There are many things that are given the 'instant' moniker, but usually products from the IT world are not among their number. Slow PC boot times (whatever happened to instant-on PCs?) and a whole mess of configurations takes the instant gratification out of most technology...

Plus Corporation's U4 136Z projector is a fairly small unit measuring just 53 x 190 x 239mm and weighing only 1.5kg, and while it can be held easily in one hand its got the goodies where it counts.

TFT screens are notoriously expensive to manufacture and even more expensive to purchase in comparison to their conventional CRT counterparts.

This tiny notebook, measuring a mere 26.5 x 22 x 2.1cm looks quite ordinary on the outside, yet comes with quite an interesting processor inside. The Valeo CP10 is not powered by Intel or AMD, nor even Transmeta, but instead has one of the first VIA Antaur CPUs we've come across.

In what is an interesting first time foray into the crowded PDA market, Acer is hedging its bets by releasing both Palm- and Pocket PC-based PDAs. It's a curious gambit to be sure, and we're content to see which PDA branch blossoms while the other withers.

Offering 40GB of storage, the Iomega drive is very small for its capacity, measuring a mere 8.89 x 7.37 x 1.27cm. It weighs just over 99 grams, which means it's unnoticeable in your pocket. The internal drive is a 40GB Hitachi TravelStar C4K40 -- a new form-factor hard drive, measuring a mere 1.8 inches across (a normal notebook hard drive is 2.5in, a desktop drive 3.5) -- and only about 7mm thick.

I've predicted 2003 will be the year of the TFT, with massive price cuts on the way that will give CRTs a run for their money. The year is already looking good with these three models entering our testing Labs.

Receiving this model last month, we knew we were seeing innovation in action with the introduction of OLED technology and the ultra wide and bright 2.2-inch display. OLED allows for less power consumption while providing a noticeably brighter and clearer display than other technologies – perfect for direct sunlight and angular viewing.

Before we even delve into this projector's specs, the most important and standout metric with the EMP-S1 is its extremely humble $1,999 price tag, which when compared to the usual $5-10K standard for home cinema, puts the EMP-S1 well within reach of people for whom home video projection was merely a dream.

The Sony PEG-NV70X Clie marks a welcome shift in the PDA landscape from the Pocket PC, with a few firsts up its sleeves.

The JoyBook 8000 marks the first attempt by BenQ to enter what some might argue is a crowded notebook market. BenQ's stance on the JoyBook is different from other notebook manufacturers though, as it won't be selling the JoyBook as 'just another notebook', but will instead market it totally as a digital lifestyle product.

Similar in nature to the Zinwell ProV (June 2002, page 46) but with better execution, the X-Media DreamBox is a small set-top box for your desktop that lets you watch TV, video, console games and DVDs on your monitor without the need to power on your PC.

Take a portable media player, add video and sound recording functionality plus a 3.1MP digital still camera and you've got the Richo Vivitar DVR390H.

When we last compared sub-$2,500 projectors (December 2003) Dell was unable at the time to supply us with a review model. We were eager to see what their brand new sub-$2,000 projector was capable of, but it's taken it a while to complete the circuitous route to our offices.

The Lexmark P6250 is a not just a photo printer as such, it's also an all in one multifunction device: printer/scanner/copier and media reader. You might be nodding to yourself with the obviousness of an all in one printer winning out over tiny single use photo printers in this roundup, but to be honest the distinction is not just made because of the broad functionality and applicability of the Lexmark P6250.

This rather small Centrino-powered notebook from Fujitsu has been designed for students and the hip-crowd; those that want something that's capable of work and entertainment, is not too large or heavy to carry, and that can easily balance on a café table between text books and a hot latte.

This is the second Smartphone we've reviewed (O2's Xphone, March 2004, page 55) but, unlike the Xphone, the Motorola MPx200 features a clamshell design. Smallish, black and sleek, the MPx200 is a Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 phone with GPRS which enables email, SMS, MMS and WAP capabilities.

The o2 Xphone is one of the first phones in Australia to use Microsoft's new embedded SmartPhone 2003 OS, which is a highly, highly pared down and customised version of Windows XP. Anyone familiar with the Windows interface shouldn't have much trouble operating this phone. Having said that however, it does take some getting used to when navigating the menu systems, but it doesn't actually take long to get up to speed.

Acer’s tiny new Tablet PC, the TravelMate C111 marries the functionality of their previous convertible tablet with the low-power high-performance functionality of the Intel Centrino.

Sony's first Cineza, the VPLHS1, was an innovative projector: it featured 'sideshot', horizontal as well as vertical keystone correction which meant it was the first projector that could be placed in the corner of a room, and still project a perfectly rectangular image in the centre of a wall.