1. 100 Gigs for the Road

The Buzz: Remember when 20GB seemed huge for a road machine? In the coming months most of the major notebook vendors--including Dell and HP--will release laptops packing high-performance, 5400-rpm drives with a whopping 100GB capacity. We've seen notebook drives this large before, but those were slower, 4200-rpm models, which were not ideal for desktop replacements. If you don't want all that storage in one place, pick up a new Toshiba, which will divvy up the 100 gigs onto two drives.

Bottom Line: The 100GB mark is more a symbolic breakthrough than a technological one; but, oh, what a symbol.

2. Specs With Good Specs

The Buzz: You've got your sunglasses; you've got your portable audio. Now the stylin' folks at Oakley have merged the two into The Thump--an MP3 (and WMA/.wav) player that you wear on your face. With controls built into the frame and speakers mounted on adjustable booms by your ears, the ultralight (1.9-ounce) Thump is a marvel of geek-meets-chic design. It includes USB 2.0 support, 6 hours of battery life, and high-quality optics, though only the 256MB model ($495) has polarized lenses; the 128MB version ($395) doesn't.

Bottom Line: These shades aren't cheap, but regular electronics-free Oakley sunglasses can run you $200 or more. Besides, looking cool just costs more.

3. Sims 2: Who Needs Real Life?

The Buzz: Television has reality programs. Gaming has The Sims. And with the recent release of Electronic Arts' The Sims 2, silicon reality takes a huge leap forward. Now the characters ("Sims") have memories, they pass down their DNA, and they even have aspirations (knowledge, family, popularity, romance, or fortune) that you help them fulfill. A cradle-to-grave simulation, Sims 2 even lets you make Sims movies. Won't Mom be proud?

Bottom Line: Why pay a "life coach" upward of $400 when Sims 2 can teach you all you need to know about conflict resolution for a mere $50?

4. Mobile IM for Less

The Buzz: Many handheld units are going the convergence route, folding e-mail, Web access, phone service, and computer functions into their offerings. AT&T Wireless is taking a different approach with the Ogo, a dedicated e-mail/IM/SMS device that hooks into services from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo (and handles POP3 e-mail from other ISPs). The product's stylish clamshell top hides a BlackBerry-style QWERTY keyboard, a navigation pad, and a low-end color screen--a whole lotta device for $99.

Bottom Line: Simple, useful, and cheap enough (at $18 per month for unlimited e-mail and IM) to be an impulse purchase. One Ogo to go, please.

5. Sony Versus Nintendo...Again

The Buzz: The game wars are going handheld, with dueling releases from Nintendo and Sony. First out of the gate is the Nintendo DS, a $150 dual-color-screen device with built-in voice recognition and touch-screen input. Available on November 21, the wireless (both Wi-Fi and proprietary) device supports multiplayer gaming and DS-to-DS chat. Sony's higher-end, Wi-Fia??connected PlayStation Portable should arrive at the end of March; pricing was unavailable at press time.

Bottom Line: The Nintendo DS gains the initial edge by virtue of timing and the sheer number of titles available (the device will support single-player Game Boy Advance games, too). But the Sony PSP's resemblance to the megapopular PlayStation 2 bodes well for its success.

Contributing Editor Steve Fox covers buzzworthy products, ideas, and trends. Contact him at stevefox@pcworld.com. Go here for more Plugged In.