In fact, the Katt couldn't decide which he liked more: his 3.5pound Dell 320SLi (components of which, he learned last week, are made for Dell by an Asian OEM firm named Inventa) or a prototype 2.5-pound unit from HewlettPackard.

As for the latter, picture this: a 386SL/25, 3 hours of battery life, a PCMCIA slot, a "no-compromise" keyboard, and Windows, Microsoft Word and Excel preinstalled on an 80M-byte hard disk. The Whiskered One saw this baby on a recent trip to Corvallis, Ore., and knew he had to have one for his very own.

The next version gets handwriting recognition; for now, it stands to be the heir to the "hippest" handheld there is, once HP ships it early next year.