THIS SEASON'S STAR BUY

SONOS DIGITAL MUSIC SYSTEM INTRODUCTORY BUNDLE II — typically £1,335, or £1,159 from www.simplysonos.co.uk

The dilemma for any tech-lover with a large home and a huge library of digital music stashed on a computer is how to release those sounds wirelessly. The Sonos Digital Music System provides an elegant answer. All you need is a computer — PC or Mac — housing digital tracks in any format, except downloads bought from Apple’s iTunes store or tethered WMA files. Suddenly, it’s a snap to have spicy salsa in the bedroom and cool jazz on the patio, or the same tune in every room. The introductory bundle has sufficient kit to send music to two rooms. It includes one controller, two ZonePlayers, each of which contains an amplifier, and two (optional) sets of loudspeakers. Simply connect the first ZonePlayer to your computer, or any other suitable digital storage device, with an Ethernet cable, then place the second anywhere in your home. Reaching additional rooms, up to a maximum of 32, costs about £500 per room for an extra ZonePlayer and Sonos speakers. This is cutting-edge technology that can sound great and feels too simple to be so powerful. AK

1 INSTANT TELEVISION
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 900 — typically £75, or £68 from www.savastore.com

This tiny USB-based tuner is a thumb-sized marvel that swiftly transforms even an ordinary laptop into a television-cum-PVR. Plug the WinTV widget into a spare USB 2 slot (it won’t work on USB 1.1), pop an aerial into the socket and you have a portable television that will pause and record digital Freeview or analogue broadcasts anywhere it can receive a decent signal, through the standard coaxial connection. Though you should not expect to pick up Freeview with the included aerial, the analogue service worked well with a boosted indoor aerial. Paired with a laptop that boasts a DVD burner — and plenty of hard-drive capacity — it becomes a powerful yet portable tool, ideal for capturing Vicky Pollard in a hotel bedroom, to enjoy on the train home. NP

2 PALMTOP POWERHOUSE
HP iPaq hw6515 Mobile Messenger — typically £222 with 12-month phone contract, or £440 from www.misco.co.uk

We suspect that HP’s design team set out simply to emulate a BlackBerry, but they clearly got carried away. Inside this eminently pocketable gadget lurks a quad-band phone (one, that is, that can make calls pretty much all over the world), a 1.3-megapixel camera and even a GPS receiver. With two Secure Digital (SD) memory sockets, it can act as a basic MP3 player too, but the vivid screen and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system mean its two greatest strengths are as a palmtop and a potent messaging device. Curiously, it lacks built-in WiFi — though this can be added with an SD adaptor — and it’s a juice-guzzler, so a spare battery would be a wise move, but the tiny keyboard is ideal for bashing out a 100-word e-mail or making quick changes to Office documents. However, be aware that the tech-lover who finds this puppy in their yuletide stocking will spend all day playing with it, rather than enjoying charades en famille. TD

3 MASTER BLASTER
Altec Lansing InMotion iM7 SoundDock — typically £200, or £190 from www.podzone.co.uk

Though all MP3 players can be plugged into a normal amplifier, no true tech-lover is now happy without a set of specialist speakers, especially one with a dedicated iPod connector that recharges the player as it blasts. These fall into two camps: skimpy ultraportable models and far more potent "docks", connected umbilically to the mains. The boombox-styled InMotion iM7 delivers the goods in both respects: genuinely room- shaking bass, and the option of battery power for about eight hours of movable tunes. It has a cassette-type cradle, specifically designed to house all variants of iPod except the Shuffle, as well as a standard 3.5mm auxiliary input — cue instant Christmas party. There is a neat remote control, although it cannot plough through iPod submenus. The iM7 also lacks both volume and battery indicators. That said, this hefty beast is the king of portable speakers, and a sizzling idea for summer barbecue duties, too. AP

4 LUSCIOUS LAPTOP
Sony Vaio TX1XP/B — typically £1,599, or £1,505 from www.ebuyer.com

Laptops, like life, are all too often a question of compromise. This vanity- inducing Vaio sidles up to the scales at a skimpy 1.25kg, yet includes everything you would expect in a much larger machine. Highlights include a built-in DVD burner, a 60GB hard disk and a luscious widescreen TFT display. The matt carbon-fibre lid ensures that this baby is rugged enough to cart between all those "business meetings" that justify its purchase. A relatively compact keyboard means a gel wrist rest and a wireless mouse are useful when typing lengthy reports, but the TX1XP remains a pleasure to use on a day-to-day basis, thanks to its nippy 1.2GHz processor, and it will keep working all the way to New York, lasting for seven hours in our battery test. Cards-on-the-table time: we love this laptop — and your tech-lover will, too. TD

5 CHEAP TALK
USB Cordless Du@lPhone — typically £100, or £79 from www.gadgetstuff.com

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