13-inch Apple MacBook Air

Amazing battery life -- yes, you can web-surf for more than 12 hours straight -- makes the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air tough to beat. It keeps everything good about the previous Air and drops the price tag. Experts can scarcely find anything to criticize, wholeheartedly recommending it over and over.

Breaking it down

Performance

All-day battery life. Apple says that the 13-inch Air will deliver "up to 12 hours" of Wi-Fi web surfing or movie playback, but professional reviewers regularly squeeze out even more -- nearly 16 hours in PCMag.com's trials, easily outdistancing top Windows ultraportable competitors. "While those other laptops may take you through your workday, the MacBook Air can also take you through your morning commute, your lunch hour, and your evening," Brian Westover says. The price cut helps makes the Air a good value considering its hardware lineup, including 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 processor (4th generation), 4 GB of memory, a 128 GB flash drive, and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. Upgrades are possible, but pricey, and can only be done at the time of purchase. But even in the base configuration, there's plenty of power for everyday tasks and even casual but still satisfying gaming.

Ergonomics

Travels light, feels great. Its ergonomics are largely unchanged, but critics rave about the 13-inch MacBook Air's backlit keyboard and glass trackpad, and at about less than .7 inches thick (maximum, tapering down to just .11 inches) and less than 3 pounds, you'll barely notice it when you carry it around. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities help on the road, but you'll need a separate adapter if you want an Ethernet connection. The lack of an optical drive and HDMI port annoy some reviewers, but only mildly, while the inclusion of an SDXC memory card reader -- missing on the 11-inch MacBook Air (Est. $900 and up) -- rates a thumbs up. There's no touch screen, because Mac OS X doesn't use touch. For those who run Windows 8 on this laptop, the large, responsive trackpad makes the omission less of an issue than it might seem.

Design

Same as it ever was. Almost every ultraportable on Earth takes its cues from the MacBook Air, which remains largely unchanged from previous versions. That leads some reviewers, such as CNET, to chide the MacBook Air's design as being "static," and missing some bells and whistles such as edge-to-edge glass and higher resolution screens. Indeed, the Air keeps its 13-inch screen at just 1,440 by 900 pixels, which is somewhat low-resolution compared to its rivals, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Est. $1,300 and up). Some competitors are slightly slimmer and lighter as well, but so slightly that Westover calls the differences "almost imperceptible." Laptop magazine finds the design to still be "svelte and elegant"

Support and reliability

The gold standard. Year after year, Apple's rock-solid reliability leaves other laptop brands in the dust in PCMag.com's reader survey. Users say Apple products rarely break down, and if they do, the company's support staff is friendly and helpful. Tech support is just as outstanding. Laptop Magazine staffers hit Apple with anonymous questions and get great help via phone and web. Any Mac owner can bring a laptop in for free help at a Genius Bar with a reservation, but the one-year warranty includes just 90 days of phone help. Laptop's Mark Spoonauer calls the current edition of the Air "sturdy," then adds: "We've used another 13-inch Air for a few years in a row without so much as a dent or worn-down key."

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Nikon D3200

Best digital SLR for beginners

Bottom line

The entry-level Nikon D3200 has a few tricks up its sleeve that make it super-easy for beginners to use, plus some high-end specs like a mega-high-resolution sensor that you won't find even on some pricier cameras. It fits 24 megapixels into a compact and lightweight body, and reviewers call it a "DSLR with training wheels."

Ease of use

One of the easiest to use. "This is one of the easiest-to-use DSLRs out there," DCResource.com's Jeff Keller says, and other reviewers agree. As with any DSLR, you can simply set the D3200 to Auto and click away while the camera does the rest. But if you want to learn more, the camera's Guide Mode will teach you as you shoot, "like a DSLR with training wheels," says Dan Havlik at Imaging-Resource.com.
The camera's body weighs just 1 pound, so it's "small and light enough to carry around every day," Keller adds. Testers find it comfortable to hold, with buttons and dials located exactly where you'd expect to find them. The 3-inch LCD screen is bright and clear and you can frame your shot in Live View, but experts say autofocus is sluggish this way, so it's better to look through the optical viewfinder.

Performance

Snappy speed and pretty photos, but don't expect miracles. In reviews, the Nikon D3200's real attention-grabber is its 24.2-megapixel compact image sensor. This is a significant achievement in a budget DSLR: "For an entry-level camera, this is exciting," says Tim Coleman at Amateur Photographer. This compact-sensor camera captures outstanding detail -- as much as some pro-quality, full-frame-sensor DSLRs -- and still handles dim light up to ISO 3,200 quite well. One drawback to note: The D3200's whopping megapixels mean whopping file sizes on your computer. Its battery is rated for 540 shots on a single charge: "Good enough for a typical day of stills shooting with some video capture and image review in between."

Durability

Lightweight but sturdy. "Despite being made of plastic (err, composite materials), it still feels very solid," Keller says of the Nikon D3200 at DCResource.com. "Lightweight does not mean poor quality," agrees Amateur Photographer's Coleman. He points out that the D3200's plastic body and faux-leather hand and thumb grips are identical to the Nikon D5100 (Est. $480 (with kit lens)) , the next model up the Nikon ladder. Ken Rockwell notes that the D3200's lens mount and tripod socket are both metal: "This is perfect," he says. "It's lightweight, and the durable parts are still metal." In fact, "about the only construction weak spot is the door over the memory card slot," Keller reports.

Features

Nikon adds new extras, but still leaves a few out. The Nikon D3200 includes a few impressive features, reviews say, but omits some niceties you'll find on other cameras. There's a jack so you can add your own stereo microphone, which is ideal when shooting movies as the built-in mono mic doesn't impress. There's also manual control over video, so you can adjust things such as aperture and mic level. Optional accessories include a $20 wireless remote and a $60 USB dongle that can beam photos wirelessly to your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet. On the downside, the LCD panel is static and won't flip out or swivel. However, a movable screen lets you see what you're doing with odd-angle shots like when shooting above a crowd.

strength:

• Ultra-high-resolution, 24-megapixel sensor
• Compact and lightweight
• Shoots 1080p full HD video with manual control

weakness:

• Overall image quality no better than lower-res cameras
• Huge resolution means huge files
• Sluggish autofocus in Live View and Movie mode

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