9. PNY 2 GB Collegiate Attaché In School Colors

by Ed Tittel

Everybody can always use another USB flash drive, and everybody is either a fan or a graduate (perhaps even a recent one) from some college program or another. Storage vendor PNY lets dads or grads proclaim their interest in or allegiance to any of over 150 collegiate institutions - and their sports programs, of course - with its Collegiate Attaché products. You can browse a complete list of the institutions for which one of these attractive little gadgets is available on the PNY Collegiate Attaché Web page. In fact, the photograph we chose for the buyer's guide features the alma mater of one of your authors. Can you guess which one of us lucked into this tony ivy tower? Hint, his initials are E.T. and we're not talking the cute little bicycle riding guy from outer space.)

The PNY collegiate offers logos and names from colleges and universities in 49 states, plus the District of Columbia.

The PNY Collegiate Attaché is packaged in sturdy white plastic, and comes with a lanyard that attaches to the body of the drive. The removable cap isn't affixed to the rest of the drive, so you'll have to be careful to keep it from going astray. And alas, attractive and capacious as these drives are - they come in 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB models - none of them is fast enough to support Vista ReadyBoost technology. Still, for those in need of affordable, portable storage, who like to proclaim their collegiate loyalties to the world, none of this will probably matter very much.

The Collegiate Attaché makes a particularly appropriate gift for a recent or soon-to-be graduate of any of the institutions whose logos and colors are available. However, even "old dads" have their alma maters, favorite schools and athletic programs, so we'd guess that this gift has sufficient legs to serve both of this spring's gifting honorees. One thing's for sure: one of these USB drives is very likely to travel regularly with its proud new owner, be she a grad or he either grad or dad (or perhaps even both). At an MSRP of $50 for 2 GB - discounts as low as $36 are available for some schools - this gift won't hurt the giver's bottom line too much, either. Go team!