The time to buy into new technology is after it has been sufficiently tested in the marketplace and after the price has dropped to affordable levels. Here are four outstanding product categories with proven goods that perform well and are cost-effective for today’s high tech consumers.

Flat Panel Monitors

If you still have a big bulky CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor on your desktop, now is the time to replace it will a sleek new flat screen LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor. Flat panel monitors are thin and lightweight. They take up much less precious desktop space than their predecessors. Even more important, LCD monitors are clearer and flicker-free so they are easier on the eyes. Flat panel monitors were extremely expensive when they were first introduced, but they have come down to affordable levels. You don’t have to wait until you get a new computer to have one of these sleek new monitors. They will work with your computer whether old or new.

Color Ink Jet Printers

I paid $500 for my first color ink jet printer. Now you can purchase a comparable printer for less than $50. Quality ink jets with numerous new features and excellent quality can be had for around $100. When making your purchase, be sure to consider the cost of consumables. I recently saw an ink jet printer complete with ink cartridges for $30, but replacement ink cartridges were selling for $35 each. Know that you will have to purchase ink for your printer in the future and be sure to check out the price of ink before you make your printer purchase.

USB Hard Drives

These devices are also called Portable Hard Drives and Flash Drives. When they were introduced several years ago, USB Drives were quite pricey even for devices that had as little as 16 MB of storage space. Today if you shop around, you can buy a 256MB USB Hard Drive for about $30. A portable hard drive allows you to take your files with you. They are small devices that act just like hard drives. Insert one into the USB port on your computer and it will look just like a hard drive in the “My Computer” folder on your computer. You can drag and drop, copy, or move and type a file to the portable drive. Use it for your text documents, audio files, and photos. It is perfect for anyone on the move. I use one to store all my writing files. Then, whether I am at home, at the office, or on the road I have immediate access to all my files. These devices are perfect for transporting files between home and school or home and office. They are great way to make a quick backup. They can also be used to carry around the photos and/or files that you would like to share with friends or neighbors.

Digital Cameras

With no need (and no cost) for film or film processing, the digital camera has come of age. Prices have plummeted while quality has improved. The quality of digital cameras is often determined by the number of megapixels it has. (Although this is not the only measurement that should be used.) Nikon has recently announced a 12.4 megapixel camera and, as expected, as the megapixels increase in the newest products, the prices for cameras with fewer megapixels fall. With the 2-4 megapixel cameras being adequate for most average photographers, cameras in that quality range have become surprisingly affordable. So if you haven’t yet taken the plunge into the exciting world of digital photography, be sure you put a digital camera on your Christmas wish list.