A slim wallet doesn't necessarily mean a cheap netbook PC for the gadget lover; it could mean a cheap desktop PC plus a surprisingly big display. The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of new entrants in the low-cost display market. A noteable handful (all links to Japanese pages):

GREEN HOUSE has introduced the 26-inch, 1920x1200 GH-JEF263SHB with selectable aspect ratios of 4:3 or 16:10, 5W stereo speakers, and HDMI, HDCP-capable DVI-D, and analog connectors. JPY54,800.
http://www.green-house.co.jp/products/lcd/jef263shb/

Yokohama-based DION has rolled out the TEW260SHR that's only 25.5 inches, but otherwise shares the specs noted above. JPY52,800.
http://www.candela.co.jp/news/n20081001-1.html

I-O Data's 21.5-inch, 1920x1080 LCD-MF221X has 16:9 aspect ratio and 2.5W stereo speakers, plus the same connectors as the above displays. JPY34,800.
http://www.iodata.jp/product/lcd/wide/lcd-mf221x/

And going a bit smaller, but a lot cheaper, the Japan branch of Taiwan's BenQ has announced the 18.5-inch, 1366x768 E900HD, with 16:9 aspect ratio and 1W stereo speakers. There are HDCP-enabled DVI-D and analog connectors, but no HDMI. The selling point: a price tag of JPY19,800.
http://www.benq.co.jp/products/LCD/?product=1375

Name: TAXAN KG-PL105S
Category: projector
Price: About JPY140,000
Release date in Japan: Mid-October, 2008

"Mobile projectors" are generally defined as those under 2 kg in weight. Tokyo-based Kaga Components, holder of the TAXAN brand of projectors, goes well under that bar with the palmtop-sized 780-gram KG-PL105S. The projector's LED lamp, a first for a TAXAN, not only saves weight but is energy eficient and long-lasting: Kaga says its "ecology projector" runs at an economical 100W, and the light will last 20,000 hours. (Anyone who's bought one of the hyper-expensive, mercury-containing bulbs used by conventional projectors will appreciate that.)

The KG-PL105S's short-focus lens projects a 40-inch image (800x600 pixels, 16 million colors, 140 lumens) from only 1.1 meters away - a closer (and thus brighter) distance than the 1.5 meters Kaga's previous mobile projectors require to achieve an image that size.

The projector has a mini D-sub RGB connector for use with a PC or DVD player, but you don't need to have external hardware handy: the KG-PL105S can play a slideshow from images (such as photos or slideshows converted to JPEG images) or play DivX video from a thumbdrive in its USB port.

Early buyers get a freebie: a 20-inch folding portable screen. Kaga will later release accessories including a 22-inch screen and portable batteries.

This is not the smallest projector you could buy; the pocket-sized Kairen YK Pro920 is only 190 grams (though at a wan 10 lumens, is a bit of a toy as well). And 140-lumen brightness isn't all that bright, as the full-size projectors made for big conference rooms typically run 2000 lumens and higher. But the KG-PL105S sounds handy for small meeting rooms, temporary retail displays, trade show presentations, and meetings on-the-go.

More info (Japanese):
http://www.taxan-projector.jp/releases/080925.php
Kairen YK Pro920 (English):
http://www.tekronomicon.com/gadget/2008/07/pro920_projector

It's half an inch smaller than the GREEN HOUSE GH-JEF223SH display introduced last time, but LG Electronics Japan's new W2261V-PF display undercuts its rival's price considerably - and beats some tech specs too: its display has full-HD 1920x1080 resolution and a contrast ratio up to 20,000:1. With HDMI, DVI-D, and regular mini D-sub 15-pin connectors. About JPY30,000, from early October.
More info (Japanese):
http://jp.lge.com/ir/html/ABboards.do?action=read&group_code=AB&list_cod...

Name: GREEN HOUSE GH-JEF223SH  
Category: computer display
Price: JPY36,800
Release date in Japan: Late September, 2008

Still computing on one small screen? Once in a while the tech blogs will go a-twitter over the latest study linking screen real estate to productivity. Findings vary with the tasks and the physical setups measured, but the reported numbers are always impressive. A University of Utah study earlier this year, for example, claimed that compared to office productivity tasks performed on an 18-inch monitor, a 24-inch screen sped up those tasks by 52%, while two 20-inch monitors granted a 44% improvement. More screen space can save workers as much as two and a half hours a day, concluded the study.

(Big caveats: those findings assume eight hours of tasks that are dependent on screen real estate - and the study was funded by display manufacturer NEC.)

Even if your productivity gains don't stand to be as impressive, few people who move to big and/or multiple monitors care to switch back to small. Fortunately for upgraders, screens keep getting cheaper. Case in point: the low-cost 22-inch GH-JEF223SH display from GREEN HOUSE. It's a WSXGA (1680x1050), 24-bit (16.7 million colors) screen with a luminance of 300cd/m2, contrast ratio of 1000:1 (10,000:1 in enhanced mode), HDMI and regular mini D-sub 15-pin connectors, and built-in 2W+2W speakers.

If you're willing to spend a little more, BUFFALO will release the FTD-HD2232HSR/BK around the same time. It's also 22 inches, but sports WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution, and has a DVI-D24-pin connector for HDCP-protected content. Luminance, contrast, and speakers are similar to the GREEN HOUSE display, but there's no HDMI. JPY42,800.

More info (Japanese):
http://www.green-house.co.jp/products/lcd/jef223shc/

BUFFALO FTD-HD2232HSR/BK (Japanese):
http://buffalo.jp/products/catalog/display/ftd-hd2232hsr/index.html?p=spec

Name: Epson Photo Fine Player P-7000
Category: photo viewer
Price: About JPY80,000
Release date in Japan: September 4, 2008

Here's a gadget category that isn't too well known outside professional photographers. But it's an interesting item that even hobbyist fotogs could find really handy on those longer shooting excursions.

Photo viewers are compact little combinations of hard drive and display. Their simple purpose is displaying photos, though in a photographer's work environment (as opposed to recently-popular digital photo frames that show pics as decorations). It's a tool that lets the photographer transfer shots to a hard drive to free up storage on the camera (or as a backup), and then study those shots on a larger screen than the camera's.

A good example is the new Epson P-7000 Photo Fine Player. The 433-gram device combines a 160-GB hard drive with a wide-angle 4-inch LCD. The screen displays over JPEG and RAW format images in 16.7 million colors, encompassing 94% of the Adobe RGB color space, so you can expect detailed color reproduction (advance reviewers have raved about its brightness and sharpness). Although it's a compact screen, zoom functions let you confirm details up close. Basic editing tools let you play with brightness, contrast cropping, etc., or add text; organization tools allow photo rating and creation of collections and slideshows. A new jog wheel makes it all easy too, says Epson.

There's support for audio (MP3, AAC) and video (MPEG4, Motion JPEG, H.264); video and audio outputs let you also display things on a big screen. (These additions are the reason Epson adds "Multimedia" to the product line's name overseas. Yes, you can use it as an expensive iPod if you like.)

The new model boasts data transfer (via CF or SD memory card) up to 35% faster than its predecessors: transferring 1GB of data from CF card to the hard drive takes 100 seconds. A full battery charge allows around 75 such 1GB transfers. All in all, the drive will hold about 9000 10-megapixel RAW photos (almost 4 times as many if JPEG), or 166 hours of 2Mbps MPEG4 video.

Also included is a battery charger and car adapter for travel, plus software to transfer Fine Player data to a PC.

A good photo viewer isn't an inexpensive addition to a weekend shooter's collection. (If the JPY80,000 tag is a tad more than you can afford, there's also a new P-6000 model with 80GB hard drive for JPY70,000.) But for anyone taking and reviewing lots of shots on the go, it's a more refined tool than a clumsy, expensive laptop with iffy battery life and disk space largely eaten up by data and software.

More info: http://www.epson.jp/products/colorio/photoviewer_digitalcamera/p7000_p6000/ (Japanese)

This sounds good in a world ever-more concerned about energy costs and eletronic waste: Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (TMD) and Idemitsu Kosan have announced a new small-molecule organic electroluminescent (EL) display panel that reportedly lasts 30 times as long as current TMD screens while sipping a scant 1/10 the electricity. The 2.2-inch QVGA screen for mobile devices uses 100mW of power and lasts up to 60,000 hours, the best specs recorded yet for the category. TMD provided the TFT substrate design technology and element design technology, while Idemitsu chipped in RGB light-emitting materials. The two companies are now cooperating on commercialization plans.

Info: http://www.tmdisplay.com/tm_dsp/press/2008/08-08-20_e.html (English)

Name: Kairen Projector X Pro920
Category: portable projector
Price: JPY36,540
Release date in Japan: Early August, 2008

Saitama-based Kairen YK is about to release the smallest projector I've ever heard of. It's a mere 9 x 8 x 4.4 cm and weighs a scant 190 grams. Yet it's a real projector, designed for use with your iPod, DVD player, or other media player.

Input is via a mini AV jack for DVD players, or D-Sub15 pin connector for PCs. The sold-separately "VGA SMART" kit allows connection to smart phones, letting a phone with slideshow or PDF display capabilities run a full presentation for a (small) table of people.

At 10 lumens, the Pro920's LED light won't outshine the big models. In fact, it sounds downright dim. Kairen says the brightness is good for a 25-inch screen (presumably in a dark room), but you'd do well to confirm visibility yourself with a store display model before dropping the cash.

Maximum input resolution is 1024x768; output is via a VGA (640x480) 0.44-inch LCoS panel with 4:3 aspect ratio. Completing the low-rent theater experience is a 1W monaural speaker and manual focus.  

More info: http://www.kairen.co.jp/japanese/other/krpro920.html (Japanese)