PC World Editors' Holiday Wish List

Multimedia, mobility, and novelty--here's what we want in our stockings this year.

Felicia Williams, PCWorld.com

Wondering what are the hottest geek gifts this season? We know where to check--the tech experts at PC World.

We found that their holiday wish lists range from the practical to the extravagant to just plain fun...and some may surprise you. We also spotted a few trends. They're talking about convergence, whether it's PDAs marrying wireless phones, VCRs merging with PCs merging with TVs to produce a smart digital recorder, or audio and video functions combining in a portable device (that unfortunately won't ship this season, but read on!).

Maybe you'll find some inspiration to shop for the techie in your life (even if that's you). Here's what they told us:

Looking Good

"I'm something of a traditionalist when it comes to photography (I used to take pictures for a living), but I'm beginning to come around to the joys of digital photography with the Casio QV-4000 digital camera. Ideally I'd like a pro system that can use interchangeable lenses (such as the Canon EOS 1D), but as these still cost over $5000, I'll go for the $689 Casio."

-- Richard Baguley

I want a big, clear picture, without giving up my whole desk for a giant, flickering CRT monitor. So how about a giant LCD screen, between 18 and 20 inches? I'd try models from ViewSonic, Eizo, or Sony.

-- Seán Captain

"First choice is the Nikon Coolpix 5000. Looks cool, has megapixels to burn, and the add-on wide-angle lens is great. Next I want big prints from the Nikon's images, and that means the Olympus P-400 dye-sub printer. It can print 8-by-10s with stunning, long-lasting colors. Finally, I need the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000ED film scanner, because I have 30 years' worth of negatives that I'd like to print out on the Olympus printer."

-- Tracey Capen

I have several cool products on my holiday wish list, starting with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F707 digital camera. It sports a sleek, innovative design and 5-megapixel resolution for producing handsome, colorful photographs. Alternatively, I can also go for the Canon Powershot S110 Digital Elph for its ultra-compact size and its good-looking snapshots.

-- Grace Aquino

My Hi-8 Camcorder has served me well, but I'm ready to move up to digital video. I can think of no better way to capture all the holiday fun than with a Sony DCR-PC9. It's about the size of an average digital camera, fits in the palm of your hand, and takes still images (although the highest resolution is 640-by-480). I've seen it online for less than $1000. Throw in some editing software and a recordable DVD drive and it'll be next stop, Hollywood.

-- Andrew Eisner

Double-Duty Gadgets

"It's everything a mobile geek could want: Handspring's Treo, a cute combination of a Palm PDA and a cell phone in one handy package. It's due to ship early in 2002. Now if they can only bring the price down from its initial level of $399, I'd be a happy man."

-- Richard Baguley

"I want a combo PDA-cell phone à la the Kyocera SmartPhone or the Samsung SPH-I300. The benefits of just a PDA or a just a cell phone aren't enough to make me want to carry the extra weight, and I sure don't want to lug around two devices. But if I can get both devices in one package, it's worth the weight."

-- Seán Captain

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." Just kidding. Instead, bring me the Nokia 9290 Communicator; it's a combination cell phone and PDA equipped with a small yet relatively manageable QWERTY keyboard and a color LCD.

-- Grace Aquino

I'm really going to make the elves work overtime, because I spent the whole year reading and writing about some of the jazziest tech products ever to come off an engineer's drafting board. I want a Wacom Cintiq combo LCD monitor/tablet ($1899). Its 15-inch active-matrix screen supports resolutions to 1024 by 768 and provides up to 16.7 million colors, and the cordless, battery-less pen lets me doodle right on the screen.

-- Dennis O'Reilly

Hey, if Santa really loved me, he'd lower Hewlett-Packard's PSC 950 down my chimney. This multifunction device gives you an ink jet printer, a flatbed scanner, a color copier, and a standalone fax, then adds features for digital camera users--all for about $399. It's perfect for the small-office or home-office user who wants to print out digital photos on the side. This little workhorse accepts SmartMedia cards, CompactFlash cards, and Sony Memory Stick media. Talk about a stuffed stocking!

-- Anne McDonald

Sounds Sweet

"Creative Lab's new Audigy Platinum EX Sound Blaster SB0090PE raised PC audio standards when it debuted this fall, and is about the closest one gets to real audiophile sound quality from a PC sound card, especially if 3D effects are your thing. At $250, it's a tad on the expensive side, but if sound quality matters, this is the one."

-- Ramon G. McLeod

"All I want is an MP3 and WMA music player and recorder, a photo album and carousel, a still camera and camcorder, plus a video player and recorder. Luckily, all these devices are built into one small package: 10GB Archos Jukebox Multi-Media Portable Entertainment Center. Unfortunately, that device won't be ready in time for the holidays (it's shipping after the new year), so in the meantime I'll take the $349 Archos encoder and player. This little guy holds 6GB of MP3s or data and includes an internal microphone to record from a stereo, radio, or your own voice."

-- Alexandra Krasne

Can Santa find a spare Bose Wave/PC Interactive Audio System lying around the North Pole somewhere? This $449 device combines an AM/FM clock radio that connects to my PC to let me listen to MP3 files, play audio CDs on my PC's CD-ROM drive, and tune in toInternet radio stations. It even lets me listen to songs as they're being transferred from my CDs to MP3 files. Yeah, I know I'm asking for a lot--but you came through back in '64 when I pleaded for a big boy's bike, remember?

-- Dennis O'Reilly

Wired Homes Department

"InFocus's LS110 digital projector makes that little 'I want one' voice go off in my head. The images from this truly amazing product are simply gorgeous, and it's a great alternative to one of those awful, bulky, big-screen TVs. Try watching Swordfish, Gladiator, or Toy Story 2 with one of these. You'll never be happy watching a movie on TV again. If it only it didn't cost $5000. Darn!"

-- Ramon G. McLeod

"ReplayTV shows up on several wish lists. Who needs Tivo? Not with the ReplayTV 4000. The coolest personal digital recorder may be the newest version of the lesser-known ReplayTV. The new 4000 has no monthly fee, stores up to 320 hours of custom TV channels to let you watch your favorite shows when you're in the mood, and even lets you swap programs with buddies across the Internet (a feature that's earned the legal wrath of broadcasters). With prices ranging from $699 to $1999, the 4000 isn't cheap, but it's a surefire way to make any TV junkie very, very happy."

-- Harry McCracken and Melissa Perenson

I'm hoping for an 802.11b wireless access point/router, like Compaq's iPaq Connection Point CP-2W Wireless Broadband Gateway and a wireless LAN card--so I can take my notebook to the living-room couch and still use my broadband Internet connection.

-- Rebecca Freed

Take it With You

I've finally settled on a laptop that has everything I want. The $2599 Gateway Solo 9550xl runs on a 1.13-GHz mobile Pentium III, and comes with 256Kb of SDRAM. With its DVD/CD-RW combination drive and plethora of multimedia connections, including a combination S/PDIF and Dolby audio port, composite TV-out port, and IEEE 1394 port, this notebook caught my eye. But the best part about the 9550xl is its huge 15.7-inch screen. With so much viewable area, I won't have to strain my eyes when I edit video I'll be recording during the holidays.

-- Kalpana Narayanamurthi

I've got to have a notebook with a DVD-ROM drive so I can watch movies and deal with constant travel delays. If it's coming out of my pocket, I'd want Dell's Inspiron 8100, which costs about $2100. But if Santa's reaching into his big red bag, I hope he pulls out an IBM ThinkPad T23. I'm not asking for the T23 just for its 48GB hard drive, or for its 256MB of RAM, or even for its screaming mobile Pentium III-1133/733-M processor. I'm asking because I've been a good boy this year, meeting all my deadlines (OK, almost all of them), and helping PC World readers keep their machines running like water--but at more than $3000 there's no way I'd ever buy a ThinkPad T23 for myself. Thanks, Santa!

-- Dennis O'Reilly and Randy Ross

Some of the greatest things do come in small packages. I wouldn't mind having a subnotebook like the Sony VAIO CI Picturebook It's roughly an inch thick and weighs a little over 2 pounds--and it comes with a built-in digital camera to boot. Awesome!!

-- Grace Aquino

Tech Toys

No one with true "geek cred" will deny their secret fascination with blinking lights. Fortunately lots of great gifts can satisfy the editor with a blinky-light fetish. Among my favorite high-tech toys are Hokey Spokes, computer-controlled strips of colored LEDs you attach to bicycle spokes. As you ride a bike equipped with the $80 Spokes, their illumination pattern shifts and changes, following either a preprogrammed pattern or random sequencing. The effect is similar to that of the Goodyear Blimp's nighttime light show. You can even program in custom text messages that slowly orbit the hub of the wheel as you ride.

Made of flat plates of glass, Luminglas sculptures seem to emanate colored "lightning bolts" from the center that crawl along the surface. Once you've seen a Luminglas light fixture, you'd never forget it. There are several ranging in price from $50 to $3000. The effect is mesmerizing, and even more so if you can get up close: the "lightning" (actually electrons lighting up phosphor-coated glass beads as they flow through the middle of the Luminglas) follows your finger if you touch the glass plate's exterior. Purely decorative, the plasma sculptures serve no useful purpose--unless you happen to be a Borg in need of some R&R (rest and recharge).

-- Andrew Brandt

Thoughtful Afterthoughts

"Got RAM? You can get it cheap, from Crucial.com, Kingston.com, and other vendors. Remember when memory cost $600 a megabyte--too pricey a gift for anyone but the biggest spenders? But with 256MB now available for an amazingly low $30, there's no excuse for your loved ones to hobble along with a memory-starved PC. Pop a memory chip or two into the toe of their stockings, with a note offering installation help if needed."

-- Harry McCracken

I'm looking for what I call a "Murphy Desk" for the living room, where we can place the family PC and various peripherals for easy access. But like a Murphy Bed, it folds up and hides the tech clutter when we want a tidier room. Such furniture exists, but of course my favorite candidates carry a healthy price tag; and I'm not sure they'll fold up sufficiently to contain all our PC paraphernalia anyway. But Santa can find anything, right?

-- Peggy Watt

"And if money's no object...consider the Segway HT personal transporter, introduced earlier in December. I'd love to have one, but if someone is spending $3000 on a present for me, I'd rather get my kitchen redone."

-- Richard Baguley