(FORTUNE Magazine) – As we bid adieu to 2002--and not a moment too soon!--let's pause to appreciate the products that brightened an otherwise dull year in personal technology. How tedious was 2002? My favorite new product (next page) was actually invented in 1990. And my least favorite technology was dreamed up in 1984--the Orwell novel, not the year. There were no breakthrough products this year along the lines of satellite radio (2001), personal video recorders (2000), or Napster (1999), which enabled consumers to enjoy technology in new ways. Nonetheless, there was plenty of improvement. Now, without further ado....

DESKTOP PC The sheer audacity of the design--a flat-panel display floating on a stainless-steel arm over a domed base in snowy white--created an instant classic. The 17-inch widescreen Apple iMac ($1,999), equipped with a G4 processor and SuperDrive, as well as elegant new software including Mac OS X Jaguar, iSync, and iCal, confirmed that Apple continues to be the pacesetter of the PC industry. Meanwhile, Dell's Dimension 8250 ($819 to well over $3,000) is the machine of choice for Windows-based multimedia, including audio, video, 3-D games, and digital photos.

CAMCORDER This year I zoomed in on two miniDV models, the Canon Elura 40MC (above right, about $700) and the Sony DCR TRV-50 Bluetooth (about $1,100). The Canon is the ideal vacation-cam, tiny and light (about one pound). It can take digital snapshots and snippets of Motion JPEG video to e-mail to friends back home. But it's also a lightweight when it comes to shooting indoors, which is why I'd spend more for the Sony. The TRV-50 is unmatched as a consumer camcorder, and as a geeky toy: Paired with a Bluetooth phone, it can e-mail snapshots and videoclips wirelessly.

VIDEO RECORDER The SonicBlue ReplayTV 5040 features progressive-scan output, which yields better picture quality on TV sets that support it ($300, plus a $10 monthly service fee, or a one-time $250 life-of-the-box fee). But if terms like "progressive scan" cause static in your brain, consider any of the TiVo Series 2 PVRs ($300 and up), which are a bit easier to use.

PDA The Palm OS-based Sony Clie PEG NX70V (left, $599) has a digital camera (which produces atrocious but interesting photos and MPEG videos), a swiveling color display, and a mini-keyboard. Other PDAs getting a thumbs up: The Toshiba Pocket PC e740 ($600) has WiFi connectivity, a 400MHz XScale chip, and great graphics; and the solid Dell Axim X5 (as little as $199 after rebate) is the bargain of the year among Pocket PC devices.

DVD PLAYER You could buy ten made-in-China DVD players for the cost of one of my favorite DVD players, the Pioneer Elite DV-45A ($700). The DV-45A produces superb picture quality, but what makes it special is its ability to play both DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD music discs on a surround-sound home-theater system. For those willing to take sides in the post-CD music format wars, the Sony DVP-NS755P ($250) delivers progressive-scan video (trust me, you'll want progressive scan even if you don't have a digital TV yet, because all TVs will be digital within a few years) and plays Super Audio CD, but only if you have a multichannel receiver. In the rival DVD-Audio camp, the Toshiba SD-P2000 ($999) is an outstanding portable DVD player. It has an 8.9-inch widescreen LCD and component video output.

PORTABLE PC On the outside it looks the same as my favorite notebook computer last year, but Apple's 1GHz PowerBook G4 with SuperDrive (below, $2,999) is a different machine. The 5.4-pound, titanium-clad multimedia studio has the PC world's first slot-loading DVD-R/CD-RW drive, which adds inner strength without bulk. Also new are a 1GHz G4 processor, a megabyte of Level 3 cache memory for higher performance, and a 64MB ATI Radeon 9000 graphics processor. The 15.2-inch widescreen display is the best on any portable, and the standard software is top shelf. On a budget? The Apple iBook is worth a look.

Among Windows machines, two updated models achieve the best balance of small size and big performance: the IBM Thinkpad X30 ($2,125 and up), which weighs less than four pounds and goes nonstop on a coast-to-coast flight when outfitted with an optional extended battery, and the ultra-portable Toshiba Portege 2010 ($1,999 and up), at 2.6 pounds and less than an inch thick, the lightest business-class portable around.

The arrival of new portables based on Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system was big news. Tablet PCs can be operated with a digital pen, either as a supplement to or a replacement for a keyboard and mouse. The Toshiba Portege 3500 (above, $2,500) is a solid notebook computer that, when it flips its lid, becomes a tablet PC. Another impressive tablet is Fujitsu's Stylistic ST4000-series "slate" ($2,199 and up), which slides into an optional desktop docking station with keyboard and connection ports, for those times when you don't mind being penned up in your office.

MP3 PLAYER Wait, isn't this the same Apple iPod that got fave raves last year? Same tune, different verse. Apple released a 20GB version of the popular portable music and data device, capable of holding not just every good song in your CD collection, but also your calendar and contact lists. And to collect a few of the paychecks that might otherwise go to Redmond, Apple released Windows versions of the 20GB ($499) and 10GB ($399) iPods. Clever move. Also smart: the Creative Nomad MuVo 128MB MP3 and WMA Player ($150), which mixes music and data by doubling as a USB flash drive.

MICROPROCESSOR When Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor first came out, it was underwhelming. In some cases, last-generation Pentium III chips kicked silicon in the face of the new P4s by outperforming them at comparable clock speeds. Calling Charles Atlas! Newly buffed up, the P4 is back with speeds in excess of 3 GHz. The real muscle, however, comes not from raw speed but from a technology called Hyper-Threading (HT), which allows the processor to run more efficiently when it's doing several things at once. As instructions are sent to the chip, HT parcels them out to available sections of the processor. That pays off in processor-intensive applications like audio and video streaming from the Internet, editing still and video images, and running 3-D games.

PERIPHERALS It may seem strange to get excited over expensive peripherals that are screwed inside a PC and hidden from view, but the ATI 128MB All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro graphics card ($450) and the Sony DRU-500A Multimedia Drive ($350) are exceptions. The All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro is currently the fastest 3-D graphics and gaming card available, and that means not just the best performance for the season's latest shoot-'em-ups, but also for your digital photos and other 2-D graphics. If you get bored playing games all day, you can watch TV on your computer screen using the integrated TV tuner, or simply enjoy DVD movies and MPEG videos stored on your hard disk. (Just be sure to cover the screen when the boss walks by.) Although there are no games yet that take advantage of it, the card supports DirectX 9, Microsoft's newest set of multimedia programming tools.

The Sony DRU-500A multimedia drive solves the problem of incompatible DVD formats. Will the DVD disc you burned work on your friend's DVD player? No sweat: The Sony reads and writes DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, and CD-R/RW. There's also an external version, the DRX-500UL, for those who prefer not to do open-computer surgery.

CELLPHONE So many phones, so hard to choose just one. But I'd start with the Handspring Treo 300, offered by Sprint, the first PDA-cellphone combination that isn't freakish. Light and compact, the CDMA-based Treo 300 (below left, $450 plus monthly service fees) offers a decent color touch-screen and a small keyboard for entering contact information and typing short e-mails. It's surprisingly comfortable as a phone too. On the other hand, the Sony Ericsson T68i ($300 plus fees) is awfully cool, offering Bluetooth wireless networking and every kind of messaging format. Keep it in your pocket and use an optional Bluetooth wireless headset. The T68i world phone (three GSM bands) synchronizes with your Microsoft Outlook or Apple iSync software to store 500 contacts. GPRS, polyphonic ring tones, and voice-activated dialing are among its slicker features. Samsung's SPH-A500 ($300 from Sprint, plus service fees) is one of the more stylish phones to emerge this year, with a superb color screen and glowing blue lights on the keypad. Add an optional camera ($70) and send pictures to Grandma instantly! But the happiest new phone of the year is the T-Mobile Sidekick ($199 after rebate, plus $40-a-month service fee), which like the Treo combines a PDA with a phone. Even its large keyboard, hidden under a switchblade lid, bends upward in a smile. Check this out: It's an always-on web browser, AOL Instant Messenger, e-mail handler, calendar, game machine, and, oh yeah, a phone.

TV I can neither afford nor pronounce my favorite TV, the LC-30HV2U Sharp Aquos Liquid Crystal Television (left, $5,500). But I can admire it for its exceptionally bright, widescreen 30-inch LCD panel, HDTV compatibility, and sleek styling (it's less than 2.5 inches deep and weighs less than 30 pounds, so it can hang on the wall). The trouble is, I want a bigger screen for my home theater, and I want an integrated high-definition tuner. The Mitsubishi WS-55511 55-inch Platinum Series Integrated High-Definition Projection TV ($3,800) is the antithesis of thin and light, but it's a relative bargain.

DIGITAL CAMERA When it comes to sheer fun, the mouse-sized Sony Cybershot DSC-U10 ($199) takes the cheese. This miniature point-and-shoot marvel weighs just four ounces and delivers surprisingly good 1.3-megapixel snapshot images, along with 15-second snippets of MPEG video. For those who want superior image quality and the ability to make prints larger than three inches by five inches, however, there's the Nikon CoolPix 5700 (below, $1,200). It's a solid, compact five-megapixel camera with an impressive 8X optical Nikkor zoom lens (the equivalent of a 35-280mm lens on a traditional 35mm camera). The 5700 is designed to appeal to serious amateurs, but snapshooters will admire its easy handling.

PRINTER For less than $200, the Canon i850 inkjet (below) is my choice for an all-purpose printer that produces decent office documents and high-quality photo prints. It's the best photo printer for budget digital darkrooms. For serious photographers who want to show off their five-megapixel cameras, two excellent large-format photo printers debuted this year: the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 ($699) and the Canon 9000 ($499). We give the nod to Canon because of its lower price, higher speed, six individual ink tanks, and its support for the Apple Macintosh platform. Looking for a multifunction printer that copies, scans, faxes, and prints? Start looking at the HP PSC 2210 All-in-One ($300). F

PC MONITOR This was the year that LCD monitors wedged their way into the mainstream, finally getting cheap enough to compete with traditional CRT displays. My favorite: The Samsung 172T 17-inch LCD (above, about $650), whose performance is anything but flat. It has a resolution of 1,280 by 1,024, and while most LCDs suffer from ghosting when playing DVD action movies or 3-D games, Samsung has exorcised that demon with zippy response times. Designed to pivot so that it can stand on a desk or be mounted on a wall, the 172T looks good too. For a flat-screen CRT, consider the excellent 17-inch Samsung SyncMaster 765mb (about $175).

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