From the perspective of folks who cover tech-related happenings, this is always a polarizing time of year. The final weeks of December are generally void of product announcements, yet only two weeks later, we're bombarded with new gadgets at CES.

Before we move on to the latest and greatest devices of 2013, we figure it's worth revisiting some of 2012's most popular devices as suggested by our Product Finder, which includes reviews by hundreds of seasoned specialists across the Web. We've included 59 products across 14 categories along with their aggregate review score and a brief commentary that explains why they're special.

The IdeaPad Yoga 13 was one of the first hybrid Windows 8 systems that consumers got a look at. Lenovo unveiled a near-finished prototype at CES nearly a year ago – well before Windows 8 was finished and ready for prime time.

With Windows 8 now here Lenovo is looking to capitalize early and often with the do-it-all Yoga 13. Priced from $999, this system was one of the first portable systems to launch alongside Windows 8. I’ve spent the past several weeks learning the ins and outs of this hybrid Ultrabook and without jumping right to the conclusion from the get-go, I will let you know that it’s a very capable all-around system that doesn’t compromise on that it is first and foremost: a notebook.

There was a moment on Sunday when I thought the PC gamers had been hiding something from me. They'd been telling me that PC gaming wasn't the complicated hobby that it used to be, that it was more streamlined and less of a pain. They'd told me that I didn't need to be an auto mechanic if I didn't want to be, that I could just drive without ever flipping up the hood.

And yet there I was trying to be a PC gamer on Sunday and having a tough time of it. I was feeling stymied yet again. I was having what I now hope are my last doubts, because today I've just about run out of excuses to fear PC gaming.

NEC has expanded its Lavie notebook family with a new premium system that is said to be the thinnest offering of its kind. At its slimmest point, the 15.6-inch Lavie X ultrabook measures only half an inch thick (12.8mm) -- a feat that required extra-thin internal components...

A $200 laptop is a difficult thing to assess. The Acer C7 Chromebook has that shockingly low price tag, but there's also weak build quality and a netbook-grade CPU. The trade-offs the buyer must be willing to make are not trivial. And that’s before we acknowledge the Acer C7 runs Chrome OS rather than Windows.

The most interesting question then, is who exactly is the C7 for? Before we can get to who it’s for (hint: there is more than one correct answer,) we have to get to the bottom of what the C7 is and then more importantly, what it can do.

If you’ve played around a bit with Windows 8, you know it’s just one of those things that needs to be touched. A mouse is okay, a trackpad gets by, but don’t-call-it-Metro begs to be touched. The live tiles and lengthy Start screen are designed for just that, and nothing else truly satisfies.

While manufacturers haven’t exactly flooded the market with touch-enabled laptops, there are some good options out there already. Expect a crush of touchable Windows 8 machines at CES early next year, but for those shopping this holiday, we have cherry picked the best touch-enabled, Windows 8 laptops.

The holiday season is right around the corner and so is Black Friday, when the Christmas shopping season officially begins. The best way to make the most of Black Friday savings is to be prepared. So we're kicking off the holidays with Dealnews' 5th annual Black Friday predictions.

If you're wondering how low big-screen HDTVs can go, how much you'll have to spend on a decent laptop, or whether you'll actually see a discount on an iPad, then you've come to the right place. We also have predictions for smartphones, eBook readers, game systems, and more.

Appreciating the original Razer Blade required a dramatic shift in the way I thought about portable gaming machines. Form factor always took a back seat to performance. The second generation Razer Blade is not quite a high performance gaming laptop, but it's getting better.

Sony Store offers the 3.8lb VAIO T-Series LED-backlit touchscreen ulrabook in silver, model no. SVT131190X, for $739.99. Coupon code "SONYTX13" drops it to $699.99. With free shipping, that's $69 less than the lowest total price we could find for a comparable T-series ultrabook elsewhere...

Could a few hundred bucks tacked on the top end make a difference between a vanilla ultrabook and something truly special? That's something Acer is willing to gamble on with its latest flagship ultrabook.

The Aspire S5 comes with a beefy Core i7-3517U clocked at 1.9GHz, 4GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage -- no hybrid caching system here.  In most instances, an SSD is the best component upgrade for any modern system, but Acer took things one step further as the S5 is equipped with two 128GB SSDs in a RAID0 configuration. It goes without saying that the storage subsystem should be blazing fast.

Adorama via eBay offers the 5.8lb Asus R500A-RS51 for $479 with free shipping. That's $129 below the best we could find for this model elsewhere. Features include a 15.6" 1366x768 LED-backlit LCD, a dual-core Intel Core i5-3210M, 6GB of RAM, a 750GB hard drive, a DVD burner...

Dell has joined the ranks of PC makers showcasing hybrid Windows 8 touch devices during IFA this week, and although that's mostly unsurprising, we imagine few expected to see the Duo revived. In mid-2010, the company made headlines over a relatively novel convertible netbook...