4. Desktop PCs

Often considered mere commodities, desktop PCs have undergone few major changes in recent years. But take a fresh look at HP's TouchSmart IQ500 series, starting at $1,300. The large integrated touch-screen/CPU/drive package could change your notion of the ways you can interact with a computer. This new desktop format easily switches among multiple applications, and it will look spectacular on a reception desk.

5. Display Monitors

With flat screens the norm, consider new, inexpensive 19-in. and larger models with energy-saving LED backlights. Employees will appreciate their bigger, brighter images.

For the very best color and highest contrast, I looked at Dell's spectacular 30-in. widescreen monitor, the $1,999 UltraSharp 3008WFP. With its huge, high-resolution screen (1,920-by-1,080 analog; 2,560-by-1,600 digital) I find I actually work differently and more efficiently, keeping more application windows and data on-screen simultaneously -- a real timesaver with large projects. And all without eyestrain or the prescription glasses I need for smaller monitors.

6. GPS

A good portable GPS unit used to cost $500; now they start well under $200, with bigger screens, more storage and maps, and better interfaces. Moved easily from car to car, they can be ideal timesavers for those who travel a lot on business. I own a low-end Magellan, but if I were buying now, I'd opt for the larger-screen Garmin Nuvi 255W, which has a nicer interface.

7. Mobile Tools

Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle is the best dedicated e-book reader I've seen yet. It's quiet and small and has a nicely readable screen. Though pricey, it's a handy way to take along and read a lot of material without lugging around the weight or bulk of printed copies. In addition to being able to download e-books, newspapers and magazines without needing a PC, you can e-mail Word documents to the Kindle and have Wikipedia access.

Another tool offering serious value is a portable backup drive. Small hard drives like Seagate's FreeAgent Go offer 250GB to 500GB for between $100 and $200. They're compact, lightweight insurance.

8. Digital Cameras

Today's handy point-and-shoot cameras are good, but sometimes they don't do the job. If you'd like the capabilities of a full digital SLR without the size, weight and cost, try Panasonic's under-$300 Lumix DMC-FZ28. It's just a bit bigger than the little guys, yet it offers serious versatility. Its high-quality 18:1 zoom lens and 10-megapixel resolution deliver superb image quality.

If you absolutely need to fit it into your shirt pocket, check out Panasonic's 9-megapixel DMC-TZ50; it's half the thickness, though the zoom lens has "only" a 10:1 range.