Productopia | Computers & Internet

You're heard it all before: Buy the biggest hard drive you can when you buy a computer, so you can store all your digital music, photo and video files. But no matter how big your PC's hard drive, sooner or later, it's going to fill up. Even if you have a massive drive, it's a good idea to have backup, because computers do fail (usually at the worst possible moment).

We've spotted a lot of good discounts on hard drives, but based on the reviews we read, we don't think any of them are better than the Western Digital My Book World Edition reviewed in our report on external hard drives.

Yes, printers are practical gift, but some people like practical gifts - especially if you set up the printer too. Discounted printers abound at Staples, OfficeMax, Best Buy and Wal-mart - but some are better deals than others. Whether you're in the market for an inkjet printer, laser printer or multifunction printer, there's savings to be had - and this year, it's either at Staples or OfficeMax. Here are our picks for the best printer deals, based on the reviews we've analyzed.

If you're interested in printing 4-by-6-inch photos at home, a dedicated photo-printer is the way to go. Photo printers are great for printing shots during a party and make a great gift. The Epson PictureMate series of inkjet snapshot printers consistently earn top ratings in reviews. The line's newest addition, the PictureMate Charm (*Est. $150), offers even better photo quality than its predecessors, the Dash (*Est. $140) and the Zoom (*Est. $200).

The Canon Selphy CP780 (*Est. $90) is a good budget photo printer, though you'll pay a bit more for paper and ink. Reviewers generally rate it just behind Epson's PictureMate models. The Selphy CP780 and its siblings use dye-sublimation technology, which results in prints that have no pixelation and are more saturated than those seen from inkjets.

While they're still not the best choices for heavy-duty gamers or number crunchers, the rest of us will almost certainly find the perfect notebook among those in the latest generation of cheap laptops. Some budget picks are as small and light as a netbook on the outside, but inside contain the heart and power of a fully-capable laptop.

Others are less fun to lug around, but are admirable performers if you need a desktop replacement. Some add features, such as a 3D display (with stereoscopic glasses) or a touch-screen that's useful and fun, that are heretofore unheard of in a sub-$800 notebook computer. Some cheap laptops deliver as much as 10 hours of battery life. All use Windows 7. You can learn more in our newly-updated report on cheap laptops.

Almost all digital photo printing websites offer the same basic options: online storage, editing tools, printing services, photo gifts and photo sharing. Photo sharing is an especially helpful feature, as users can upload photos and invite friends and family to view them online. This saves you from e-mailing large batches of image files. Anyone can then order just the prints they want, as well as photo gifts like photo mugs, coasters, magnets or entire photo albums.

Reviews say Snapfish is the best digital photo printing service overall, with the perfect balance of quality and price. Snapfish (*Est. 9 cents per print) gets recommendations from a number of review sites including PCMag.com, BusinessWeek and Which?, a British consumer magazine.

This holiday season, Google is giving the travelers the gift of free Wi-Fi at 47 airports nationwide. The promotion began on November 10 and will run until January 15. You can view a full list of participating airports at Google's free holiday Wi-Fi site. According to Engadget.com, this arrangement is "expected to cover about 35% of all US travelers."

Mint users rejoice! We reported in September that competitor Intuit (maker of Quicken Online) had acquired Mint and we were worried that Mint as we knew it would cease to exist. But, now that the deal has been finalized, Mint CEO turned Intuit VP Aaron Patzer says Quicken Online will be phased out and current accounts will be migrated to Mint.com over the next 6-9 months.

Our report on personal finance sites gave the edge to Mint over Quicken Online, but the latter service has a few features that Mint doesn't. Patzer acknowledged this in a interview with Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch, revealing one Quicken Online feature in particular that Mint should have. That is "the ability to manually enter cash transactions or record checks which have not yet cleared." Patzer also talked about integrating Mint with other Intuit products such as TurboTax.

Read our full report on personal finance sites, for more on Mint and other services.

With a price tag of just $120, Kmart's Black Friday netbook doorbuster looks like a bargain at first glance. Unfortunately, when we looked further we found that it's anything but. In fact, calling the Delstar 7-inch wireless netbook a netbook at all is a stretch that would leave the Fantastic Four's Reed Richards envious. Here's why:

The best general-purpose inkjet printers can tackle any number of jobs --from letters and lists to maps and photos -- in a reasonable amount of time and without consuming massive amounts of ink. The newest addition to Canon's inkjet photo printer lineup, the Canon Pixma iP4700 (*Est. $100) excels at whatever task it is put to, scoring high marks in early reviews. While many photo-centric printers fall short on text quality, Canon's iP4000 series can handle photos and text with aplomb.

Logitech and Microsoft are the primary competitors in the computer mice space. In the latest crop of reviews, Logitech's MX1100 Cordless Laser Mouse takes the lead for general-purpose mice, earning high marks for its ergonomic, contoured shape and full-size design.

Gaming and graphics professionals who need precise pointer control will like the Microsoft SideWinder X8, which beats out competing mice from Logitech for the first time. What makes it so great? The Sidewinder features Microsoft's BlueTrack system for working well on nearly any surface, and is capable of processing 13,000 images per second.