Hands-on Review: From My Desk to Your Tree

Yes, we're all aware that it's not even Halloween, but just about anybody who's got a product is announcing their holiday "gotta-have-its" and I've got a pile of cool things on my desktop that might find their way to your holiday gift list. Despite the fact that it was almost 90 degrees in NY today, I'm going to try to whittle down this ever-growing pile of holiday contenders.

The Gateway XHD3000 is a 30-inch widescreen LCD monitor that can be used as a super HDTV, your computer monitor, or both. It's truly a beautiful piece of engineering, with one of the brightest and sharpest images I've seen displayed, though not without its problems.

Thirty inches is about the size of a mid-sized piece of luggage-big for a computer monitor, but demure for a TV. The XHD3000 handles whatever HD media you can throw at it-DVD, TV, cameras, game machines, and more.

The secret sauce is that the monitor has significant processing power. It uses a processor that is capable of displaying new higher resolution format: 2,560X1,600. The secret is a special cable. The included Dual DVI cable will work with your laptop or other digital signals provided they are Dual DVI-capable.  According to Gateway more and more desktops with discrete graphics systems that support Dual DVI are getting more popular. The technology is called Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) technology. According to reports, you would have previously spent about $60K to buy a home theater with this sort of resolution.

The XHD3000 also handles Composite, S-Video, Component video, VGA, DVI, and HD inputs at the touch of a button. It comes with an attractive speaker bar with eight speakers packed inside of it. The user interface-a combination of buttons along the side of software menus-are easy to follow. It's got six USB inputs and has a very cool feature where you can have multiple HD screens running at the same time and have the window you click the mouse on become transparent.

Limitations: The Gateway the power brick (they call it a block) is huge. But the biggest problem is that this monitor is like sitting in front of a sun lamp. It really puts out the heat and light. After an hour in front of it the sweat was probably enough to electrocute myself. But what a way to go.

Bottom line: The XHD3000 is best for those who want a top of the line monitor/TV and are willing to pay for it. Better yet, if you're planning a move to a full HD environment that includes things like DVD players and video cameras, the XHD3000 makes a perfect centerpiece. $1699; available in October.

On the other end of the price spectrum, I've been playing with the Ion Tape2PC. It's a dual-cassette recorder that lets you convert those old tapes into MP3 or CD format audio. The unit couldn't be easier to use. You run a USB cable from the tape player to your PC's USB and load the Ion software. A simple recorder lets you listen to your cassette via your computer's speakers, create a named file, and then move the audio to store it in your iTunes library. There are no built-in speakers in the cassette unit. The software-based player/recorder that comes with Ion's cassette mover is very simple, but those who want more advanced recording features can use the included Audacity software for all sorts of editing and effects.

Limitations: The dual-cassette player unit is flimsy, but in theory you'll be able to use it once to move your collection and then pass it on.

And vinyl lovers fear not. Ion also makes the Vinyl Recording USB turntable. Each costs about $135. Available now. Works with Mac and PC.

Bottom line: You tend to use these things only once to move a collection, but for those with a large collection of cassettes on the shelf these are worth their weight.

We'll whittle this pile down a bit further in my next post.