Would you like to receive a personal assistant this holiday season? I know I would. Personal Data Assistants (PDAs) have become one of the hotest selling high-tech gadgets.

And, why not?

Like your old day planner on steroids, PDAs can hold thousands of names, numbers, addresses and, of course, email addresses. All this in a small computer that fits in the palm of your hand. But, that is just the start. PDAs have electronic note pads, to do lists, virtual keyboards and current time and date at a glance.

Plus, more and more hardware add ons and thousands of software programs are making PDAs incredibly versatile. They can store MP3s making it your own digital walkman, play games, access the Internet and much more.

Once you have convinced yourself that you can't live life with out a PDA, the next question is which one do I buy?

You can expect to see a price range from $100 to $500 depending on features that we will discuss below.

As with any computer purchase, memory is one of the most important features dictating performance and price. With PDAs, it is RAM. Obviously the more RAM the better and that should probably be the first factor you consider. PDAs don't have hard drives. Therefore, not only does the RAM run your programs like on your traditional computer but it also holds all your programs and data.

Generally, your choices will be 2, 4 or 8 megabytes of RAM. Unless your budget is limiting you to the low end models, eliminate any 2 megabyte options. Make 4 megabytes the minimum. However, I highly recommend shooting for one with 8 megabytes.

The next two most important factors are power and screen display.

Some take AAAs and others have an internal rechargable Lithium-Ion battery - both have advantages.

Rechargable will save you money. Those of us with digital cameras know that electronic devices can eat batteries and it can be frustrating to keep dumping money into Duracels.

Than again, if you loose power at an airport or on a road trip, any country store will sell you a set of AAAs to get your PDA back up and running.

Perhaps the best option is a set of, Nickel Metal Hydroxide rechargables. They work like standard alkaline batteries but can be recharged at any power outlet. And, when worse come to worse, you can always get some standard AAAs to tie you over. It is about $40 for a set and a charger but that will last you a good year and a half.

As far as displays are concerned, the color ones are generally seen as a waste because they eat batteries for no real added benefit. Then again, we are all used to using color screens and that may make them a little easier to use.

So, which one do you buy?

Palm, makers of the popular Palm Pilot line of PDAs, is the undisputed champion of the market. They have models in all price categories. This page on Palm's site has the complete product comparison:

http://www.palm.com/products/family.html Based on that, I would go with the Palm IIIxe ($249) or the Palm IIIc ($329). They are basically very similar, each with 8 megabytes of RAM, except that the IIIc has a color display and the Lithium-Ion rechargable.

However, another very good option is Handspring's Visor (http://www.handspring.com/). Having licensed Palm's Operating system, a good thing, they have more memory available.

Plus, they have developed expansion ports that you can add modules for MP3 players, cell phones, modems, network cards, more memory, etc which makes their product a very attractive option.

One last feature you don't want to miss out on is a cradle that is permanently attached to your computer. This makes it very easy to sync up with your personal computer and take it on the go in a second's time.