Xerox
DP 820 Projector: $999
www.xeroxscanners.com

Xerox touts the DP 820 as an excellent all-around projector that fits within a reasonable small business price point. Indeed, with a curb weight of 4.5lbs.—less than most laptops—and a 1,600 lumen brightness rating, the DP 820 is versatile enough for permanent placement or mobile presentations. Image quality is as sharp as you can expect from a sub-$1,000 projector. An 800 x 600 display won't rival some of the higher-end models with 1024 x 768 resolutions and 2,000+ lumens, but it's certainly ample.

The underlying technology used to generate such impressive specs is Texas Instruments's DLP, similar to what you'd find in the sharpest rear-projection TV sets out there. It's a proven mechanism that relies on lamps and mirrors. The only component customers will have to replace is the lamp bulb, which is guaranteed against defect for 90 days but truly rated for 2,000 hours of operation. Fortunately, DLP gives the DP 820 flexibility in display support, with aspect ratios of either 4:3 or 16:9 and compatibility with all formats between NTSC 480i and HDTV 1080i. Inputs are kept simple: use a 15-pin D-SUB, S-Video, or composite.

A handful of accessories complement the DP 820 projector and count as notable additions. A full array of cables, including VGA, S-Video, and RCA, cover the gamut of available inputs. There's also a carrying bag, lens cap, and a laser pointer remote control with battery.

Creative Labs
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS: $279
www.soundblaster.com

Is the sound card market dying or just waiting for the next big thing? As it stands, Creative Labs is the only manufacturer left offering hardware acceleration for audio. Everyone else seems to think that processors are powerful enough to handle audio duties on their own. However, Creative's latest chip design is intended to prove some tasks are better left to a dedicated board.

For example, a new EAX Advanced HD 5.0 audio API enables 128 simultaneous voices, along with PurePath, MacroFX, and FlexiFX, all marketing names for realism-enhancing features. X-Fi CMSS-3D delivers on its promise of a better headphone experience, and the 24-bit Crystalizer upmixes everything to 24-bit quality. What does that all mean for your customer? As newer games emerge with support for some of Creative's proprietary features, the benefits of hardware accelerated sound may really start outweighing the landscape of budget-minded integrated chips.

You can showcase some of the card's immediate benefits in EA's Battlefield 2, which utilizes the X-Fi Fatal1ty's 64MB of onboard X-RAM to store sound samples. Whether or not there's an inherent performance improvement there is debatable, but customers will certainly realize better quality.

When it isn't being use for gaming, the X-Fi pulls double and triple duties as an entertainment hub and content creation enabler. Built-in support for DTS-ES and Dolby Digital EX decoding is still part of the package, as is official THX certification. SuperRip allows your customers to save MP3 files in 24-bit format, while a 109 dB signal-to-noise ratio powers playback clearer than any other card prior to the very expensive Audigy 4.

For those who aren't quite ready to pony up $279 (or $399 for Creative's X-Fi Elite Pro), a $200 Platinum card and $129 XtremeMusic board sport many similar features minus the 64MB of X-RAM.

Foxconn
NF4SK8AA nForce4 SLI Motherboard: $125
www.foxconnchannel.com

NVIDIA recently announced its intention to start shipping nForce4 SLI motherboards with a newer version of the chipset, wielding two PCI Express slots wired for x16 operation instead of x8. Though representatives at the company admit performance isn't drastically impacted in today's games, the next generation should demonstrate a more measurable benefit. Motherboards bearing NVIDIA's nForce4 revision aren't expected to cost much more than existing SLI products, which is good news for your enthusiast customers.

It's also welcome news for the mainstream folks, who'll be eagerly anticipating lower prices on today's dual x8 boards. Foxconn's NFSK48AA exemplifies that demand for value-based SLI hardware with a relatively standard feature set and a remarkably mainstream price. Of course, most of the board's allure comes from SLI support, enabled at the lowest cost by a pair of GeForce 6600 or 6600 GT graphics cards. Other notable integrated features include four USB 2.0 ports, a quartet of 3 Gbps SATA connectors, and a built-in firewall with networking acceleration—one of NVIDIA's most compelling value-adds.

Foxconn even splurges a bit on complementary components. Integrated 7.1-channel audio is included, as is Gigabit Ethernet through NVIDIA's MAC and a Marvell physical layer. Three extra USB 2.0 headers populate the board, but the brackets necessary to use them didn't make the bundle. There are, however, two SATA data cables, a SATA power adapter, a single ATA cable, the requisite SLI bridge for linking two GeForce cards, and plenty of documentation.

Foxconn's focus isn't on the gamer or power user, so don't expect much in the way of BIOS-enabled tweaking. Conservative resellers will likely view this as more of a feature, ensuring in-spec operation of a white box machine. And at a price inflection similar to many nForce4 Ultra motherboards, the inclusion of SLI to the NF4SK8AA is reason enough to buy.

OCZ
PC2-4200 533MHz 4GB Gaming Kit: $499
www.ocztechnology.com

Not too long ago, you could get away with running 256MB of system RAM. Then, Windows XP and other memory-hungry applications started really chugging with anything less than 512MB. One gigabyte was the most recent limbo bar and as games such as Battlefield 2 start taxing processors and memory subsystems further, more oomph will become necessary in the name of better performance.

At the same time, understand that super-large memory payloads are difficult to drive at high speeds due to power loading issues. Thus it's actually pretty cool that OCZ is able to offer a 4GB memory kit comprised of two 2GB modules, leaving plenty of room to upgrade four-slot motherboards further. It's still not possible to run these high-density sticks at the highest supported frequencies of Intel's 955X and NVIDIA's nForce 4 SLI chipsets (mainly, 667MHz). However, at 533MHz, they're at least able to sustain 3-3-3-8 timings for competitive frame rates.

Resellers benefit from OCZ's 2.2V warranty that protects overclocked modules, a lifetime guarantee, and toll-free technical support. Enthusiasts will enjoy expansive capacity, respectable performance, and the sweet aesthetic of mirrored, gold-plated, copper heat spreaders.