What's a megapixel? if I am buying a digital camera, how many megapixels should i want for really good pics?

i want pro quality pics without having to spend an arm and a leg and i dont know what i should be looking at...

and are there other things i should be looking at? if so what? and what numbers... i don't know a thing about digital and am really starting to miss my SLR

The megapixel rating of a camera is the amount of squares of data that are in the total picture. The more pixels (squares) the clearer and more detailed the picture. Now, as far as how high you should go, that depends on what you need the camera for, what oyau re going ot use the pics for, and how much you are willing to spend. I have a digital camera that is about 3 megapixels and my engagement pictures were taken with it. When I tried to get them printed at Wal-mart they did not want to give them to me because they thought they were professionally done. I would suggest looking a few things when shopping for a camera.

1)Megapixel rating (the higher the number, the more detailed the pictures, and the larger the files they save as)

2) the functions of the camera (ability to change frame rating, coloring, zoom ratio (both visual and digital), etc.)

3) The company the camera is from (stay with brand name big companies, don't go to minor companies)

These, along with some personal preferences of mine led me to buy my digital camera and I could not be happier with mine. I have a Canon Powershot IS and I am completely satisfied. I only paid about $250 or so for the camera and an extra card on Amazon.com. When you get a digital camera, make sure to get an extra memory card as well, the ones that come wit hthe camera are unbelievable tiny and are basically useless.

Get a 5 Megapixel. Not all pro pics depend on the megapixels. Look for the features of the camera also (image size... etc.).

A megapixel is simply put the amount of dots in an area that make up a photo. The higher the better.
For great quality photo they recommend getting a camera with at least 5 megapixels. But like I said the higher the better!

A picture is broken down into picture elements (pixels). 1 MegaPixel is a million pixels. My camera is 2 megapixels and is great, so the 5 megapixels that people are recommending should be fine.

I have a 3.1 and it is enough, but you could go for 5 as things are always improving. A pixel is a dot. A megapixel is 1,000,000 dots so a 1megapixel would be 1000 by 1000 dots.

anything above 5 is really clean, but pro quality, I would go with 8. Look around, they are really coming down in price. I always go to stores that have those open box deals, and usually save some money there as well.

The more megapixels the better picture quality.

anything of a 5 wont mean much to you. if you blow up a 4 megapixel cameras pitcures an 8x10 will come in clear. then as you go up in megapixels it grows bigger. but i dought you will be printing many pictures that big.

at least 3, but more is better. 5 or higher is very good

pixel is the measure for the quality of a picture to put it in simple terms, a pixel is like a little sqaure of color in the picture, the more sqaures the picture is made of the better the quelity of the image. a mega pixel is 1000 pixels, a good camera should deliver at least 4 megapixels and they are not taht expensive

I use a 12mp camera, but my 6mp SLR did a great job. I find that the 12mp is able to do better enlargements but if you are printing photos no larger than 16x20 a 6mp works great. You need to look at lens quality and actual IMAGE size. ex. 1600x1200 or 3200 x 2800..

The higher the pixels as everyone has said, the better the quality.the cost however rises,but one thing some ppl dont realize before buying and being dissapointed is, Check out if it has a manual veiw finder,rather than just the LCD alone..A lot of digital cameras just have the LCD screen..

if u have more megapixels, then the photo quality will be better. 5 to 7 megapixels should be good enough.

If you were used to an SLR, any (digital) compact will be a step back. You can get a digital SLR with a couple of lenses for as little as $1000 these days. If you're willing to spend that much, look into the Nikon D50 or th Canon 350D with the kit lens.
For under $400 you can choose from a whole batch of decent compact digital cameras. Even the range for under $200 is pretty impressive. These are all less responsive than SLRs of course, and offer less manual control. They're still great for scenic shots and snap shots, but not particularly suited for fast paced stuff, including sports and kids. (All digital compacts work with an electronic viewfinder that puts you a couple of 100th of a second behind the action.) If you can live with that, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Kodak, and Panasonic all have good stuff. Choosing between them is largely a matter of personal preference.
As a few people have already mentioned, look for a quality lens first, and all else second. As for megapixels; 4 MP will get you a high quality 5x7 inch print and 6+ MP will allow for a fantastic 8x10 inch print.
You can use this site to select some features you'd like and let a database narrow down the selection:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare....
You can view the specifications of different models side by side here:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebysi...
And finally, you can read great reviews of specific models here:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default....

I shoot with a Canon Digital Rebel EOS 350XT. It is an 8.2 Megapixel camera. It uses Canon EF and EF-S lenses. It is a true SLR. I love it. You can get the barebones camera for about $700. Then start buying the glass. *sigh*

My main lenses are
Canon EF USM 28-135mm f/4.5-5.6 Image Stabilized (that's my walking around lens)
Canon EF USM 50mm f/1.4 (tack sharp and great for indoor)
Canon EF USM L series 100-400mm f/4.0 Image Stab.
Canon EF-S 10-22mm (you would not believe how wide that is on a digital)

What is great about the sensor on the 350XT is that it is so quiet you can use it at ISO 1600 without significant grain. Look at my shots of the Isla Vista Juggling Festival and the hummingbird. Check out the links below.