Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)

Here's our weekly roundup of the new products CNET reviewers liked best.

HP DreamColor LP2480zx

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: The HP DreamColor LP2480zx has impeccable color reproduction and includes direct black level control.

The bad: The HP DreamColor LP2480zx forgoes direct color and contrast controls and can't compare, featurewise, to its competitors. Its price is a pill that's hard to swallow.

The bottom line: The HP DreamColor LP2480zx is a performance monster that costs too much for the features it offers.

Read CNET's full review
Price range: $2,869.99 - $2,899.99

HTC Desire (U.S. Cellular)

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: The HTC Desire features a sleek design with a sharp and responsive touch screen. The 1GHz Snapdragon processor keeps things running smoothly, and call quality is good.

The bad: No voice dialing over Bluetooth. Camera and camcorder quality are so-so.

The bottom line: Sleek and fast, the HTC Desire is not only U.S. Cellular's best Android device but the carrier's best smartphone to date.

Read CNET's full review

Motorola Droid 2 (Verizon Wireless)

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: The Motorola Droid 2 sports a sleeker look and an improved keyboard. The smartphone also features a faster processor, double the RAM of the original Droid, and ships with Android 2.2.

The bad: The Droid 2 doesn't have a front-facing camera and Android 2.2's new camera interface. It lacks HDMI port. Though the keyboard is better, keys are a bit stiff to press.

The bottom line: The Motorola Droid 2 offers a number of improvements that make it a worthy upgrade from the Droid and certainly a top choice for those who want a smartphone with a physical keyboard.

Read CNET's full review
Price: $199.99

Pioneer VSX-1020-K

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: 7.1 channel AV receiver; excellent sound quality; six HDMI inputs; 3D compatible; graphical user interface; analog video upconversion; can connect an iPod/iPhone directly via USB; Ethernet port; second zone functionality.

The bad: One-year warranty (most competitors offer two or more); no audio return channel support; doesn't support standby pass-through; no minijack input.

The bottom line: Six HDMI inputs, easy iPod connectivity, and sweet sound quality make the Pioneer VSX-1020-K an excellent midrange AV receiver, although it's missing some minor HDMI features.

Read CNET's full review
Price range: $424.95-$549.99

Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint)

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: The Samsung Epic 4G has a knockout Super AMOLED display, a 1GHz processor, a front-facing camera, an impressive QWERTY keyboard, a 5.0-megapixel camera with an LED flash, and supports Sprint's 4G WiMax network. It is capable of acting as a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot for up to five devices.

The bad: The Samsung Epic 4G is the bulkiest of the Galaxy S phones and also the priciest. It also requires a costly data plan.

The bottom line: The Samsung Epic 4G is a multimedia powerhouse with features the other Galaxy S phones don't have. Unfortunately, it comes with a big price tag.

Read CNET's full review

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (AT&T)

Editors' rating: 4 out of 5

The good: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 has a user-friendly design with a brilliant display. The feature set is generous, the internal performance is fast, and call and data quality are satisfactory.

The bad: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 runs Android OS 1.6. The Timescape application has its faults, and you must use a third-party app for Outlook calendar syncing.

The bottom line: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 offers a slick, user-friendly design with a solid feature set and good call quality. We lament, however, that the device is stuck on Android 1.6.

Read CNET's full review
Price: $149.99

ioSafe SoloPro disaster-proof external hard drive (2TB)

Editors' rating: 3.5 out of 5

The good: The ioSafe SoloPro is designed to safeguard your data against fire and water damage and includes a year of data recovery service. The drive supports USB 3.0 and offers decent performance.

The bad: The ioSafe SoloPro is heavy and bulky for an external hard drive. It doesn't have any protection against hard-drive failure, and its internal hard drive is not user-replaceable. The device is also relatively noisy.

The bottom line: For those who need to ensure that their data will survive disasters, the ioSafe SoloPro is one of a few, if not the only, worthwhile options on the market. General users, however, won't find much appeal in it.

Read CNET's full review
Price: $419

Lenovo C315 40221GU AMD Athlon II X2 250U (1.60GHz 2MB)

Editors' rating: 3.5 out of 5

The good: Small footprint won't take up a lot of space; responsive touch screen; discrete graphics card provides surprisingly good video and gaming capabilities.

The bad: Dog-slow application performance; no video output or input options.

The bottom line: Lenovo's C315 all-in-one is not without its flaws, but if you can overlook its comparatively slow day-to-day performance you'll find this a solid budget-priced home entertainment PC. Don't use this system for a home office or general productivity-oriented tasks, but it would work well in a small room for movie watching and game playing.

Read CNET's full review
Price: $699.99

Livescribe Echo (8GB)

Editors' rating: 3.5 out of 5

The good: The Livescribe Echo is a ballpoint pen and voice recorder combination that preserves digital copies of your notes and recordings, which can be replayed, saved to your computer and shared with others.

The bad: It's not cheap; pens and caps tend to get lost; digitizing notes requires special paper; ink cartridges are smaller than standard.

The bottom line: For students and professionals who ritually take, review, and share handwritten notes, the Echo smartpen does what all great technology should do: it makes life easier.

Read CNET's full review
Price range: $$193.99-$199.99

Philips Notebook SoundBar SPA5210B/27

Editors' rating: 3.5 out of 5

The good: Compact, clip-on laptop speaker; USB powered with hideaway cord; carrying pouch included; sounds better and plays louder than your typical internal laptop speakers; works with Macs and Windows PCs.

The bad: Thin bass for music; no auxiliary input for audio from non-PC sources.

The bottom line: The affordable and well-designed Philips Notebook SoundBar SPA5210B travels well and is a worthy upgrade over your internal laptop speakers.

Read CNET's full review
Price range: $26.99-$34.99