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Heavenly Home-Theater Speakers

Logitech Z-680 ($400)

Logitech's Z-680 speakers give home-theater enthusiasts the best 5.1-channel PC sound we've heard at this price. The powerful set works equally well for movies, games, or music, and it includes a fifth speaker for a center channel and a digital control pad that decodes Dolby Digital and DTS surround-sound signals. Thoughtful design touches (such as speaker stands that convert into wall mounts) round out the package.

 

 

The 21st-Century Sketchpad

Corel Grafigo (free download)

Visual thinkers and in-meeting doodlers, rejoice: Corel's free program Grafigo allows you to sketch or draw flowcharts (and add labels in your own handwriting) on your Windows Tablet PC (see our review in New Products, " Tablet Software Packages Get Graphic"). We wish that we could use Grafigo on nontablet PCs. You can also annotate JPEG and bitmap files with Onionskins, a kind of translucent sticky note. And even if you can't draw an entirely symmetrical square, Grafigo knows you're trying to--its shape recognition transforms elliptical circles and lopsided squares into perfect geometric figures.

 

Phenomenal Photo Printer

Epson Stylus Photo 2200 ($699)

The creme de la creme among photo ink jet printers, this model has all the features a serious photographer could want: seven ink cartridges (including a light black for realistic depth and shading), an extrawide carriage that can handle prints up to 13 inches wide, and both FireWire and USB 2.0 connections. Most significantly, it produces the best photos we've seen from an ink jet: Colors pop, details appear in sharp focus, and skin tones look natural.

 

 

The Graphics Board Gamers Dream Of

ATI All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro ($449)

As far as PC gamers are concerned, three things matter in a graphics board: frame rate, frame rate, and frame rate. The latest iteration of ATI's multimedia 3D board delivers all the performance you'd expect of its Radeon 9700 graphics chip and 128MB of graphics memory, so game fans won't be disappointed. On top of speed, the card adds a TV tuner and software that transforms your PC into a digital video recorder.

 

 

 

Lightweight Note-Taker

AlphaSmart Dana ($399)

Combining the simplicity of Palm OS 4.1 with the convenience of a laptop-size keyboard, the Dana is a versatile, inexpensive notebook alternative. The 2-pound device sports 8MB of on-board memory, two expansion card slots, and a backlit, 560-by-160-pixel monochrome touch screen that's 3.5 times larger than the screen of a typical handheld, along with a full-featured word processing program and spreadsheet. One of its best features is its unique ability to pour the contents of documents you type on the Dana directly into any application already open on your PC, with the push of a button.

 

A Multilingual Messenger

Trillian Pro ($25)

Instant messaging is an amazingly handy tool with one truly irritating flaw: Not one of the major clients lets you communicate with folks who use a different IM program. So thank goodness for Trillian Pro. This invaluable IM utility enables you to talk effortlessly with users of AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger--and even to fans of Internet Relay Chat. Trillian Pro can also tap into news services, get a local weather forecast, check your e-mail or calendar, and send messages to cell phones.

 

 

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