With just a few days left in the holiday shopping season, it's time for
my annual Useful Ways to Spend Your Money Guide.
(First up, Microsoft has undertaken what it calls calls its biggest-ever
launch of input device hardware, with a spiffed-up range of keyboards,
mice, and wireless desktop packages. Microsoft's range of wireless
hardware, in particular, has been expanded. Readers of this space will
note that Logitech
had beaten Bill's team to the punch on wireless hardware, so there is an
element of catch-up here.
Belated or not, however, the new offerings are slick. In the new lineup,
the top-of-the-line devices are the
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop ($69.99) and the
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Pro ($88.94)
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The former has a keyboard with a conventional, straight design while the
latter uses the ergonomic, "natural" style keyboard. Both include an
ambidextrous optical mouse. The color scheme is the currently fashionable
black and silver look, and they make for a cool addition to your office.
One thing I don't like: no LEDs for "caps lock" and so on, so there is no
visual clue that you have hit a lock key by mistake.
An interesting new feature, which also are part of with other new
Microsoft keyboards, in a
revised key mapping arrangement for the function
keys. A company spokesperson said that research shows almost no one uses
the function keys -- and judging from my friends' computer habits I see no
reason to dispute it. The function keys in many cases are holdovers from
the MS-DOS era. The new layout provides a good mix of features that
reflect today's computing needs, such as "reply" and "forward" keys for
e-mail. Of course, if you're like me and actually use the current function
keys, you are going to be really thrown off by the fact that spell check
is now F10 instead of F7. But there is a F Lock key that reverts the
layout to the traditional style.
I also like the
Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse ($29.99). What you want forf this
purpose is a device that's small but fits comfortably in your hand, and
this does.
A printer would seem to be a little big to be a stocking stuffer, but
Lexmark's X75 Printrio 3-in-1 caught my attention because of its $129
price tag.
Printrio includes a flatbed scanner, and works as a copier, in addition to
its color inkjet capabilities. Obviously, at this price point you have to
compromise on speed and features. For example, instead of automatic color
and brightness correction for printing digital photographs, you have to
make your fixes manually. But at that price, this is a really good deal,
and the X75 would be a good choice for a family room, dorm room, or as a
second printer.
We will be keeping an eye on Lexmark in the months ahead. The company was
spun off from IBM in 1991 and while its products typically are regarded as
good, they have not been class leaders. But the HP-compact merger has
resulted in a Dell-Lexmark alliance aimed at a more direct challenge at HP
printers.
From our friends at Targus comes the
Ultra Light Corporate Traveler With Removable Portfolio ($70.99)
This marks Targus's first use of a protective portfolio for your notebook,
a feature usually found in the more expensive brands of computer cases.
What I liked about it is that it is compact in size but actually held all
my stuff on a recent trip, including an oversized notebook.
And the realm of a true stocking stuffer, Targus has a new
International Mini Travel Pack ($25.99), which gives the international
road warrior plug converters for telephone as well as power.
Fellowes has added the to its Body Glove cellphone case lineup with the
Ion Universal series ($24.99). The case uses the very convenient
horizontal approach to stashing a cellphone, which keeps it at belt level
rather than digging into your hip.
I have been looking for awhile to find soft plastic CD jewel case
replacements that hold two disks, and Fellowes now offers them: the
CD Transport 2 Jewel Cases ($4.99). A stocking stuffer for a CD
Burning friend.
Happy holidays.
(c) 2002 Al Gordon.
In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the
Boston-area strategic consulting firm,
Mary Fifield Associates.
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