This fall you have a lot of technology choices and part of the problem will be some of the really cool stuff won’t be coming until winter. This stuff includes PCs running Microsoft’s new Vista operating system and the Apple iTV device which looks incredibly cool and could own the segment.

But let’s focus on things you can buy and what to look for.

Flat Panel TVs:

Plasma vs. LCD: For a living room implementation the sweet spot for both is 42” to 50”, any larger and you have to sit too far back and any smaller and you default into LCD only. Prices are in free fall right now so the later you buy in the season the better your deal is likely to be. If your viewing room is very dark, Plasma is your best choice and if, like it is with me, you have a lot of ambient light, LCD is better and both are about the same price. Brands that lead this segment are Philips (Ambilight), Pioneer, Panasonic, HP, and Dell (Dell often has the most aggressive prices). I’m a big fan of the Philips Ambilight http://www.plasma.com because the background light makes it look bigger, unfortunately it also makes it several hundred dollars more expensive which you need to take into consideration.

37” and Smaller:

Consider a Monitor rather than a TV. The screen performance is often better, you probably won’t need a tuner in the device (set top box, PC, Apple iTV will probably be source) and that way you’ll pay for what you will use and enjoy and not for what you won’t. In addition, large monitors should be more future proof as capable capabilities will probably force changes long before the 7 to 10 year service live of a flat panel display runs out. Gateway http://www.gateway.com and Dell http://accessories.us.dell.com both have strong products in this category while ViewSonic http://www.viewsonic.com has recently popped up as one of the strong value players. Of the products we’ve had in house the Gateway has proven the best at multiple video sources and has a critical upscaler built in which does wonders for standard DVDs giving them an HD like look without having to incur the extra cost of an overly expensive HD-DVD or BlueRay drive. (For now avoid both as too expensive and too media limited).

MP3/Media Players:

Apple http://www.apple.com still has the strongest line in the segment; the best value in that line is the new metal cased Nano which blends a small size with a much more robust case than the original product. The new Shuffle is a great stocking stuffer and will probably be relatively rare for awhile.

For non-iTunes users the SanDisk Sensa http://www.sandisk.com(1014)-MP3_Players.aspx stands out with the best bundle being the Rhapsody DNA http://biz.yahoo.com bundle. This product coupled with a $10 a month all you can eat subscription service provides the best overall value of any product currently on the market for music.

If you are into TV the Toshiba Gigabeat http://www.gigabeat.com is the best small media player and, if you want a bigger screen the, Archos 604 http://www.archos.com is an amazing little device. Both support most of the secure Microsoft and non-secure non-Microsoft formats. Both are relatively easy to use and both have better screens for TV and Movies (in terms of aspect ratio) than the Video iPod.

PC Accessories:

WiFi: Hands down the Netgear Rangemax Next http://www.netgear.com Wireless router is the most impressive product on all fronts. Winning a number of head to head shoot outs with other products it is not only a top performer but it is damn good looking too.

Storage: The HP Media Vault http://www.engadget.com stands out as a strong value, easily upgraded and with a strong software set this product should not only satisfy your current backup and media storage needs but those well into the future. It is a UP&P device supporting a number of compliant music streaming products.

Mega Storage: The Infrant Technologies 3-Terabyte Repertoire http://www.infrant.com for those that need storage on steroids. This thing is impressive, fanless and quiet, highly redundant and safe, for the media enthusiast this thing is the top of the market. It supports a wide variety of music players like Squeezebox, Sonos, and Transporter native.

Optical Drive: HP LightScribe http://h71036.www7.hp.com , the only DVD burner which prints (engraves) each disk that is burned. Really handy if you ever want to use any of the download and burn DVD services and much better than using a magic marker or label maker to mark the burned disks.

Mice: Two products stand out this quarter the Logitech http://www.logitech.com MX Revolution for desktop computers and VX Revolution for laptop computers. Both set the bar as the most advanced Mice currently in the market with Hyper fast scrolling. These represent the ultimate in mice and ultimate has to be cool.

USB Flash Drives: The SanDisk http://www.sandisk.com(1013)-USB_Flash_Drives.aspx Cruzer Titanium USB Flash drive is incredibly fast, nearly indestructible, and is something you can put in your pocket. They also have the nice Cruzer Micro; it does the job, is less expensive, but is also far less cool.

And, for those concerned with security the SanDisk Cruzer Profile allows you to add a biometric fingerprint reader to any laptop to not only protect the data on the flash drive but all of your passwords as well (currently this is the most practical of the retrofit fingerprint reader solutions for laptops).

Laptop PC:

We are in the final ramp to Windows Vista and Apple Leopard is a year out. That means that you need to buy with the future operating systems in mind. We don’t know enough about Leopard yet but expect it will have similar hardware requirements. Both platforms are going to like multi-core and lots of memory but you don’t need to go too crazy because both platforms are likely to drive a hardware shift about 18 months out so you don’t want to invest your life savings either.

Go Wide screen, 12” if weight and size are your priority, 14” if you need to live on this the laptop but it still is mostly mobile, 15.4 if you are primarily using in on the desk, and 17” (or larger) if you move it ever second Sunday of the week (as in almost never, these things are heavy).

Go for an 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB of memory, NVIDIA, ATI or S3 Graphics, multi-core processor, and company you trust. Target price should be between $800 and $1,300.

Examples (to set price and value) are:

12” Dell XPS 1210 http://www.dell.com Strongest 12” on the market right now.

Acer Ferrari 1000 http://us.acer.com It’s a Ferrari!

14” Toshiba M105 http://www.toshibadirect.com Highest performing of the 14” products.

15.4” HP Pavilion dv6000 http://www.shopping.hp.com Lots of choice, make sure you get NVIDIA graphics option.

17” Gateway NX860 http://www.gateway.com Good balance of performance and price.


Desktop PC:

Consider a small form factor PC with NVIDIA, ATI, or S3 graphics (small form factors are easier to move and few ever upgrade their PC once they are purchased). One of the most interesting is the Shuttle xPC http://us.shuttle.com line, it is very clean, they look sharp on a desk, and they are very distinctive. Similar configuration to the laptop above but price target is between $600 and $1,000.

If you want a gaming machine both Intel and AMD are just now rolling out new higher performance parts and prices should begin to drop by the end of the year so waiting at least until November would be wise to ensure the best price/performance/choice. A good product to start with to set value and price right now is the Dell XPS 700 http://www.dell.com .

At the other end of the scale is a value box and eMachines does a very nice job at the low end of the market. A good reference system is the T6536 http://www.emachines.com . Like all of the products here is should work fine with Windows Vista and has an aggressive price.

Software

Navigation: Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006http://www.microsoft.com. Relatively inexpensive software for your laptop. Comes with nice little GPS antenna for navigation. Nice, inexpensive, alternative to GPS systems

Movie Conversion: InterVideo DVDCopy 5 http://www.intervideo.com , useful in converting video files into formats you can use on portable movie players (including Video iPod). Won’t work with protected DVDs.

Security: Kaspersky Internet Security http://usa.kaspersky.com, not as intrusive as a number of other products and it has a very rapid update cycle providing what seems to be a faster response to emerging threats.

PC Personalization: WindowBlinds http://www.stardock.com can make Windows XP look like Windows Vista or the MacOS. At $20 it is a cheap pleasure.

Cell Phone:

Two Coolest Cellphones: Motorola Q http://www.motorola.com, Cingular 3125 http://www.mobiletechreview.com . Both incredibly cool phones and relatively new on the market. The Q is a full smart phone while the 3125 looks like a RAZR but has advanced smart phone features.

Handsfree: With the new laws requiring this you have headsets and hands free kits. The easiest hands free kit we have tried is the BlueAnt Supertooth II http://www.blueant.com.au . BlueAnt makes a nice very small BlueTooth headset http://www.myblueant.com called the X3 micro as well and it will work with up to 3 phones.

Digital Cameras

Couple of rules, anything over 5 Megapixels is generally a waste unless you are a professional. Optics are more important and good optics typically are tied to the major brands. On size, small is both easier to carry and easier to lose and break, larger cameras may (key word is “may”) be more robust and typically provide more quality for the price. Shouldn’t have to pay more than $400 for a good one.

Cameras that stand out:

HP Photosmart R927 only camera that can make you (or your significant other) look thinner. Cheaper and less painful than a diet. http://h10010.www1.hp.com

Olympus Stylus 720W small waterproof camera for folks who want a camera that will go everyplace they go and some of those places are really, really, really wet. http://www.olympusamerica.com

Printers

Photos: HP Photosmart 8750 expensive but very high quality photo prints and it will take oversized 13 x19” paper if you want to create farmable prints. Can be connected to a network as a networked printer. http://www.steves-digicams.com

General Purpose: HP Photosmart D7300 one of the new generation of HP printers, really good resolution for a sub $200 printer. Nice balance of utility and picture capability. http://h10010.www1.hp.com