Best Products of the Year (page 2)

Sony HDR-FX7 $3,500

This year Sony nearly perfected its HDV prosumer camcorders, of course, not to any of our objections. The HDR-FX7 marks a simple, powerful camcorder that can please the newcomer as well as the ambitions of a professional shooter with its manual controls. We love the 3 quarter-inch ClearVID CMOS sensors, HDMI interface, light-weight, yet remarkably well-balanced feel of this camcorder.

Panasonic AG-HVX200 $5,995

The Panasonic AG-HVX200 made a lot of heads turn this year with its multitude of high definition formats and P2, solid-state recording media. Like its SD cousin, the AG-DVX100, it has found its way into many production houses, big and small. We are excited to see Panasonic challenging the design and workflow of digital video. If only we had a time machine to see where the market is going, we might jump aboard the no-tape bandwagon too.

Manfrotto 560B Monopod $210

A monopod is such a handy tool. And, this particular model offers a fluid pan head (or should we say foot), which makes it even more useful. It's the first time we've seen this feature on a monopod and the results were smooth and natural looking pans. We were also attracted to the 560B's retractable feet, which give the shooter more balance and traction. If you're a serious on-the-go shooter, you'll definitely find this monopod suitable for your lifestyle.

Apple MacBook Pro 15" $2,899

Over the last year Apple has made quite a few notable improvements across all of its computing product lines. The MacBook Pro laptops are not excluded of such improvements. Remember when you couldn't run Windows on a Mac? Remember when Apple didn't have Intel chips? We were very pleased with this laptop's fast processor speeds, improved energy efficiency and versatility. You'd be hard pressed to find a laptop this year that has made so many great improvements.

Gateway E-6610 Workstation $1,622

This robust workstation nearly flew under our radar, but luckily we have a keen eye for value. The E-6610 Workstation is certainly a great value for anyone looking to do some serious editing and yet not break the bank. With room to grow, this workstation is ready to make the move to Vista and/or HD video. Throw in that 19" LCD monitor to boot and you've got a complete system capable of more than what you bargained for, or at least we think so. We wouldn't be too surprised if Gateway mysteriously bumped up the price.

• Digg This!
• del.icio.us
• Technorati
• StumbleUpon
• Reddit