MP3 Players

This category may be slowly swallowed by ever more capable mobile phones but if you want a cheap and cheerful purchase you can’t do much better than the venerable SanDisk Sansa Clip. Apple may rule the roost with the iPod line but the Clip is everything the iPod shuffle wishes it could be. Unlike the shuffle it sports a screen, sequential playback, an FM radio and microphone recorder. Battery life is also 50 per cent better than the shuffle at 15 hours from a single charge and while tiny (29 grams) the Clip isn’t so small you’ll lose it down the back of the sofa. Perhaps best of all however is the price with an 8GB Clip costing just £39 and a 4GB Clip a mere £29. An iPod shuffle? £59 for 4GB. Ladies and gentlemen we know where most people’s money goes, but this is where you put the smart money.

Cameras

Ever wish you could have the quality of a professional DSLR digital camera combined with the small, lightweight convenience of a compact? The Olympus Pen E-P1 could just be the first camera to do it. Launched just last month, it employs ‘Micro Four Thirds technology’ to cut down on overall bulk without sacrificing image quality. Furthermore, just like a professional camera the lenses on the E-P1 can be swapped for different sizes and even a dedicated Flashgun can be fitted on top. The Pen E-P1 will also shoot High Definition video and features HDMI output so it can be plugged straight into a TV to view your latest masterpieces. It doesn’t come cheap with prices starting from £599.99, but right now there is nothing else like it.

Netbooks

The laptop has long eaten away at sales of the desktop PC but it seems in these recession haunted times that the new ultra portable, low cost ‘netbook’ category is quickly devouring laptops. A flood of virtually indistinguishable models have landed thanks to Microsoft imposing ‘maximum specifications’ on manufacturers, but the best of these to date is the unassuming sub £300 Samsung NC10. It may not be the most beautiful, but the NC10 is superbly built, features a fantastic keyboard, bright screen and outstanding battery life (more than six hours on a single charge). The newer Samsung N120 will soon replace it, but with a £60 price premium for virtually no difference you’re best snapping up the NC10 while you still can.

Camcorders

Just a few years ago High Definition video recording was only available in professional production equipment costing tens of thousands of pounds. How times change. Like the netbook market, budget camcorders have also exploded onto the scene over the last 12 months. The FlipVideo line is arguably the most successful and the launch of the Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder this month brings High Definition recording into the palm of your hand for just £159. Operation is simply a matter of point and shoot, there’s two hours worth of recording courtesy of the 8GB of onboard storage and you can also take still shots. If you enjoy sharing content the UltraHD’s built in software can automatically upload it to YouTube, batteries are replaceable and there’s even an HDMI port so everything you record can be displayed straight from your device onto an HDTV. Goodbye expensive camcorders.