All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Still using your first digicam – the chubby one with the 1.5-inch LCD? Time for an upgrade. There are so many great slim cams out there, it was tough to pick just four. With ample megapixels and big LCDs, they can handle any situation. Every model also takes TV-quality video that could make you the next big thing on YouTube. – Seán Captain
Make The Right Choice
Digicams in the same size and price range used to have similar features – no more. With the megapixel race over, manufacturers are emphasizing advanced features like image stabilization, wide-angle lenses, and high light sensitivity. Choosing one isn’t a matter of finding the best overall camera but rather the best camera for the way you shoot.
Casio Exilim EX-Z600
Skinniest of the ultraslims, with a waifish 0.8-inch profile, this sturdy, metal-clad camera is no pushover. The image processor judiciously applies sharpening and contrast to render crisp shots of everything from majestic vistas to extreme close-ups. It also produces lush color: Green foliage and blue skies were more saturated than in reality, but the slight exaggeration made for pleasing pics. Indoor shots with flash looked clean, and pictures taken in low light were better than average. Two touted features, however, failed to impress: Middling resolution made the bright 2.7-inch LCD appear cloudy. And the image-stabilization chip did little to remove blur caused by shooting in dim conditions at slow shutter speeds.
WIRED: Soft Flash mode eliminates goth look in tight portraits. Keys are programmable for quick adjustments to settings like white balance, ISO, and focus.
TIRED: 3X zoom telescoping is jittery and noisy. Videos a tad soft. Sharp-edged ring around lens could scratch items in pocket or purse. 33 "Best Shot" scene modes?! Absurd.
$279 www.casio.com
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01
WIRED: Extremely crisp stills and video. More accurate color than the Casio. Moving lens element compensates for unsteady hands to eliminate blur. 28-mm-equivalent wide angle good for group shots.
TIRED: Thickest of the bunch, at about an inch. Sluggish startup and shooting. Pathetic 90-day labor warranty ($495 Leica-branded version includes two-year coverage, plus Adobe Photoshop Elements). $350 www.panasonic.com
Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Elph
WIRED: Canon’s category-defining design, with easy access to intuitive menus. Fastest startup and shooting. Attractive, accurate color, even in challenging low-light conditions.
TIRED: Photos not very sharp. Pixel noise, even at low ISO settings. Movies recorded in massive, memory card-hogging AVI format. $350 www.usa.canon.com
Pentax Optio A10
WIRED: Super-sharp images. Honkin’ 8-megapixel resolution allows giant prints or serious cropping. Minimal pixel noise in low light and at high ISOs. Moving image sensor counteracts camera shake (though not as well as the Panasonic). Shoots attractive, compact DivX videos compatible with many DVD players.
TIRED: Yawn-inducing startup and shutter lag. Purple tinge to blue skies. $350 www.pentaximaging.com
Disinfecting door knobs isn’t enough to placate my inner Howard Hughes. Armed with a laser airborne-particle counter, I searched for the cleanest air I could buy. – Scott Taves
IQAir HealthPro Plus
This Swiss-made model turns your house into a clean room. Three filters zap a hypochondriac-comforting range of airborne stuff: dust, dander, smoke, pollen, pet and cooking smells, even bacteria and viruses. The ultrathin remote triggers a six-speed fan and built-in timer; front-panel controls operate day-by-day scheduling, and a display shows each filter’s remaining life to the hour. The filter is adjustable to accommodate various environments; I bumped up the large and fine particle settings to deal with our cats’ dander.
WIRED: Produced air that contained no particles 0.3 micron or larger (common allergens, germs, and most dust). Good enough to be used by Hong Kong hospitals during the SARS outbreak.
TIRED: Replacement filters are costly: $59 for the pre-filter, more than $189 for the HyperHEPA.
$795 www.iqair.us
Friedrich C-90B
WIRED: A close second in cleanliness – just 30 particles per cubic foot of processed air. Only the carbon filter ($20) needs to be replaced; others can be vacuumed, washed with soap and water, or thrown in the dishwasher.
TIRED: Strictly utilitarian design makes your living room feel like an ICU. Only three fan speeds.
$499 www.bestaircleaner.com
Venta-Airwasher LW 44
WIRED: Moonlights as a humidifier – great in dry climes. Simple design washes air by venting it through a liquid solution poured over dozens of rotating disks. Easy to clean and maintain: no filters to replace.
TIRED: Removed mostly larger, visible junk; air before and after circulation scanned at about the same level. Treatment solution costs $17 for five months’ worth.
$400 www.venta-airwasher.com
Bionaire BAP1500-U
WIRED: Column design fits in tight spaces. Ionization feature can be turned off – great for those who buy into pesky rumors that ionization produces ozone. Permanent filter can be vacuumed.
TIRED: Mediocre performance: Exhaust contained 70 particles per cubic foot. Top fan speed deafening. Oscillating action produces faint, annoying clicks.
$180 www.bionaire.com
Apple’s transition from PowerPC to Intel chips hasn’t just let people run Windows on Apple hardware; it’s also led to the fastest Macintosh notebooks ever. Although the MacBook replaces the low-end iBook, its performance is comparable to Apple’s top models, at a fraction of the cost. You’ll miss having an expansion slot like the more expensive MacBook Pro, and the MacBook won’t handle high-end games. But for most of us, it’s an excellent machine and amazing value. – Mark McClusky
Screen
Taking a page from many PC notebook makers, the MacBook features a reflective TFT screen, which makes colors pop like never before.
Finish
The previous generation of iBooks was available only in glossy white; the MacBook adds a suave matte black model, at a $200 premium.
Keyboard
The widely spaced keys on the MacBook look like they would be awkward to type on, but our fingers never minded the gaps.
WIRED: Price-performance combo hard to beat. Black version for grown-ups. 13.3-inch widescreen boosts work area by 30 percent over the iBook.
TIRED: Glossy screen shows every smudge and smear. Integrated graphics processor lacks gaming power. At 5.2 pounds, not as light or compact as the discontinued 12-inch PowerBook.
$1,499 www.apple.com
A redundant array of independent disks ensures that your precious data will live on even if one of the drives in your backup system croaks. The best are fast, quiet, spacious (the models here each hold a terabyte), and bulletproof in a power failure. – Marty Katz
Infrant Technologies ReadyNAS NV
WIRED: Fastest file transfer, by 30 percent. Multiple output streams for video-playback nirvana. Quicker, better SATA drives. Heeds shutdown alerts from most brands of power supply.
TIRED: Whined like a ’94 home-brew PC nearing meltdown.
$1,199 www.infrant.com
Anthology Solutions Yellow Machine
WIRED: Taxi-yellow box purrs inoffensively, even with two fans. Eight LAN ports. Reduces clutter by acting as network gateway, firewall, and router.
TIRED: No USB ports for printers or backup drives. Clunky management app. Ethernet is megabit, not gigabit.
$999 www.yellowmachine.com
Buffalo TeraStation
WIRED: Four USB ports – two easily accessible on front. Stable in long-term usage. Hypnotic status lights.
TIRED: Drive replacement requires extreme patience and a PhD in electrical engineering. With great stability comes great sacrifice – write speed is nothing to, er, write home about.
$799 www.buffalotech.com
Iomega StorCenter Wireless Network Hard Drive
WIRED: Built-in Wi-Fi access point allows for easy integration with your network. Programmable sleep mode.
TIRED: No ability to shut down when signaled by power supply. Drives cannot be hot swapped.
$900 www.iomega.com
Back when I was a kid, tennis rackets were blandly binary: classic wood or heavy metal. Since then, manufacturers have tinkered with design and materials to create lighter, stronger rackets suited to diverse skill levels and playing styles. – Chris Nicholson
Gamma IPEX 3.0
WIRED: Big, light, sturdy, and balanced. Generates so much power, opponents will think you’re on the juice.
TIRED: All that oomph will cost you some accuracy. Vibration damper needs a redesign – two broke while being installed.
$180 www.gammasports.com
Babolat Pure Drive Roddick
WIRED: Kevlar-and-graphite composite has solid feel, with no vibration. Heavy (11 ounces) but head-light – we ripped through hard serves easily.
TIRED: Unstable on off-center hits and clumsy at the net. Weighty neck.
$189 www.babolat.com
Prince O3 Hybrid Hornet
WIRED: Large racket plays light. Two sets of "O Ports" – large string holes in frame – create oversize sweet spot.
TIRED: At 10 ounces, a tad ponderous on volleys. O Ports increase string movement, which means more breaking.
$200 www.princetennis.com
Head Flexpoint Prestige
WIRED: Dimples in frame at 3 and 9 o’clock allow strings to "cup" the ball longer for exceptional accuracy.
TIRED: Not for novices: The 11.3 ounces are tough to manage, and missing the tiny sweet spot results in shanks.
$200 www.head.com
Casio Exilim EX-Z600
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01
credit Gabriela Hasbun
Canon Powershot SD600 Digital Elph
Pentax Optio A10
IQAir Healthpro Plus
Friedrich C-90B
Venta-Airwasher LW 44
Bionaire BAP1500-U
MacBook
Infrant Technologies Readynas NV
Anthology Solutions Yellow Machine
Buffalo Terastation
Iomega Storcenter Wireless Network Hard Drive
Gamma Ipex 3.0
Babolat Pure Drive Roddick
Prince O3 Hybrid Hornet
]
PLAY
>
Test
