Get wired p1 - Military Career Development Strategies & Tips - Military Times EDGE

Times are tough. You can’t afford to drop thousands of bucks to outfit your home office or dorm room with the latest, top-of-the-line electronics. Lucky for you, though, you can wire your life for less than $700 — if you shop wisely. You’ll need just four things to do it: a smart phone, a mini laptop, some data storage and a broadband access for everything. Try these four tried-and-true products and you’ll be wired and ready to work in no time. You might even have a few bucks left over for a pizza.

Communicate

Apple iPhone 3G — With thousands of custom apps and a fast Internet connection, 8 gigabytes of storage, GPS, e-mail and a camera, is there anything this phone can’t do? $199.99

www.apple.com/iphone

Produce

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 — Mini laptops are all the rage. At only $299, this one weighs 2.28 pounds and comes with an 8.9-inch LCD display, Intel Atom processor, WindowsXP, an 8-gigabyte hard drive and a wireless card so you can connect anywhere there’s a hotspot. $299.99

www.dell.com

Connect

AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver — AT&T’s Quicksilver connects your mini laptop to 3G broadband access. The device itself is free after a mail-in rebate. About $60 a month

www.wireless.att.com

Protect

PNY Attaché 32G Flash Drive — You can now fit 32 gigabytes of data onto a device no bigger than a ChapStick tube. $129.99

www.pny.com