Priyanka Joshi in Mumbai
It's hard not to notice the colourful Ed Hardy phone covers that Britney Spears and Paris Hilton use to decorate their mobile phones.
Someone back in India, too, must have noticed the monotonous laptops, similar variants of mobile phones or boring accessories we were being sold in the name of cutting-edge technology.
As a result, the local market is now flooded with colourful laptops and netbooks, glossy handsets, and accessories such as headphones that can be customised to suit your attitude.
Even the strictly 'for business' products like projectors have evolved into compact yet fully functional machines.
If you are the kind of customer who is not afraid to splurge on a piece of hardware for its looks (a class apart from those mass-produced variety) then here are some choices to spoil you.
on flashy gadgets...Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 131,999 It's not just another laptop. Asus' latest notebook series design was the result of a collaboration between Asus and Bang & Olufsen. The trackpad on this 18.4-inch screen laptop is invisible or rather it's built right into the shiny wrist pad.
There are two more touch pads on either side of the keyboard with the speakers hanging over the sides of the display screen like monoliths. Best described as cinema-on-the-go, it also comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Razer Orca Headphones
Price: Rs 3, 599
The Razer Orca will come with a plug and switch cable, offering a quick and convenient solution for seamlessly switching between gaming and listening to music.
Enhanced drivers have been included to optimise both - game action and the thumping bass of your favourite artists - making it the ideal dual-purpose solution for gamers and music lovers alike. Also, this neon green coloured Orca headphones are a guaranteed head-turner.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 4,495 Logitech's Lapdesk N700 comes with integrated speakers placed within the N700, designed for user to work on the laptop (while sitting on a couch or bed) - hands are better positioned for typing and the monitor is closer to eye level.
Lapdesk N700 has a pretty large surface and so it can be used for larger sized (17-inch) notebooks too. It weighs a little less than one kilogram and so might not be a portable accessory. It connects with a single USB cable that draws both power and audio from your computer.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 34,990 The pink, blue, green, white and black Vaio E series notebooks - in both matte and glossy finish - are hard to ignore.
The E-series hinges mainly on its multimedia capability without burning your pocket. We tested a Vaio laptop powered by Intel i5 processor, pre-loaded Windows 7 and a 15.5-inch full HD screen and it came off as an all-purpose family PC that surfs the web, plays movies and games and looks great.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 25,000
We recommend that you go see this tablet PC to understand our excitement. It's compact and weighs just about 410 grams, runs on Android OS and is 3G-enabled.
Olivepad is a competent seven-inch touchscreen PC powered by ARM processor. Best used as a secondary PC or a multimedia device in a house, the Olivepad can be either connected using a 3G sim card (EDGE network works too) or a Wi-Fi connection.
An internal memory of just 512 MB will have you running to buy an external memory card to store your multimedia files.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 4,990
Sony's W series MP3 player not only does away with the wires but also tucks the MP3 right into your headsets. This Walkman is perfect for working. The fact that it is sweat-proof means that you can easily slip this on while exercising.
The controls are very simple, you can adjust the volume and change tracks with the easy push of a button located on one of the ear pieces. A feature called Zappin is really handy while exercising, as it allows you to skip the start of a song and jump straight to the body.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Lenovo Ideacentre A300 All-in-one PC
Price: Rs 46,500
Lenovo's all-in-one desktop IdeaCentre A300 - the industry's thinnest all-in-one - can impress anyone with its elegant design that conceals the PC in its base instead of conventionally having the PC behind the screen.
Even after this, the A300 has a depth of just 18.5mm for its 21.5 inch full HD LED panel. Besides, the A300 packs in a 500GB hard drive, an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 and 4GB of DDR3 memory with Intel GMA 4500HD graphics card.
This equips A300 to be an ideal replacement for the desktop PC at your home. We found the HDMI connection to be a pleasant surprise since most all-in-one PCs lack this feature. This allows you to plug another screen - like your HDTV.
The PC also has four USB ports and a FireWire port. The included wireless keyboard and mouse are fairly easy to connect with the PC.
. . .Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 19,625 (taxes extra)
Lenovo's 10.2-inch screen IdeaPad is available in classic white, black and ruby red. It has an energy-efficient LED backlit display with a longer battery life.
The super-slim Lenovo IdeaPad S10 includes Wi-Fi and and an ExpressCard slot. It ensures high speed mobile broadband connectivity.
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Want to splurge on gadgets? Check this!
Price: Rs 5,900
Lomega's new Skin line of portable hard drives offers three unique designs in 500GB capacity. It can take in up to 200,000 photos, over 125,000 songs or more than 190 hours of video.
All the drives come with Iomega's Drop Guard protection. Additionally, all of the drives come with Iomega's software package that includes a 12-month subscription to Trend Micro's Internet Security software, backup software and access to Iomega's online storage platform.
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