The Razer Onza Tournament Edition is a high-quality third-party Xbox 360 controller with adjustable tension analog sticks, Hyperesponse light-up face buttons, two customizable extra shoulder buttons, and an extra-long braided 15-foot wire.
The bad: The D-pad is a bit clumsy, especially for fans of fighting games. We don't love wired controllers, but there's no way around Microsoft's licensing.
The bottom line: With its bevy of forward-thinking features and customization options, the Razer Onza Tournament Edition is easily one of the best third-party Xbox 360 controllers we've ever used.
The good: The Jays c-Jays open-stage headphones employ a clean architecture and include three interchangeable earpads that let you design the best fit and sound for your tastes.
The bad: Most will find the smallest pads the most sonically pleasing, but they also happen to be the least comfortable out of the three choices.
The bottom line: Jays delivers a smooth-sounding on-ear headphone that gives you three ear cushions to customize your listening experience. Although they don't come cheap, the c-Jays are a worthwhile investment if you're shopping for an aftermarket pair of on-ear headphones to fit your mobile lifestyle.
The good: The Motorola WX345 has a simple, lightweight design and decent features like a music player, an FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel camera. It's also very affordable.
The bad: The Motorola WX345 feels quite cheap, the display is mediocre, and we would prefer an external camera button.
The bottom line: For the price, the Motorola WX345 is a fantastic, easy-to-use phone with more than the basic features.
The good: The Nokia X2 has a solid, straightforward design and a comfortable keyboard. Messaging options are plentiful and call quality is satisfactory.
The bad: The Nokia X2 has a low-resolution display and lacks a dedicated volume rocker. The speakerphone performance wasn't ideal, and data speeds top out at EDGE.
The bottom line: The Nokia X2 offers basic communication options, plus a couple of extras, in an agreeable design. What's more, it delivers a full keyboard at an affordable price.
The good: The Optoma Neo-i is a DLP projector that includes an integrated iPod/iPhone dock for playing videos straight from your iOS handheld. It delivers a brighter image than what most pico projectors offer, and the speakers play reasonably loud. The Neo-i also offers HDMI and standard video inputs for connecting other video components.
The bad: The picture is somewhat soft, especially at larger sizes. Not all iPhone and iPod Touch apps (such as Netflix) offer video output on the projector. The Neo-i is fairly pricey. It's compact but not superportable, and the remote doesn't work as well as it should.
The bottom line: Though its design stretches the definition of "pico" projector, the Optoma Neo-i's inclusion of an iPod/iPhone dock along with its semirespectable image and sound quality help put it ahead of many competing small, casual video projectors.
The good: The Synology DiskStation DS411slim is compact and offers fast performance, an intuitive Web interface, and a generous set of features. Supporting up to eight IP cameras, it makes an excellent surveillance DVR for home or office.
The bad: The Synology DiskStation DS411slim's Surveillance Station requires additional license fees to support more than one camera; its included backup software is primitive; and its Photo Station is sluggish when it comes to generating thumbnails.
The bottom line: Despite a few shortcomings, the Synology DiskStation DS411slim makes a worthy upgrade from its predecessor, the best-of-its-time DS409slim.
