Camera vendors usually talk up the extras of movie modes and bundled software, but neither is worth your attention. Unless you get an enormous storage card, you won't be able to record more than a few minutes of video, and the included HP Dv2700 battery photo-album programs can't compete with Apple's iPhoto and Google's Picasa.
What is worth consideration is the level of automation in a particular camera. If you're used to point-and-shoot film cameras, you can find the same convenience in most digital cameras, sometimes augmented by preprogrammed shooting modes accessible with the twist of a dial. Users who like to balance shutter and aperture settings on their own, however, will need to do some shopping to find models with those features.
So how fast is it? With the assistance of my son, we loaded several games, including "Unreal Tournament" and the most recent version of "The Sims" (not an action game, but one with astounding detail). We cranked up all the detail settings to their highest level and let the 7700 do its thing. The action was amazingly smooth. In fact, my son reported that the only HP mini 1000 battery time he got it to hiccup was when he invited 12 Sim families over to his Sim house for a Sim barbecue and then did a 3D-flythough at the gathering — that's a lot of objects and detail to keep moving.
Now you've reached the limits of my gaming expertise. The only thing I can add is that the GeForce video card comes with a choice of optimally tweaked settings for a couple of dozen titles — so you know where the designer and manufacturer put their efforts.
Instant messaging is being pushed more deeply into corporate use by companies such as IMLogic of Waltham, Mass., which released new software tools that let developers quickly add instant-messaging capabilities to existing software applications. The company showed how Wall Street traders are using integrated instant messaging to make faster stock trades by DV2000 battery automatically incorporating detailed data on each proposed trade directly into instant-message windows.
Ultimate Arena of Menlo Park, Calif., is targeting hard-core Internet gamers with its new instant-messaging program allowing gamers to see when their gaming buddies are online and what they're playing. The Xfire software program contains a built-in game launcher giving players a one-click way to invite friends to play specific online games or to join games they're already playing.
Personal digital assistants are slowly replacing note-stuffed Daytimers in the corporate world. The older versions were little more than HP DV6000 battery electronic personal phone directories. The latest PDAs, operating on a lightweight version of Windows software, elevate these devices from gadgetry.
The Philips Velo 1 runs versions of Microsoft's word processing and spreadsheet programs - Pocket Word and Pocket Excel - which make it possible to fine-tune documents on the plane or wherever inspiration strikes. The only drawback is the munchkin-size keyboard, which limits the amount of memo-writing you're likely to do if you're more than a two-finger typist.
Another problem is that this system is hot — literally. Although I counted four cooling fans on the bottom of the case, the area of the case below the keyboard HP Dv8000 battery where the hands rest gets uncomfortably warm — not enough to burn, but annoying enough to make this a bad choice for typing.
