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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