In an excerpt from our new Tech Buyer's Guide, learn everything you need to know to pick up the perfect netbook this holiday season

Each day this week leading up to Black Friday, we'll excerpt a chunk of our new Tech Buyer's Guide here on the site to arm you with the skills and the picks to get the most from your weekend shopping madness. Here are our picks and our buying advice for netbooks. Check out the guide for our picks in full-size laptops, as well as in 15 other product categories.

The PopSci Pick: HP Mini 311
From $400; Amazon.com

Blurring the line between netbooks and notebooks, HP’s latest Mini pairs Intel’s low-power Atom processor with high-octane Nvidia Ion graphics, giving this sleek 3.2-pound system enough oomph to be your primary Windows 7 PC. You can enjoy high-definition video on the 11.6-inch display (1,366 x 768) or output 1080p content to a big-screen monitor or TV through the HDMI port. Plus, the included ArcSoft SimHD software converts standard-def video to near high-def quality on the fly. You can even turn this netbook into a Blu-ray player if you spring for the $129 external optical drive.

The Mini 311’s Ion graphics chip will also help video editors, enabling users to transcode clips about five times as fast as on netbooks without Ion inside. And although demanding 3-D games like Far Cry 2 will be too choppy to play, Ion can easily handle more mainstream titles like Spore. The only tradeoff is that you get about half an hour less battery life than netbooks without Ion.

Other welcome features include a keyboard that’s 92 percent of full size, a roomy touchpad, an integrated webcam, three USB ports and a 5-in-1 memory-card reader. And unlike most netbooks, the Mini 311 boasts Altec Lansing speakers, which deliver loud and clear sound. Take your pick from a black swirl pattern or, for an extra $20, a white swirl.

The Splurge: Sony Vaio X Series
$1,300; Sonystyle.com
Measuring a mere 0.55 inch thick and weighing 1.6 pounds, the VAIO X Series makes the MacBook Air (0.76 inch, 3 pounds) look bloated. Sony accomplished this feat by wrapping the body in an ultralight carbon-fiber shell. And the LED-backlit 11-inch display (1,366 x 768) is as easy on the eyes as the aluminum milled keyboard. The system sports a relatively fast 2.0-gigahertz Intel Atom processor, two gigabytes of RAM (plenty to run Windows 7 Premium) and a 128-gigabyte solid-state drive that runs circles around standard hard disks. Sony covers all the connectivity bases by packing the VAIO X with 802.11n Wi-Fi, GPS and Verizon Wireless 3G broadband (for an additional $60 per month).

The Bargain: Acer Aspire One D250
From $300; Amazon.com
Available in red, white, blue or black, this 2.4-pound netbook fulfills the netbook promise: It handles basic tasks like Web surfing perfectly well, and it’s cheap. It features a 10-inch display (1,024 x 600 pixels) and all the usual netbook specs, including a 1.6-gigahertz Atom processor, one gigabyte of RAM and a 160-gigabyte hard drive. You also get a built-in webcam and memory-card reader. The included three-cell battery lasts about three hours on a charge, but you can double that endurance if you spend $50 more for the six-cell model. That version now includes an option to boot nearly instantly into Google’s Android OS, so you can start surfing without waiting for Windows XP to load.

Buying Advice: Stats That Matter
• PROCESSOR: You’ll find Intel’s 1.66- gigahertz Atom N280 processor in nearly every netbook, which is fine for surfing the Web, word processing and even streaming video (although you’ll likely see jerkiness at full screen).

• RAM: Windows XP (or Linux) users can still get by with just one gigabyte. If you’re stepping up to Windows 7, you’ll want at least two.

• HARD DRIVE: Since it’s typically meant to be a second machine, the netbook standard of 160 gigabytes is fine, but if you plan to carry a lot of data, you can sometimes upgrade to 250 gigabytes for very little extra money.

• DISPLAY: Don’t settle for anything smaller than a 10-inch display, most of which have 1,024 x 600 resolution. If you want high-def video, step up to an 11- or 12-inch netbook with 1,166 x 768 pixels.

• GRAPHICS: It used to be that you had to suffer with Intel’s integrated graphics, but now ASUS, HP, Lenovo and Samsung all have models with Nvidia’s Ion chip, offering full high-def video playback, zippier video editing and better gameplay. Expect to pay at least a $50 premium.

Features to Look For

• HDMI comes in handy when you want to output video and audio through a single cable to a bigger monitor or HDTV. It’s great for catching up on your favorite TV shows on Hulu or other sites at full screen. DisplayPort is also gaining in popularity, but the LCDs that support this connector tend to be more expensive.

• eSATA ports often double as a USB ports but carry data six times as fast as USB, allowing for lightning-fast backups to external eSATA-equipped hard drives.
A backlit keyboard seems like a minor detail, but notebooks like the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 16 are a lot easier to type on when you’re in a coffee shop, an airplane or even on the sofa watching TV at night.

• A multitouch touchpad lets you do things like rotate photos and scroll Web pages with two fingers, and you’ll want a touchpad that supports multitouch gestures. We recommend that you try the notebook out before you buy, however, because some touchpads can be finicky.

What You Can Skip

• Blu-ray drives are often an option for about $150 more than your standard DVD burner. But given that you can download or stream high-def content from an increasing number of sources, it’s rarely worth it.

• Mobile broadband is available on USB 3G modems for free on contract, so there’s no need to spend $125 or more to have it built into your notebook. Plus, you can use that modem across multiple PCs.

•Windows 7 Ultimate offers some unique features over vanilla Windows 7, like the ability to run in XP mode and the ability to back up to a home or business network, but the Home Premium Edition has everything most consumers need.

See more in our free Tech Buyer's Guide here

In an excerpt from our new Tech Buyer's Guide, learn everything you need to know to get the best point-and-shoot camera for the buck

The PopSci Pick: Panasonic DMC-ZS3
$350; Amazon.com
A long zoom is a beautiful thing. It gives you the freedom to take photos of people without getting in their faces and capture close-ups of architectural details overhead without springing for a cherry-picker rental. The 10.1-megapixel Panasonic DMC-ZS3 provides a full 12x zoom (equivalent to a hefty 25-300mm lens on a 35mm camera) in a package that weighs a mere 7.2 ounces and measures 2.35 by 4.07 by 1.29 inches, about the depth of three CD cases. And it shoots movies at 720p resolution with stereo sound, storing the results in the compact AVCHD Lite format, so you can squeeze hours of video onto a single memory card (assume about four to eight gigabytes per hour).

The ZS3 is a highly automated point-and-shoot camera with not much in the way of user control for finicky photographers, but Panasonic incorporates what it calls “Intelligent Auto,” which recognizes the scene you’re seeing, identifies it as Portrait, Scenery, Macro or Other, and adjusts the settings accordingly. It’s sophisticated and actually works well in most situations (and if the camera does seems to be bamboozled, you can take over). When it’s time to show off your photo and video handiwork, the ZS3 has an HDMI output to display video and stills in glorious high-def on an HDTV screen. And if you happen to own a Panasonic TV, you can even control the camera playback using the TV remote. If only it made popcorn.

The Bargain: Canon Powershot A1000 IS
$150; Amazon.com
Flashy it’s not, but the 10-megapixel Canon A1000 IS offers solid photographic features at a price that will barely ding your wallet. The 4x zoom (equivalent to a 35-140mm on a 35mm camera) is a bit more generous than the typical 3x variety. There’s an optical viewfinder in addition to the LCD, an increasingly rare but incredibly valuable feature when trying to compose a shot on a bright, sunny day. There’s optical image stabilization to help fight camera shake. And we count the fact that the A1000 IS runs on AA batteries as a point in its favor—pick up some inexpensive NiMH rechargeables for daily use, and know that you can still grab a pack of AAs at a convenience store just about anywhere in the world if you ever run out of power, an option those fancy SLRs with their proprietary lithium-ion batteries don’t offer.

The Splurge: Sony DSC-HX1
$500; Amazon.com
Compared with the Panasonic ZS3, the Sony HX1 offers a bigger zoom (an extraordinary 20x) in a bigger camera (18 ounces, 4.6 x 3.4 x 3.6 inches) with a bigger price tag. In addition to more zoom, though, the HX1 offers two intriguing Sony-only features. Taking panoramic pictures is nothing short of magic: When you press the shutter and swing your arm, the camera takes dozens of shots and automatically stitches them together, to eye-popping effect. When shooting in low light, two special modes take the least blurry sections of multiple images and combine them into one sharp photo. And if it’s speed you need, the 9.1-megapixel HX1 can capture an incredible 10 shots per second.

Buying Advice: Stats That Matter
• Resolution: Higher numbers matter if you’re shopping high-end SLRs (in the 20-megapixel neighborhood) and plan to make poster-size prints. For amateurs, a few megapixels more or less are inconsequential. In fact, squeezing in additional tiny sensors can actually lead to more image noise and less pleasing color reproduction.

• Video specs: There’s a huge quality difference between standard-definition (640 x 480) and high-definition (1080p or 720p) video (although the difference between 1080p and 720p is much harder to spot). In addition to high-def resolution, keep an eye on frame rate: 30 frames per second looks smoother than 24 fps, and 20 fps looks choppy. As for file formats, AVCHD makes for more-compact files, but they’re more difficult to edit than the larger Motion JPEG variety.

• Zoom: More zoom means more creative freedom when framing your photo, but remember, it’s the optical-zoom number that matters. So-called “digital zoom” creates lower-quality photos and should be avoided.

• Wide angle: Wide-angle coverage is frequently overlooked, but it’s very important if you want to shoot landscapes or squeeze everybody into an indoor shot. Look for the 35mm-lens-equivalent figure: 28mm or lower is what you want.

• Maximum aperture: The flexibility to shoot indoors without a flash is a valuable capability, and the smaller the maximum aperture figure, the more light gets through the lens. Go for a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or lower. Anything over about f/3.5 is problematic.

• LCD resolution: You’ll be using that LCD to review your photos and, in many cases, to set them up. 230,000-dot resolution is the basic industry standard. Anything higher is better; 920,000-dot screens are like butter.

• Burst rate: Higher burst rate, sometimes called continuous shooting rate, is great for catching fast-moving kids or sports action. Point-and-shoots tend to be slow (often just over one shot per second), but there are exceptions. An SLR should offer at least three shots per second.

• Price: You don’t have to pay a lot to take decent photos; higher prices are usually tied more closely to more features than to readily apparent differences in picture quality, especially if you’re a 4x6-print shooter.

Features to Look For

• Image stabilization combats the natural shake of your hand and the blurriness that can come with it. You want mechanical or optical image stabilization, not electronic. Some SLRs have stabilization built into the camera body; others require stabilized lenses to get this capability. If it’s in the camera, it helps fight blur with any lens you’re using.

• RAW-format images store exactly what the image sensor recorded, with no processing by the camera software, giving you complete editing flexibility on your computer without hurting image quality.

• Optical viewfinders are a dying feature on compact cameras, but you’ll be grateful to have one on a bright day when the sun glares on the LCD screen.

• Articulated LCDs are hinged screens that fold out and pivot around, nice for grabbing shots from odd angles.

• An HDMI-out port lets you connect the camera directly to HDTVs, useful for viewing both video and stills in all their high-def glory.

• Lens compatibility is going to be best for the Canon and Nikon camp, while Micro Four Thirds lenses (for certain Olympus and Panasonic models) are sparse.

• Manual-exposure controls give you hands-on control over your photographic efforts. The basic combo is PASM: program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and full manual exposure modes. Beyond that, a world of fine control awaits for those who seek it out.

• Storage formats are pretty standard these days. SD cards and their high-capacity SDHC variant are very popular and economical, with CompactFlash the equally desirable standard for high-end SLRs. But think twice about cameras that take only Memory Stick or xD memory cards; they’re proprietary formats that are harder to find and more expensive per gigabyte.

What You Can Skip
• A touchscreen is an extra-cost feature that sounds like it should make operating the camera easier but almost never does.

• Higher resolutions aren’t always worthwhile. Eight megapixels is plenty for nearly all your viewing and printing needs.

See more in our free Tech Buyer's Guide here

In an excerpt from our new Tech Buyer's Guide, learn everything you need to know to buy a bargain flat-screen this year

The PopSci Pick: LG 47LH50
$1,700; Amazon.com
This highly connected set may leave you wondering why you pay for cable. The 1080p LCD TV is one of the first to offer built-in Web-video streaming, and it offers more choices than most of its upstart competitors.

Plug the 47-inch set (there are identical 42- and 55-inch models as well) into a home network, and in a matter of seconds, Netflix subscribers can play any of the site’s more than 17,000 “Watch Instantly” movies at no additional charge. Or you can access more than 14,000 pay-per movies through the Vudu service. The TV’s elegant YouTube interface lets you browse clips as easily as you can from the site (note that YouTube video seldom looks great blown up to TV size). Finally, built-in Yahoo Widgets provide Web-based news, sports, weather and more in an interface that’s easy to navigate with your remote and read from the couch.

As for picture quality, you’ll have few complaints. The 47LH50 can’t offer the deep blacks that the best LCD and plasma sets do, but the colors are rich and accurate and can be adjusted with great precision. And when you’re sitting cozy on the couch watching a movie from Vudu or Netflix instead of having to run out to Blockbuster, small performance flaws might seem less significant.

The Bargain: Panasonic VIERA TC-P50X1
$1,000; Amazon.com
Although LCD TVs get most of the attention these days, plasma TVs often give you a better picture for the money. Like most plasma sets, the 50-inch Viera delivers deep, dark blacks, superb contrast and excellent shadow detail. At $1,000, the TC-P50X1 has to cut corners somewhere, so it offers only 720p resolution, not the 1080p resolution of most sets this size, but unless you’re watching from five feet away, you probably won’t notice the difference. It also lacks advanced color controls, although the deep black levels more than make up for that omission. Even with those small compromises, few TVs offer such a competent picture at such a reasonable price.

The Splurge: Mitsubishi LT-46153
$2,400; Amazon.com
As flat-panel TVs get thinner and thinner, their sound gets thinner too. With its Unisen line, Mitsubishi puts the oomph back into TV audio. The 46-inch 1080p LCD TV uses 16 speaker drivers and some fancy digital processing to create a convincing surround-sound effect without having to scatter speakers around your room. Just add a small subwoofer, and you’ll really be rocking. Best of all, you won’t have to operate a second audio system or deal with yet another remote control. The LT-46153 isn’t quite as good as the best TVs when it comes to upconverting standard-def material like DVDs, so be sure to use it with high-def sources like Blu-ray and high-def cable and satellite boxes.

Buying Advice: Stats That Matter
• Contrast ratio: This is the most important spec for today’s video displays, but it’s also the most misleading one. It refers to the ratio of the brightness of the whitest whites the TV can produce to the blackest blacks it can produce. The whites aren’t really a concern, because almost every TV these days is pretty bright. But not all TVs can manage dark blacks. When you’re watching the Star Wars movies on a TV with lousy black levels, instead of seeing a field of inky black space punctuated by brilliant white stars, you’ll see a gray screen with stars that don’t stand out like they should. Deep black levels can even enhance color reproduction, because you can get darker shades of each color.

Contrast ratio can be misleading, however, because manufacturers usually measure it under wildly unrealistic conditions. Thus, a TV with a 50,000:1 contrast ratio won’t always give you deeper blacks than a set with a 10:000:1 ratio. The exception is new sets with full-array LED backlighting and local dimming, which often boast contrast ratios of 1,000,000:1 or higher. Any set making such an extreme claim probably has pretty good contrast and fairly deep blacks. But in general, trust your eye and not the number. If the picture looks washed-out to you, move on to another set.

• Resolution: You’ll see two numbers: 720p and 1080p. Each refers to the number of horizontal rows of pixels that make up the picture. On screens 55 inches or larger, the improvement in detail you get from 1080p really pays off. Budget shoppers shouldn’t rule out a set with 720p resolution, though. On a screen 50 inches or smaller, it’s difficult to tell 720p from 1080p at a viewing distance of more than about five feet. Many low-priced plasma TVs in particular are 720p, and the deep black levels of these sets can be worth the tradeoff in picture detail.

• Refresh rate: The base number here is 60 hertz, but now you’ll see 120 and 240 hertz as well. This refers to the number of times per second that the screen refreshes; if it’s too slow for the action on the screen, you can see motion blur. A 240-hertz TV might look better than a 120-hertz set, but the improvement won’t be as dramatic as 120 hertz compared with 60. You don’t have to worry about refresh rate if you choose a plasma TV, because the inherent high-speed operation of plasma panels practically eliminates the possibility of motion blur.

• Number of HDMI inputs: A spare input or two is good for future-proofing. Every TV will have inputs for older source devices like VCRs, but HDMI is the most important because it’s the latest standard and you’ll find it on everything from Blu-ray players to Xbox and PlayStation 3 to high-def cable and satellite boxes. Even if your current DVD player doesn’t have HDMI output, your next one will. An easy-access HDMI (or just plain audio/video) input on the side of the TV can come in handy for plugging in camcorders and other temporary items, especially if you plan to mount your TV on the wall, which will make changing cables on the back difficult.

Features to Look For

• LED backlighting offers better contrast, better color, lower power consumption and (usually) a slimmer chassis. TVs with full-array LED backlighting generally outperform those with edge-lit LED backlighting.

• USB inputs let you play music and photos on the TV from a thumb drive; some even let you play videos. A memory-card input is even more convenient, because you can pull the card from your digital camera and put it straight into your TV for big-screen slideshows. Make sure the TV accepts the same memory card (SD or Memory Stick) that your camera or camcorder uses.

• Internet-video streaming is now found even on many affordable TVs. The idea is that you can tap into video sources like CinemaNow, Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand through an interface customized to work on a TV screen with the TV’s remote control. YouTube and Yahoo Widgets have found their way onto most major brands this year, but other services may be on only a few, so make sure the TV you choose carries the services you want to watch. And remember that to use these services, you need a broadband Internet connection and either an Ethernet connection or a wireless bridge that can connect your TV to your Wi-Fi network.

• The THX logo tells you that a TV has been tested and certified by the engineers at THX, an engineering spin-off of Lucasfilm founded to establish standards for audio and video performance. This is the same company that certifies most of the world’s best movie theaters, so they know what they’re doing. Perhaps more important, all THX-certified sets include a THX picture mode, which gives you studio-perfect color without professional calibration.

• DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, a consortium of electronics manufacturers that have worked together to make their products communicate even if they wear different brands. A DLNA-compatible TV can access photos, videos and music stored on any DLNA-compatible computer, hard drive, digital video recorder or cellphone that’s able to access your home network. And unless you’re running an ancient system like Windows 98, your computer can probably be DLNA-compliant, at least with the addition of DLNA software.

• Wireless HDMI allows a TV to receive its video and audio signals from a transmitter that resides in your equipment rack. This feature makes it much easier to wall-mount your TV, because you don’t have to worry about hiding the audio and video wires.

• Detachable speakers eliminate unnecessary clutter in systems that use a separate audio system.

• Wireless HDMI allows a TV to receive its video and audio signals from a transmitter that resides in your equipment rack. This feature makes it much easier to wall-mount your TV, because you don’t have to worry about hiding as many wires.

• Detachable speakers eliminate unnecessary clutter in systems that use a separate audio system.

What You Can Skip
• Slim-design TVs that measure a mere one inch thick may look really cool in the store. But if you’re mounting your TV in a cabinet, there’s no reason to pay extra for a super-slim TV.

• Judder reduction eliminates the jerky-looking motion that sometimes occurs when you watch material that was shot on film. This feature is found on LCDs with 120- and 240-hertz refresh rates and on some plasma TVs. Although anti-judder can make movement look smoother, it often makes film-based material look like video; you may notice that old movies take on the visual aesthetic of shot-on-video sitcoms like Saved by the Bell. And that’s not the look you want for Lawrence of Arabia.

• Advanced picture adjustments available on the latest TVs—such as gamma, noise reduction, and separate red, green and blue drive controls—often require a great deal of knowledge and skill to set properly. Some of them are impossible to set correctly without the use of lab equipment costing thousands of dollars. Geeks may find such complexity irresistible, but with most TVs, if you simply select the Movie or Cinema picture mode and the Warm color temperature and tweak the brightness and contrast a little, you’re getting more than 90 percent of the performance the TV can deliver.

In an excerpt from our new Tech Buyer's Guide, learn everything you need to know to make a smart purchase on one of the most popular gadgets of the year

The PopSci Pick: Kodak ZI8
$150; Amazon.com

Pure Digital Technologies revolutionized the industry with its Flip series of ultra-compact, ultra-simple video cameras that you can easily grab in one hand and use to record a quick YouTube video. Ironically, the Flip’s success has inspired one of the oldest names in cameras—Kodak—to create its own series of pocket camcorders. With its latest iteration, the old guard surpassed the new kid on the block, as the Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera beats the Flip UltraHD at its own game.

Although both videocams capture high-definition footage, the UltraHD’s 1,280x720 (or 720p) resolution can’t compete with the Zi8’s 1,920x1,080 (or 1080p) “full HD” experience. That’s due to the Zi8’s 0.4-inch sensor, which is larger than that of any other pocket cam. It comes with electronic image stabilization—another first for a camera this size. The Zi8 also sports a 2.5-inch LCD, which tops the Flip’s 2-inch screen and, unlike the UltraHD, includes an HDMI cable. One drawback: The Kodak doesn’t include a memory card and offers a virtually useless 128 megabytes of built-in memory, so you’ll need to purchase your own SD/SDHC memory card for storage.

All Flip-style camcorders suffer from the lack of an optical zoom, and image quality isn’t going to compete with footage from full-featured models. But if you want to shoot simple HD footage with a device that can easily fit in a purse or pocket, the Zi8 is the videocam to beat.

Creative Vado HD
$150; Amazon.com

If you want to save about $50 but still record high-def video in a pocketable form factor, consider Creative’s first-generation Vado HD Pocket Video Cam. It delivers decent-quality 720p footage, has a bright two-inch display, comes with a removable battery and an HDMI cable, and even includes eight gigabytes of built-in storage to hold up to two hours of HD video. It doesn’t have a memory-card slot and you can’t take still images with this Vado HD, but for well under $150, it’s a perfect first YouTube shooter.

JVC Everio GZ-MS120
$240; Amazon.com

The point of these camcorders is that you’re not looking to splurge, but if you’re willing to spend an extra $100 or so and you don’t need HD resolution, you can bypass the limitations of Flip-style cameras and get a budget model that’s still compact but includes an optical zoom. It’s not the camcorder for everyone, but the JVC Everio GZ-MS120 features a 35x optical zoom, in sharp contrast to point-and-shoot videocams that have no optical zoom at all. It offers a bigger 2.7-inch LCD that flips out for more-flexible shooting options, and its dual memory-card slots are a novel way to maximize your storage. You don’t get any built-in memory, and it doesn’t include any video outputs (you need to connect it to a computer through its USB port to download your footage), but if you crave a real zoom lens and manual controls without busting your budget, the Everio delivers.

Buying Advice: Stats That Matter

• Resolution: Although standard-definition video cameras are still available at the low end of the market, it’s time to make the switch to HD for your home movies. Better still, most HD camcorders record 1080p (or “full”) high-definition footage, which means those moments you capture will look especially good on HDTVs now and in the future. The one drawback to HD video is that it will eat up more of your storage, leading to shorter recording times, depending on the mode you select. For instance, the Canon Vixia HF20 can record more than 12 hours of footage at its lowest-quality setting, but that plummets to 2 hours and 55 minutes at its best 1080p setting. In general, you’ll need twice as much storage space to record the same amount of footage in HD as you would in standard definition.

• Sensor Size: The bigger the sensor, the more detail it can capture, resulting in a better-quality image. Higher-quality camcorders may have three smaller sensors (one for red, green and blue light) that can offer superior color reproduction.

• Lens: As with most digital cameras, the amount a camcorder’s lens can zoom in on faraway action is measured in x. Unless you’re buying a point-and-shoot, Flip-style model, video cameras will usually come with at least a 10x optical zoom. Look for a longer zoom if you shoot a lot of footage from a distance (20x should be sufficient). Just be aware that it’s harder to keep the lens steady the farther it’s extended.

• Display: Almost all new camcorders have at least a 2-inch LCD on which you can frame your shots and view menu items; most have 2.5-inch to 2.7-inch displays, with a few offering 3- or 3.2-inch screens. Generally speaking, the bigger the better. A few video cameras still offer a viewfinder with which to frame shots, but they’re a dying breed.

Features to Look For

• Storage Media: What type of media it uses affects how much you can record and how easy it is to work with your footage. If you favor the lightest camcorder, you should go the flash-memory route. Most videocams come with some embedded flash memory, but there are models that have as much as 64 gigabytes built in, and many have a slot for either SD/SDHC or MemoryStick flash-memory cards. In addition to reducing the size of camcorders, the use of flash memory—which has no moving parts—makes for a more shockproof device.

Only a handful of new models use MiniDV tape, which can also record high-definition footage in the HDV format. These require you to attach your camera to a computer to edit the footage, although most video software is compatible with the formats. Camcorders with hard drives offer the most storage but can be heavier and are more susceptible to damage if dropped. Finally, models with built-in DVD drives are still available; the discs can go straight to your home DVD player, but the smaller discs don’t offer much recording time.

• Manual Controls: They may not be something you use every day, but they can be the difference between getting a shot and getting a perfect shot. You can manually focus if you’re not satisfied with the automated focusing, and you can change the white balance (how the camcorder adjusts to white light) for different lighting conditions. Budding Spielbergs will want the option to manually adjust shutter speeds (which determines how long light is allowed to hit the sensor) and aperture (which controls the amount of light that reaches the sensor), although these features are generally only on camcorders costing $1,000 or more.

What You Can Skip
• Digital Zoom: It's usually a higher number than optical zoom, so manufacturers like to tout it. Feel free to ignore it, as digital zoom doesn’t really involve zooming at all. It merely relies on the camera cropping an image and then blowing up the remainder so it appears closer, which winds up degrading image quality.

• Touchscreen Interfaces for LCDs seem like a better idea than they are. The screens aren’t typically large enough to make these interfaces any more handy than using physical buttons to navigate through the menu. Instead ask (or test) how well a display works in direct sunlight, a trickier but more useful screen quality.

See more in our free Tech Buyer's Guide here

In each of 17 categories of products, from TVs to camcorders to gaming, we’ve picked a favorite item, the one we recommend over all the others. And for those on a tight budget, or with money to burn, we’ve also included a bargain and a splurge pick as well.

Even if you don’t feel like trusting our taste, you’ll benefit from the core buying advice for each category we’ve distilled into the Stats that Matter, the Features to Look For, and What You Can Skip.

Click the link below to open the guide—and then tell us what you think, about the guide and any experience you may have with the product picks themselves, in the comments below.

Popular Science Tech Buyer's Guide

Bright ideas and products in skiing and snowboarding, from a Norwegian hotel built into a mountainside to an inflatable pack that can save you from an avalanche

Want to score your own high-tech snowsports equipment? It's easy: Visit our sister site Skiingmag.com (we share owners, and a love of playing in the snow with the latest gadgets). Every day for the next week, they're giving away free gear, lift tickets and resort packages. All you have to do is answer a trivia question and enter to win.

Launch the gallery here

Skiing and snowboarding have always been cutting-edge sports, thanks to renegade personalities and high-tech gear. But now, designers are stepping it up to a whole new level. Introducing the 20 best new technologies in snowsports.

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The Intel reader is designed for the 55 million people in the U.S. alone that suffer from some kind of vision-related ailment that impairs their reading. And on top of the photo text recognition feature, a separate content capture station can convert large amounts of text, even an entire book, into audio for easier consumption.

And therein lies the snag: publishing companies have expressed distaste in the past for any device that takes copyrighted printed word and converts it into audio--see the recent dispute over Kindle 2's ability to read its books aloud, which was intended for use by the blind.

The blind have been reading e-books since before they were cool, using computer software that reads the books aloud or enlarges the text to a readable size. In response to piracy, many e-book sellers build DRM code into their e-books, making the digital versions hard to duplicate. That DRM software often keeps third-party software, such as text-to-speech programs, from accessing the digital text and translating it to audio.

While the rising popularity of audiobooks has mitigated this problem somewhat (and created a fresh revenue stream for publishers), publishers aren’t thrilled with any device that cuts into said revenue stream. The losers in all this will likely be, of course, visually impaired people, who just can’t seem to stay away from digital-rights-related controversies in the e-reader space.

It’s too bad really, because the Intel Reader–though a touch on the pricey side at $1,500 if we may say so–is a really good idea. Fifty-five million people in the U.S. are living life with varying degrees of disadvantage that could be alleviated by this kind of technology. However, in the ongoing struggle between bleeding edge technology and archaic intellectual property law, the latter has a pretty good track record so far.

[Intel]

At 0.4 inches thick, the XPS is the thinnest notebook you can buy. It pulls off its trim profile by incorporating a new hinging kickstand configuration. The keyboard folds out about a third of the way up on the body from inside the recessed 13.4-inch display. When open, the whole thing rests atop the battery (that's the bottom third). There's no mechanical button release to open 'er up; instead, you rub your fingers over a heat sensor that releases the keyboard and the notebook slowly unfolds itself. The base configuration weighs in at 3 pounds.

That's about where the cool of the XPS wears off. It runs on an intel 1.4GHz ultra-low voltage processor -- not exactly befitting its premium price. It ships with a 128GB solid-state drive and 4GB of DDR3 800 memory and 64/bit Windows 7. Even with the concession of a low-voltage processor, battery life is still on the (extremely) short side, rating about 2 hours 30 minutes.

The Adamo XPS is right on the trend of ultra-thin computers like the Sony Vaio X series basically torpedoing their own chances of adoption with painful overpricing and sad li'l spec sheets. And we wish them luck; they're gonna need it.

The EP-2 is makes a few improvements over the EP-1, minor though many of them are. First, it's black. Cosmetically, everything else looks the same, save for a new port underneath the hotshoe accessory slot up top. The port is designed to work with Olympus' new VF-2 viewfinder (bundled), which replicates the 3-inch LCD when connected at 1.5-times magnification, and the company's EMA-1 external microphone connector (sold separately).

As far as shooting goes, the changes feel more like firmware upgrades than true hardware leaps. First up is autofocus AF tracking, which allows you to lock onto the subject and the camera will follow it in the frame to keep it in focus. In video mode, the EP-2, like the Panasonic GF1, now has full manual control over aperture and exposure settings -- but still only shoots 720p.

There are also two new art filters to tinker with: Diorama mode makes the picture look something like a 3-D model; and Cross Process plays around with color and contrast to create trippy snaps of purple apples or whathaveyou.

I leave the specs until last, because, well, the guts of the EP-2 are the guts of the EP-1. Both shoot 12.3 megapixels with a Live MOS sensor, and both have the same 4.74-by-2.75-by-1.37 inch (WHD) footprint and 11-ounce body.

If you don't have an EP-1: The E-P2 will be available in December bundles with the VF-2 viewfinder and either a ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens or 17mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens. Both configs will run $1,100.