DIGITAL CAMERAS
CHEAP $219 OLYMPUS BRIO D-100 This 1.3-megapixel camera is all you need if you’re not going to be making prints any bigger than snapshots. The camera produces sharp images and slips easily into your pocket, and its system for transferring images to your computer is a breeze to operate. www.olympusamerica.com
MODERATE $600 SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-P5 A 3.3-megapixel camera that delivers great picture resolution in an attractive, compact package with easy-to-navigate menus. If you want to trim your costs, the Sony DSC-P3 model offers all the same features, except the 3X optical zoom, for $100 less. www.sonystyle.com
EXPENSIVE $900 NIKON COOLPIX 995 In 2000, ON magazine named the Coolpix 990 our Machine of the Year, and this 2001 model takes evolutionary steps forward (such as higher optical zoom and a Quick Review button). And Nikon recently started offering a $100 rebate, bringing down costs too. www.nikonusa.com
CAMCORDERS
CHEAP $599 SAMSUNG SC-D67 Now that all the cool kids are shooting home movies on MiniDV–the new standard for digital video–Samsung’s SC-D67 is a good bet. It’s one of the cheapest MiniDV camcorders on the market, and with 390,000-pixel resolution and a digital image stabilization system, you won’t suffer for having saved a few (hundred) bucks. www.samsungusa.com
MODERATE $1,700 JVC GR-DVP3U Compact enough to fit on your Bat belt, this tiny camcorder is nicknamed the MicroPocket DV. Its 680,000-pixel resolution (nearly twice that of most TVs) gives you crystal-clear video, and it’s also equipped with NightAlive low-light sensitivity and a high-resolution still-camera mode for taking Web-ready snapshots. www.jvc.com
EXPENSIVE $2,999 SONY DCR-VX2000 CD-quality audio recording, over 1-million-pixel resolution, a 16:9 wide-screen option–it’s no wonder this is the MiniDV camera professionals use. And just in case you’re the next Kubrick, a dubbing option lets you add music and narration over the original audio. Add the optional battery and you can film a nine-hour epic on one charge. www.sonystyle.com
DVD PLAYERS
CHEAP $98 APEX DIGITAL AD-500 A few years ago, there were no DVD players under $300, but like everything except gasoline, they just keep getting cheaper. Newcomer Apex Digital beat all the big names into the sub-$100-player market and did it with a worthy machine. Not only does the AD-500 play CDs and DVDs, but it can read your MP3 music files from disc too. www.apexdigitalinc.com
MODERATE $250 PANASONIC DVD-RV31 If you want a home theater but haven’t yet entered the rarefied realm of six-speaker surround sound, take a look at the RV31. A DVD player with one of the best surround-sound simulators, it’ll turn your little stereo into a system worthy of the cineplex. Not only that, the player’s Cinema Mode improves detail and color for a richer picture. www.panasonic.com
EXPENSIVE $400 TOSHIBA SD5700 If you’re enough of a video junkie to own a progressive-scan TV (one that uses PC-monitor technology to eliminate annoying horizontal lines), then you’re going to need a DVD player that supports it. Toshiba’s SD5700 has what it takes–progressive component-video output–plus the ability to play DVD-Audio and MP3s. www.toshiba.com
TELEVISIONS
CHEAP $149 PHILIPS 13PR11M Not all 13-in. televisions are created equal. This Philips model comes in three colors (silver, white and metallic blue), and its QuadraSurf remote lets you group your favorite channels together by genre and flip through them with a single button. It also has a built-in wake-up timer, so you can kiss your clock radio good-bye. www.usa.philips.com
MODERATE $800 HITACHI 32UX01S If you load a TV with bells and whistles, better make sure the picture is perfect too. The 32-in. UltraVision has a digital three-line comb filter: don’t worry about what it does; just enjoy the rich colors and razor-sharp lines. Plus, the bells and whistles: S-Video and component-video inputs, dual-tuner picture-in-picture and two cable-TV jacks. www.hitachi.com
EXPENSIVE $3,999 SHARP 61R-NWP5H Thinking big? Better think progressive scan, which is a fancy term for a TV that eliminates those horizontal lines that get more and more annoying as sets get bigger. Sharp’s monster 61-in. progressive-scan rear-projection TV is HDTV ready, but it also has a digital-signal converter that makes sure regular TV channels look nearly as good. www.sharp-usa.com
CELL PHONES
CHEAP $80 NOKIA 5165 Solid, dependable and cheap, this is the phone for Honda Civic owners. While it lacks a vibrate mode, the 5165 has the right vitals (long battery life, easy-to-read screen, intuitive navigation) and cool extras like text messaging. Its bulky, but brightly colored faceplates add style, and the price is right–with rebates, you might be able to get it for free. www.nokia.com
MODERATE $150 LG INFOCOMM TM510 The external LCD screen is one of those features every clamshell-style phone should have–it lets you see who’s calling without fumbling around to open the phone. The light, compact TM510 has other extras worth paying for too, like voice-activated dialing, a vibrate mode and a phone book that handles five numbers for each of 199 names. www.lginfocomm.com
EXPENSIVE $500 SAMSUNG I300 If you’ve ever juggled a Palm and a cell phone at the same time, you’ll understand the appeal of the curvaceous i300. The Palm OS is built right in, so you can chat while using your appointment calendar (a hands-free set and voice recognition make this a snap). One caveat: that gorgeous color screen cuts down on battery life. www.samsungusa.com
DESKTOP COMPUTERS
CHEAP $1,050 HP PAVILION 7935 There are lower-priced machines but not many with this kind of high performance. Hewlett-Packard’s best value includes a superfast 1.3-GHz AMD Athlon chip, Polk Audio speakers and a built-in CD burner. Better still, through Jan. 5, a $150 rebate on the PC-and-monitor combo pushes the system price down to a very merry $900. www.hpshopping.com
MODERATE $1,650 COMPAQ PRESARIO 8000 If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to burn your own DVDs, we’ve found one. Compaq’s newest Presario includes a 17-in. monitor, color inkjet printer and speakers, plus a drive that writes CDs and DVDs. Besides rejuvenating old home videos, this powerhouse is a good bet for anything from PC gaming to desktop publishing. www.compaq.com
EXPENSIVE $3,159 GATEWAY 700XL So you want the best there is? How about a 2-GHz Pentium 4 processor with 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and the top-of-the-line NVidia GeForce3 graphics card? And the extras are as premium as the innards: surround-sound speakers, a wireless mouse, a year of free AOL service and a gorgeous 18-in. flat-panel monitor. www.gateway.com
PDAs
CHEAP $199 VISOR NEO If you want the most bytes for your buck, Handspring is the way to go, and its new Visor Neo (paging all Matrix fans) is the best low-priced PDA around. Inexpensive as it is, the Neo gives you more power than most people ever use, including 8MB of memory, a galaxy of Palm software and the Springboard line of hardware add-ons. www.handspring.com
MODERATE $329 Palm m500 At a svelte 4 oz. and 0.4 in. thick, the M500 doesn’t look like a workhorse. But there’s power in that tiny package–8MB of memory and rechargeable lithium polymer batteries. Best of all, it comes with all the trimmings: a backlit black-and-white screen, a vibrate alert and a slot for expansion cards roomy enough for an entire travel guide. www.palm.com
EXPENSIVE $500 SONY CLIE N760C If you have a PDA in the glove compartment of your Rolls, chances are it’s a Clie. The crisp, bright screen is a work of art, with industry-best resolution and 16-bit color, all the better to display your photos and movies–which you can store on a 128MB Memory Stick. Best of all, it doubles as an MP3 player, something no other Palm does. www.sony.com/clie
LAPTOPS
CHEAP $949 DELL INSPIRON 2500 It may be low on frills, but with an 800-MHz Celeron processor, a 10GB hard drive and a 12.1-in. backlit screen, this Inspiron can handle most essential tasks. Six months of MSN Net access are included, but you’ll probably want to double the 64MB of RAM. www.dell.com
MODERATE $1,799 APPLE iBOOK The fairest of them all, this snow-white 5.2-lb. iBook could make Mac users out of the snobbiest Windows fans. With its high-res 12.1-in. screen, a drive that burns CDs and reads DVDs, and a jack that connects the computer to a TV, it dwarfs the competition. www.apple.com/ibook
EXPENSIVE $2,679 TOSHIBA PORTEGE 4000 Many lightweight laptops get that way by being stripped of cool features. Not this 4.5-lb. roadie, with its 750-MHz Pentium III, 256MB of RAM and 30GB hard drive, plus a combo DVD-drive/ CD-burner, built-in wireless networking and a long list of lesser perks. www.toshiba.com
STEREOS
CHEAP $150 SONY CFD-S40CP BOOMBOX Home audio may be exploring new dimensions with six-speaker DVD surround sound, but there’s still no substitute for a good, solid boom box. Sony’s latest can even play MP3s on CD, and it hasn’t forgotten the value of a good old-fashioned tape deck. www.sonystyle.com
MODERATE $550 YAMAHA MCR-E250 Electronics are always shrinking, and it’s not hard to find quality among the “microcomponent” systems, but Yamaha’s 50-watt system stands out, with a three-CD changer, two PianoCraft speakers and a subwoofer jack in case you need more bass. www.yamaha.com/yec
EXPENSIVE $1,800 SHARP SD-NX10 For your favorite golden-eared Bach-ophile, we recommend 1-Bit digital audio, a new technology that improves dynamics and frequency range. Sharp’s 1-Bit desktop system with built-in CD and MiniDisc players delivers almost freakishly clear sound. www.sharp-usa.com
SOFTWARE
CHEAP $30 STARRY NIGHT BEGINNER A guide to the night sky worthy of Van Gogh. Starry Night shows you the heavens as seen from your backyard, then leads you through the Dippers, Bears and other constellations one by one. It will even show you the night sky of the date you were born. www.starrynight.com
MODERATE $50 GENERATIONS DELUXE Sometimes futuristic technology is the best way to get to the past. Generations helps you trace your family history through public records and online databases. When you find what you’re looking for, it will build your family tree for you, branch by branch. www.sierrahome.com
EXPENSIVE $100 PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS At last Adobe has scaled down its industrial-strength Photoshop software into an affordable, user-friendly package for casual shutterbugs. Elements makes your digital photos look the way you want them to: brighter, straighter, smoother and crisper. www.adobe.com
MP3 PLAYERS
CHEAP $130 SAMSUNG YP-20S MINI YEPP MP3 players are great because, unlike CD or cassette players of the Walkman ilk, they tend to fit in your pocket. The 64-MB Mini Yepp is so tiny it fits on a key chain. It’s easy to set up and makes plenty of noise for its size. The only trick? Not losing it. www.samsungusa.com
MODERATE $299 INTEL POCKET CONCERT This loud little flash-memory player can hold 128 megs of MP3s (or two to four hours of music). Because there are no moving parts, it can’t possibly skip. Intel is throwing in a $50 mail-in rebate through January that drops the price to $249. www.intel.com
EXPENSIVE $399 APPLE IPOD Once again, the folks who brought us the iMac have seized the design-and-engineering high ground. The elegant, stunningly easy-to-use iPod is the size of a deck of cards yet can hold 1,000 songs. Apple can’t say if or when it will let Windows users join the fun. www.apple.com/ipod
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FITNESS
CHEAP $30 OREGON SCIENTIFIC PEDOMETER Don’t live near Venice Beach? No problem. Your evening stroll (sans boardwalk) can be just as fun with this lightweight pedometer. It tracks distance covered and elapsed time with a large, easy-to-read LCD screen, and it also has an FM tuner. Hey, if you can’t enjoy the sounds of the beach, you might as well enjoy the Beach Boys. www.oregonscientific.com
MODERATE $50 TANITA ULTIMATESCALE 2001 Really wanna get fit? Throw away that prehistoric bathroom scale (toss out those takeout menus too), and try a scale that measures your body-fat percentage–which is what really counts–as well as your weight. This body-fat monitor from Tanita is priced right too, so you won’t feel bad about buying all those Tae-Bo videos. www.tanitascale.com
EXPENSIVE $135 NIKE HRM TRIAX 100 This sleek-looking Nike watch doubles as a heart-rate monitor. Strap its elastic chest transmitter (not shown) around your torso, and the fun begins. You can program it to graph your pulse and heart rate with each grueling lap (up to 100 laps), and it will even sound an alarm if it thinks you’re overdoing it. Easy there, Flash. www.niketown.com
OUTDOORS
CHEAP $10 PRINCETON TEC PULSAR FLASHLIGHT What? You think key chains are just for holding the keys to your SUV? Princeton Tec’s tiny terror of a flashlight is the size of a large grape, but it puts out 12 hr. of brilliant white light on just two watch batteries. You won’t even remember it’s there–until you lose a contact in your tent in the middle of the night. www.princetontec.com
MODERATE $94 LEATHERMAN JUICE XE6 The Juice is loose: this year Leatherman premieres a line of user-friendly multitools for the rest of us. The xe6 is the most comprehensive entry; highlights include scissors, four screwdrivers, two knife blades, wire cutters, a saw, a diamond-coated file and a molded purple grip. (O.K., Leatherman calls the color thunder.) www.leatherman.com
EXPENSIVE $374 GARMIN ETREX VISTA Wherever you go, there you are–if you’re carrying a GPS (global positioning system) unit. The eTrex Vista, Garmin’s top-of-the-line model, gives you your latitude and longitude to a fiendishly precise 3 m. This cell phone-size gadget also packs an altimeter, an electronic compass and digital maps of the Americas. www.garmin.com
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