The Neo is for those times when you just want to write. Without distractions. No Internet, no e-mail, nothing pulling you away from the task at hand. Maybe you need to take notes or do some journaling or work on that novel. Or, hey, maybe you’re traveling. The Neo from AlphaSmart is a tough little full-size keyboard with a small screen. Type away to your heart’s content, then upload later via cable or infrared to PC or Mac. The text flows into any word-processing program. The Neo can hold more than 200 pages of text in eight separate files and runs up to 700 hours (!) on three AA batteries, which are included. At less than 2 pounds, take it anywhere. Because there is no hard drive, there’s no booting upit’s instant-on, instant-off, taking you right back to the text you were working on. Oh, and it doesn’t get hot, either, so you can tap away on your lap or in bed as long as you like. True, you can’t add memory or a thumb drive. But the beauty of Neo is its utter simplicity. Pop it in your backpack or briefcase, and write on the fly. While others are still powering down and packing away their cables, you’ve hit the off button and moved on. $219, alphasmart
Laura Watt
