When it comes to digital cameras, everyone's always talking about megapixels.  In an attempt to summarize several links about this topic, here's the main idea:  Pixel count (i.e. the number of megapixels) in a digital camera doesn't matter as much as pixel size.  And in some cases, more megapixels means worse quality pictures.  I've read that five or six megapixels is really all most people need, even for printouts and enlargements.  The only time it would be beneficial to have more than that is if you tend to edit your pictures by cropping or cutting out and magnifying a certain part.  So if you take a picture of the entire Manhattan skyline and only want to print out the section with the Empire State Building, it might be good to have lots of megapixels.  But again, just because your camera says "15 megapixels" on the front, doesn't mean it'll take a better picture than the guy standing next to you with the 5-megapixel dSLR. 

Pixel size is what really matters, and I'll attempt to illustrate this with a picture. 
[Image: imagesensors.png]
These are examples of image sensors.  The image sensor is what actually records a digital version of what is physically visible.  The one on the left is what's typically found in handheld point-and-shoot cameras.  The one on the right is what's typically found in dSLR cameras.  Both image sensors have the same number of pixels, but it's easy to see that the larger sensor has larger pixels.  Larger pixels mean better color depth and better light capturing.  This doesn't mean you can't take a great picture with a small camera.  It just means that pixel count isn't the only way to compare two cameras.  There's also the issue of pixel quality, i.e. image sensors made by Company A are better than those made by Company B, but that's a whole different animal. #entertainment