Encarta Premium Suite claims a base of 130,000+ articles, along with 25,300+ photos and illustrations and 1.8 million map locations. That's more than a bit of bedtime reading, although of course there are really only two reasons why people buy digital encyclopedias these days -- either they've got kids to educate, or they're after some verifiable and quotable facts for a research project. For almost anyone else, of course, there's Google.

Microsoft has been producing its Encarta Encyclopedia and World Atlas since the early 1990s, but despite several attempts it has never produced anything that could rightfully claim to be an Australian edition...

The best source of knowledge or “broken beyond repair”? PC Authority uncovers how the net’s highly controversial encyclopedia really works.

The big test for any interactive encyclopaedia is how well it deals with local information. Microsoft quickly learned that Australian students are not interested in an American view of the world and for the past few editions of its Encarta it has been putting a lot of effort into the Australian content.

Don't confuse Microsoft Works with a slimmed-down version of Office, because Works is for the home productivity market.

HP is adamant that the digital home of the future (and now for that matter) has a midi-tower PC in it next to the TV.

The Omega Viewmaster Portiva 5Z71 is another notebook comprising of tradeoffs; the blistering Pentium-M 2GHz processor offset by an NVIDIA GeForce Go660 graphics card with only 64MB of video memory, accompanied by the smallest hard drive of the bunch.

Looking sleek and a little smaller than your average midi tower, the t134a sits on top of the Pavilion series. This machine is a powerful home/office PC – not rigged purely for gaming.

Impressive quality, considering the bargain basement price. We're talking sub $1000 here.

It’s great value and will tempt some people thanks to its size and multimedia abilities.

The Internet is booming again, but this time it’s very different. PC Authority brings you up to speed with the global Web 2.0 phenomenon.