TigerDirect offers the OCZ 480GB Solid 3 Series SSD, model no. SLD3-25SAT3-480G, for $329.99. This $50 mail-in rebate cuts it to $279.99. With free shipping, that's $0.58/GB and the lowest total price we could find $50, although we saw it for $10 less in December (since expired)...

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.

Today only, TigerDirect offers the OCZ 256GB Agility 4 SSD, model no. AGT4-25SAT3-256G, for $159.99. This $30 mail-in rebate drops it to $129.99. With free shipping, that's $0.51/GB, and the lowest total price we could find by $60, although we saw it for $30 less on Black Friday...

Engineers at Macronix, one of the world's largest flash memory makers, have reportedly developed a new technology that can extend the life of NAND cells by more than a thousand times by simply applying heat. Most of today's flash modules fail after cells have been programmed...

Earlier this year we reviewed OCZ's flagship Vertex 4 SSD which at the time we were lead to believe was based on a second-generation Everest controller developed in-house. Eventually it was revealed and later confirmed by OCZ that the Octane and Vertex 4 drives actually used Marvell controllers with firmware developed in-house by the Indillinx team. While we acknowledged that it was very sneaky on OCZ’s behalf, it also didn’t change things much for us. Regardless of who did or didn't make the controller, the Vertex 4 was still one of the best performers and best values in the high-end SSD segment.

So with the controversy of the Vertex 4 almost behind them, OCZ is finally ready to unveil its first truly in-house SSD controller. It's been three years since Indilinx released a brand new controller and they are doing so today with the Barefoot 3, which is to be featured in OCZ’s latest SSD series known as Vector.

Best Buy offers the Intel 520 Series 180GB SSD for $129.99 with free shipping ($0.72/GB). That's $60 under a July deal and the lowest total price we could find now by $59. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include read speeds of up to 550MB/s and write speeds of 520MB/s...

MacMall offers the Samsung 256GB 830 Series Serial ATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Internal SSD, model no. MZ-7PC256B/WW, for $167.99 with free shipping ($0.66/GB). That's the lowest total price we could find for this drive by $21, although we saw it for $12 less last month. It features read...