Our coveted Most Wanted Hardware winner is the equivalent of a “Best Picture” Oscar. It’s the product that our editorial team would most like gracing our own homes, and the one we’d spend our own hard-earned cash on. No other award is as fiercely contested.
Nvidia's 8800 GTX is a tour de force – it has everything you’ll need to play games at the highest resolution and detail settings now and for the foreseeable future. It was out long before AMD's (slower) 2900 XT and it runs quieter too. It was noticeably aboive a pack which included Nikon's D80 SLR and Intel's Quad-core CPU.
But we couldn't split the top two. Panasonic's 65in 1080p plasma TV wowed everyone who saw it. Watching it was like looking through a window to another world, which is exactly what Full HD is all about. We want one. Hang the price ($9000)!
We also downright loved the Sony VAIO G-series notebook. This 12in marvel was as tough as they come and yet could flex to unfathomable degrees to withstand very serious impact. Yet it only weighed only 1.3kg and was only 24.5mm thick. Add to this a great screen, integrated DVD-writer and nine-hour battery life and you've one of the most desirable and well-engineered notebooks ever created.