iomega Jaz Drive;4;5;0;0;3;3;0;0;2;3;Zip drives are great. But at 10MBs, they're too small. Heck, often 200MB is too small for the job. That's when you need the 1GB of a Jaz drive with a handy cartridge that goes to work, to the studio, the service bureau, and back home again.;www.iomega.com
Kodak DC-20;5;5;0;0;0;3;4;0;5;5;OK, OK... So it's not the most powerful digital camera in terms of resolution or memory, but it's smaller than your wallet and always in your pocket when you need it. The difference between getting the shot or not makes it the camera you want.;www.kodak.com
Nokia 9000;1;5;0;0;3;1;1;1;1;4;If you've gotta carry both a cell phone and a PDA (and who shouldn't?), why chew up two pockets when one will do fine. With the quality and power of Nokia behind it, this dual-function wonder is a no-compromise proposition.;www.nokia.com
Tomb Raider;1;5;3;5;0;5;0;0;4;3;You could sit around and wait to watch the next Indiana Jones movie, or you could fire up Tomb Raider and play a cinematic adventure right now. With big bold 3D and silky smooth gameplay, it's a no-brainer choice.;www.domark.com
Nokia 21 inch Multigraph;5;5;0;0;2;4;5;0;3;2;Sure there are better speakers than the ones built into the Multigraph... and better subwoofers than the built-in one... and better Net cameras. But this is still an excellent 21-inch monitor.;www.nokia.com
Gateway G6-200;5;3;0;0;4;5;4;0;2;4;When you talk about cranking the power out of your pure 32-bit monster apps, you're talking about a dual-booting Pentium Pro system, and when you talk about the ultimate P-Pro hardware, look no further than the G6-200.;www.gw2k.com
Windows NT 4.0;5;3;3;3;4;5;4;3;1;1;Looks like friendly old Win95, but it's smooth as butter. The essential link in the P-Pro/3D Studio Max chain.;www.microsoft.com
3D Studio Max;5;5;0;0;0;5;0;0;1;3;Creating and rendering 3D models is the PC's ultimate means of capturing human imagination. But imagination is a dynamic and fluid affair, requiring the speed and open-ended versatility of 3D Studio Max for the PC to keep up with the human mind.;www.ktx.com
Triple Play'97;4;4;4;5;5;4;5;5;3;3;Electronic Arts' Triple Play '97 is clearly the best baseball simulation for the PC, and its the perfect solution to weathering the chilly winter months preceding spring training. ;www.ea.com
FAA Chicken Gun;5;5;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;The FAA has a device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. They point the gun at the windshield of the aircraft and shoot a dead chicken at about the speed the aircraft normally flies at it. ;www.cyberair.com/tower/faa
Sega Saturn with NetLink;3;4;2;5;4;4;5;5;3;2;Forget Mario-the Sega Saturn has some of the coolest games of all the console platforms, and with NetLink you can use your Saturn to surf the Web or compete against other Sega or PC players. ;www.sega.com
50.0Kbps Rockwell modem;1;5;1;1;1;1;5;5;1;1;The 28.8Kbps bandwidth just isn't powerful enough anymore, so a new modem using Rockwell's new high-speed modem technology would be a welcome hardware addition. ;www.rockwell.com
Polywell P-200 system;3;4;3;4;4;5;5;5;4;3;Since the bootLab has more powerful equipment than you have at home, you'd like to ring in the new year with a P-200 system including a Cyrix 6x86 166MHz chipset, 32MB of EDO DRAM, Orchid Righteous 3D video card, and a 4MB Matrox Millenium 2D card. ;www.polywell.com
Bose Acoustimass;4;4;2;1;5;0;0;0;1;3;You don't want to spend all day staring at the flashing LEDs on a pair of three-foot tall tower speakers flanking your monitor. You just want the best sound around with minimal clutter in your shoehorned computer cubby, and Bose delivers.;www.musicwest.com/sponsors/bose
Westwood Studio's Blade Runner;4;4;4;5;3;4;3;4;1;1;A snippet of Blade Runner was shown at E3 show, and it looked awesome. But since then, Blade Runner has been kept under extremely tight security. You want Santa to sneak an advance copy. ;www.westwood.com
WarCraft III;5;5;5;5;2;2;5;5;1;1;We can only wish.;www.blizard.com
KP-61XBR48;3;4;1;1;4;5;1;1;1;3;Projection screens just don't cut it with their fuzzy display and dim picture. The Sony XBR line uses a picture tube for a fantastic picture quality, and would be a welcome addition to your home-theater setup.;www.sony.com
Be Box Dual603-133;5;5;0;0;5;5;3;2;2;3;The BeBox is the ultimate computer toy: elegant and beautiful to muck around with. ;www.be.com
Rutan Boomerang ;0;5;0;0;0;0;0;2;1;3;When the greatest aeronautical engineer since the Wright brothers builds his dream plane, you know it'll be awesome. Burt Rutan's Boomerang doesn't look like anything before it, and it's the first plane to use a notebook to control all flight operations.;#none
U.S. Robotics Pilot PDA;0;5;0;0;0;0;0;0;2;4;You need to get organized. Plus, you need something you can carry with you everywhere without noticing you have it, and something that can stay synced with your files online. ;www.usr.com
Gateway Destination;2;3;0;4;5;4;2;5;1;2;You Don't Know Jack is fun to play on a small screen with a few friends. But it's a blast to play on a giant screen with a dozen partying friends in your living room. You're not looking for a desktop replacement... You just want to play big screen games.;www.gw2k.com
Acernote Nuovo/150;0;4;0;0;3;4;2;0;2;4;You nearly put the Nimantics Orion 166 on your lust list, until you had to put up with its limited battery life. Now you think you've found a notebook with both power and stickability. ;www.acer.com/aac
Ultima Online subscription;2;3;4;0;3;4;5;5;0;0;You're an Ultima lover, and though Ultima IX is still a year away, while waiting you'd love to get some hang time in a Britania full of other real adventurers. ;www.owo.com
Nintendo 64;0;4;2;5;2;5;1;4;5;5;You'd hoped to be able to list the new 3DO M2 here, but the latest word is that even the Japanese release will be delayed until next year. Nintendo 64 will have to do until then-You're sure Mario can keep me busy.;www.nintendo.com
Gateway G6-180;0;2;0;0;2;3;5;2;3;2;You'd like to have a heavy duty machine at home to help satisfy your Unix withdrawal. The P-Pro powered G6-180 dual booting between NT and Linux would be just the ticket for your home server.;www.gw2k.com
Nimantics Orion P166 notebook;5;5;0;0;4;5;4;0;3;4;Because you travel a lot and spend many a wasted hour waiting for things... as in traffic, people, or dinner, you'd like to be able to be able to access any and all the information you need when you need it. ;www.nimantics.com
Colorgraphics MEGA Lightning PCI dual monitor video card;5;5;0;0;0;5;3;0;2;3;One monitor is NOT enough space for what you do! You would like to have your browser on one monitor and your HTML editor in another, then you wouldn't have to keep flipping screens. ;www.colorgfx.com
Ricochet Wireless Modem;0;4;0;0;0;0;5;0;3;4;Being able to take the Net with you lets you blur the boundary between cyberspace and reality. A Ricochet and a notebook are the first step to being the technomad you've always dreamed of becoming. ;www.metricom.com
Yamaha CDE-102II Recordable CD;2;2;0;0;0;0;0;0;3;5;You like to archive things constantly and tape is way too slow and inconvienient to retrieve data from. With a gold disc, you just pop it in, search, and copy. Simple as that. It's also a great way to send large files to others.;www.yamaha.com
Sony Multiscan 20sfII Trinitron Graphic Display;4;3;0;0;0;5;0;0;2;4;You're tired of squinting. When you stare at a dinky lil' 17 monitor all day, you tend to get very fatigued. A 1600x1200 NI display would really open your eyes... in fact, you'll take two to go with your multi-headed video card above! ;www.sel.sony.com
Touch Window's touch screen monitor overlay;4;4;0;0;5;3;4;0;2;4;It would really come in handy for doing things like web browsing or music/MIDI applications. It would make all those embossed buttons actually seem real and it also would save a heck of a lot of desk top space.;www.touchwindow.com
Pygmy Zaurus PDA;5;5;0;0;0;3;4;0;3;3;One of these babies is much more convienient to carry around than your file-o-fax of papers and post it notes and notebook and cellphone and pager and... ;www.zaurus.com/zaurus.htm
Cable modem Line;2;2;2;2;5;5;5;4;5;3;At 10MBits/sec Down-Stream, you would cut the time you spend surfing and searching by an order of magnitude. And won't your live camera and audio feeds be awesome in real time?;www.home.net
KX-PS600;2;4;0;0;0;5;0;0;2;5;You want convenience, not a workhorse... so the four machines in one: fax, scanner, printer, and copier of the KX-PS600 would provide you with the perfect portable office. ;www.panasonic.com
Fujitsu Montego;1;3;0;0;2;3;2;0;3;4;It may not be king of the hill when it comes to speed or multimedia, but it has what you need: true portability. The built-in floppy drive... long battery life... and weight class of just under five pounds, mean you can work for hours without AC. ;www.fujitsu.com
G2 Tracker Intelligent Navigation System;1;4;0;0;0;1;0;0;2;5;Because you need to know where you are at all times: bootLab latitude: 37 37 N, longitude: 122 23 W... Then all you need is a vacation in the Amazon to really put it to the test.;#none
Supra NetCommander;1;4;0;0;1;3;5;0;3;5;Scrap the 33Kbps, you want ISDN, Plug-and-Play, and speedy transfer rates. The NetCommander's impressive software... full ringing support... and ability to chat while downloading files from the Net will make your online life a veritable paradise.;www.diamondmm.com
Portrait Displays Pivot 1700;5;4;0;0;1;5;0;0;2;5;OK, there's the hefty 21-inch Pivot 2100. But you don't need that behemoth-the 17 incher will suit you fine. After all, it offers WYSIWYG and res of up to 1280x1024 at 60Hz. ;www.portrait.com
Kodak DC-50;5;5;0;0;0;5;0;0;2;5;Easy to use, with plenty of memory plus removable storage cards make the DC-50 worth lusting after. It may weigh extra, but you need the upper body work. ;www.kodak.com/daiHome/dc50/indexdc50.html
Mind of Killer CD-ROM;2;1;0;0;2;4;0;0;5;5;This is one CD-ROM you must have. All the psychopaths in one place. It may not be a hot new product, but it's still on your list.;#none
Acend MAX modem;1;5;0;0;0;0;5;4;1;2;For your basic Internet needs, you don't really need a single box capable of up to 96 digital dial-up connections. But you do like basking in the knowledge that another 95 connections are ready to go, should you decide to get into the ISP business.;www.ascend.com
Zentith HomeWorks Universal Cable Modem;0;5;0;0;4;0;5;4;3;2;OK, so maybe the ISDN connectivity offered by the Ascend MAX won't be enough in a few months. Let's stay relatively technology-proof, and ask Santy for a badass cable modem capable of 4Mbps downstream data transfers. ;www.zenith.com
SGI Onyx Computer;5;4;2;2;4;5;3;2;3;1;To hell with Pentiums and MMX. Give me an Onyx, the same box that powers the Magic Edge location-based VR flight sims found in Tokyo, Sydney, and other select locations around the globe.;www.sgi.com
Casio QV-10 Digital Camera;5;5;0;0;0;3;4;0;4;4;Sometimes convenience is more important than power specs. Other digital cameras on the market offer higher resolutions, but this device is perfectly swank for its modest hobbyist intentions.;www.casio.com
Force Feedback Joystick;2;5;1;5;0;0;0;3;2;2;You're torn between competing devices from CH Products and Immersion Corp. Regardless of which joystick Santa delivers, you're looking forward to jolts, vibrations and other types of play-triggered resistance. ;www.imersion.com
Interactive I/O Virtual Vehicle JD;1;4;1;5;0;0;0;0;1;2;You hope the JD stands for juvenile delinquent, because you're gonna be both juvenile and socially delinquent when you use this bucket seat/steering wheel/foot pedal contraption for your favorite racing games. ;#none
Coherent Infinity Pulsed Laser;3;4;3;3;0;0;0;0;2;4;The Coherent company wants you to use your new laser for spectroscopy and holography. To hell with them. your gonna use your new destructo beam for burning the tires off of parked cars. ;www.cohr.com/clg/clg_products/clg_infinity.html
Sim Everything;5;5;5;5;5;5;5;5;5;1;Reality is for people who don't have the creativity to explore other options. You want to simulate every event that's ever happened, and every event that ever will happen. You know this software exists because you saw it advertised in the back of boot.;#none
Creative Labs AWE32 PnP;5;5;0;0;5;0;0;0;2;2;Someday soon, there will be PCI sound cards that will lead us out of the stone age of PC digital audio. In the meantime, we have the AWE32 PnP. This card's onboard EMU8000 wavetable synth sounds fantastic, and you can add up to 28MB of memory.;www.yamaha.com
NEC PowerPlayer 2020;5;5;0;0;2;4;4;4;2;4;This machine has gaming power oozing out of its ventilation slots.;www.nec.com
Sony DSC-F1;5;5;0;0;0;5;0;0;2;4;There's a bumper crop of great digital cameras this season, but this is your favorite. From its IrDA-compliant infrared transceiver to its pivoting viewfinder/lens, the DSC-F1 is packed with innovative features. ;www.sony.com/image
Nimantics NX-Lite 133;4;5;0;0;4;4;4;0;5;4;You're willing to forgo a CD-ROM drive to get a lightweight notebook, but you can't do without an internal floppy and you won't give up performance. ;www.nimantics.com
HyperBlade;5;5;5;5;2;4;4;4;3;5;This futuristic game offers speed, action, killer graphics, and multiplayer support. A cross between street hockey and hand-to-hand combat, HyperBlade is the sports game for people who don't like sports. ;www.activision.com
Alps MD-4000;5;5;0;0;0;5;0;0;3;4;You have $700 to spend. Which do you buy, a good color scanner for your Web page, or a great color printer for all those other projects. Alps Electric's MD-4000 delivers both in the same device. ;www.alpusa.com
Global Village NewsCatcher;0;5;0;0;0;0;5;0;4;4;The PointCast Network is fine if you're riding somebody's T1 line, but they pyramid-shaped NewsCatcher grabs headlines, sports scores, and other information out of thin air. ;www.globalvillage.com
ViewSonic P810;5;3;0;0;0;5;5;0;2;4;You used to think a 17-inch monitor was all you needed, but after gazing into this 21-inch picture window you can't go back. ;www.viewsonic.com
SCM MicroSystemsSwapBox;4;4;0;0;0;4;4;0;3;2;Infrared is good, but you still like a solid hardware connection for transferring data. The SwapBox offers the ability to transfer files from AT-compatible flash memory cards, plus it allows you to use any PCMCIA peripheral on your desktop.;www.scmmicro.com
Cambridge Soundworks Microworks;0;4;0;0;5;0;0;0;3;4;With a 66-watt amp tucked into the massive subwoofer, these babies pack a wallop whether you're playing an intense game or listening to Wagner. ;www.hifi.com
HP Vectra XW;5;4;0;0;4;5;4;0;2;3;A system to grow into. Workstation class power with a 200MHz Pentium Pro, 32MB of RAM in the form of two 72 pin ECC DIMMs, onboard 3D graphics accelerator, and a 2GB SCSI-2 hard drive with NT 4.0 preinstalled. The single CPU model would do fine. ;www.hp.com/go/vectra
Tomahawk 9 Ultra Wide SCSI;4;4;0;0;3;3;0;0;2;3;You just hate running out of space on your hard drive. This 5.25 inch marvel packs 9.1GB revolving at 7200RPM with a maximum throughput of 40MB/sec. You would be amazed at how quickly this would fill up.;www.micropolis.com
Flexscan T67S;0;4;0;0;0;5;0;0;2;5;When you've experienced a 20+ inch monitor you soon realize there's no going back. This model gives a 20-inch display at .25 mm dot pitch with resolutions up to 1600x1280. ;www.nanao.co.jp/welcome
CDD2000 CD-R drive;4;4;0;0;4;3;0;0;3;3;This 4x read, 2x write external drive has taken everything boot could throw at it. CD-Rs are great for portable mass storage solutions. Who needs a removable cartridge drive when you have 650MB of multisession-capable storage space?;www.philips.com/sv
BitSURFR Pro ISA ISDN modem;3;4;0;0;4;4;5;5;2;4;Internal ISDN modem. Blazing user-programmable bandwidth ranging from 56Kbps for a single B-channel to 128Kbps when bonded.;www.mot.com
Targa 2000;5;4;0;0;4;5;0;0;2;2;The video editing bug has got you bad, and this is an awesome solution to capturing and digitizing video. The Targa supports 720x576 resolution at 30fps.;www.truevision.com
Hexen II;2;5;3;5;4;5;0;5;4;4;Hexen with the Quake engine. The wizards of id are definitely onto something here. If you've ever played a Quake deathmatch with axes then you'll understand why this is so exciting.;www.idsoftware.com
Diablo;2;4;4;5;3;5;3;5;3;4;It looks like little 3D figures come to life. Network play, random dungeon generation, and Mephistopheles himself-this game has it all. ;www.diablo.htm
Intel Express 100BASE-T Hub;3;4;0;5;0;0;0;5;2;2;You hate latency. For the ultimate multiplayer experience this will give you more speed than you'll concievably ever need. Of course you'll need several 100BASE-T network cards as well.;www.intel.com
Back-UPS Pro 1400;0;3;0;0;0;0;0;0;2;3;A hardware and data insurance policy. This gives enough juice to keep your workstation and your refrigerator going in the event of a power outage. Nothing can stop you.;www.apcc.com
Micron Millenia TransPort P133 12.1 TFT;3;4;0;0;5;5;5;0;1;4;With the largest active matrix monitor available for a notebook, an 8x removable CD-ROM drive, a bucket full of battery power, and KICK ASS performance, this yummy has your name all over it.;www.mel.micron.com
FutureSplash Animator;5;5;0;0;0;5;5;0;3;5;A better software program to make Web animations. The file sizes are small and it's eeezeee to use.;www.futurewave.com
HiJaak Pro 4.0;4;3;0;0;0;5;0;0;3;4;A smart utility suite for PC users. It has graphics converters (more powerful than Paintshop Pro), screen capturing, and shell extensions that create graphic file thumbnails.;www.quarterdeck.com
Liquid Motion;4;5;0;0;0;5;5;0;4;4;When it's hot, it's hot! DimensionX's Liquid Motion lets you build Java Applets with drag and drop ease. Way cool!;www.dimensionx.com
AT&T Digital PCS Service;4;4;0;0;0;0;0;0;4;5;Combine voice, messaging, and paging with a single phone line (available so far in 40 major cities).;www.attws.com
Sony Multiscan 20sf11 ;0;4;0;0;0;5;0;0;3;5;Twenty inches of res madness. If you are locked to your PC, make sure you have a more than brilliant monitor.;www.sony.com
Canon BJC-70;4;4;0;0;0;5;0;0;4;5;Weighing in at four pounds, you can't beat it for price, weight, and quality.;www.hp.com
SnowCrash;5;5;0;0;0;0;5;0;5;5;It's so old now, could it be called a classic? If you haven't read it, do so immediately! Forget all the cyberspace hype and take it for what it is--a comical look at a networked future.;www.bantam.com
CHPro Throttle;0;2;0;3;0;0;0;0;3;2;Finally, the best joystick company gets around to making a good programmable throttle. With the Flightstick Pro and CH Rudders wired into this baby, you'll be flying in no time.;www.chproducts.com
Duke Nukem ;0;3;4;5;4;4;4;4;3;3;The best first-person action game of the year, bar none. Funny, exciting, packed with puzzles and cool shit, Duke is the king.;www.3drealms.com
Quake Netplay;0;3;3;5;4;5;5;5;3;3;Though Duke wins the solo play contest hands down, nothing can touch Quake when it comes to head-to-head play. Use QuakeSpy, Mplayer, or any one of numerous Internet solutions, and you'll be raising hell with the best of them in no time.;www.idsoftware.com/dmm/
Civilization II;0;2;5;1;3;4;0;0;3;3;Siddown, kids, and let grandaddy show you how it's done. A new facelift, better play balancing, and several new system refinements bring this classic game to the next generation.;www.microprose.com
Kali ;0;5;0;4;0;0;5;5;5;2;Play games over the Internet with a local dial-up number. Almost infinite play time at one low price (depending on your ISP's plan) bringing online gaming to the masses. Long live Jay Cotton!;www.igateway.net/kali/getkali.html
Connectix QuickCam;3;3;0;0;0;4;3;0;4;4;This cool little ball puts digital video and still snapshots on your PC with a minimum of fuss and muss. ;www.connectix.com
IBM ThinkPad 755CD ;0;3;0;1;3;4;4;0;3;0;You want it, and you want it now. Small, powerful, and stacked to the gills, this little notebook has everything you could possibly want to go from Net cruising to working to gaming. Please send one, IBM.;www.pc.ibm.com/thinkpad/index.html
Iomega Zip Drive;0;5;0;0;0;0;0;0;5;5;A cheap, compact, easy-to-use solution to backups. For those of you who have been using tapes or simply fearing that day when the hard drive goes bye-bye, these are a real blessing.;www.iomega.com
Monster Truck Madness;3;2;0;4;3;4;4;4;3;4;So shoot me, you think this stupid little game is a blast. Just pure mud slipping, tire spinning, redneck fun. Plus it has Netplay!;www.microsoft.com
Close Combat;3;5;5;1;4;4;4;4;4;4;Breaks the mold of strategy gaming with a landmark psychological model, realistic approach to combat, and some truly hair-raising fun. One of the first wargames to actually move beyond the old forms and venture into new territory.;www.microsoft.com
