V-Riffic.

• Position: What's New? Holiday Gifts Galore - Slimline Notebook - Girl Fun PC - Write & Learn Desk - Product/Service Evaluation

We're endlessly amused when we hear the marketing gurus talk shop, at least when it comes to brand loyalty. They use a lot of fancy terms and champion a number of complicated concepts. Trouble is, they seem to forget the simplest and most important one of all--keep putting out good products and your customers always will come back for more. So it is with us and VTech Electronics North America, LLC, Glenview, Ill. This year, we snatched up the Slimline Notebook ($79.99), Girl Fun PC ($29.99), and Write & Learn Desk ($49.99).

If anything can get our seven-year-old daughter off the family computer (so the rest of us get a chance to use it, for crying out loud), it's the Slimline, from VTech's Artificial Intelligence series. Our girl certainly loves her schoolwork and the laptop learning center boasts more than 65 arcade--style activities in subjects such as foreign languages, geography, and history. Music composer and art programs are included, as is a number maze challenge.

The large, flat screen is multi-pixilated while the accompanying Learning Desktop software has expansion capability with the Internet. Moreover, the connection cable allows for printing via a PC. And there's an interactive light-up mouse, integrated touch pad, speaker, and adapter jack to prolong battery life. Like VTech's entire Artificial Intelligence line, the Slimline monitors a youngster's performance, adjusting the level of difficulty accordingly. As the child progresses, the programs and activities accelerate the skill level in a strong...