Shopping For A Geek For the Holidays
Ok, let’s face it, we often don’t get what we want for the holidays. Despite our best efforts and hints, our “significant others” simply don’t get it sometimes. Well, before you end up with yet another pair of tube socks underneath the Christmas tree, this is THE article to get in front of your gift buying one. Whether you decide to make it a screen saver, home page, print it out, or email it is up to you, but go ahead and do it as it could pay off big on the 25th.
The list is based upon the last year of products, and what I’ve found has been useful to me over this last year. Anything on this list will enhance a technophile’s daily grind, and that is a very good thing.
LCD Monitor
After having my first LCD for almost a year now, I can tell you that I won’t go back to a regular screen. If you’re still using a CRT, this should be at the top of the list. And the bigger, the better is also true. Thankfully, prices have dropped over the last few years so that now 19 inchers can be had for less than $200 so this is not the big ticket item it was a few years ago. For frequent DVD movie watchers, consider a widescreen one as well. For shopping ideas check out our monitor reviews here.
MP3 Player
Portable digital audio players are another technology that gets fairly heavy use by many users. Now is also a great time to take the plunge, whether for a first time user, or an upgrade. While the category is nearly synonymous with iPod, this year saw introduction of some viable non-Apple players including SanDisk’s Sansa, and Microsoft’s Zune. Just remember to keep in mind the storage capacity, and that more is always better.
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
Quite often, the mouse and keyboard of a system is often an afterthought after the budget has run dry. Let me assure you that this is the type of gift that will be used on a daily basis. Once tried, they are sorely missed when using, ahem, lesser gear. Whether a full mouse and keyboard combo, or a stocking stuffer notebook mouse, this is one present that is great to have because it’s very freeing to not have those wires tying one to their ‘puter, and no ball to clean as they’re optical.
Handheld Digital Assistant
While smartphones continue to get all of the attention, I still continue to use my Palm T/X. Far more portable than my notebook, using standard SD Cards, and built in Bluetooth and WiFi ensure all the right connections. I know that I use my Palm quite often, and have heard from others that the iPaq and Axim (both Window’s based) are not nearly as trouble free. Forget that a new Linux based Palm is coming sometime down the road, for now, the T/X is the best handheld that Palm has ever made.
GPS
I had heard early in 2006 that this was the year of GPS. I doubted it, but with price drops, I jumped on board. I’m really glad I did. I find myself using it more and more to simply save time over digging out a map and planning a route. Rather than being lost, this is a great gift for your favorite driver, and when you arrive quickly with no misdirects, you’ll be even gladder that you purchased it.
Tell him it’s a really cool piece of electronics, but really you’ll be compensating for his lack of direction! Now couples everywhere can concentrate on buying snacks at the gas station, rather than trying to remember directions to the destination.
Flash Card Reader
With the ever expanding array of flash cards on the market, a flash card reader, whether for a free drive bay, or USB is incredibly useful. The right reader can simplify the process of getting those images off of the digital camera, and music onto the music player (with removable memory). This is a relatively inexpensive product that will be used and appreciated.
Powered USB Hub
When you’re running out of USB ports, a powered USB hub is just what the digital doc ordered. Get one with plenty of ports, and they’ll be room for hooking up plenty of stuff.
USB Flash Drive
A USB flash drive makes a wonderful stocking stuffer. With 1 gig capacity drives now less than $20 on sale, it’s affordable to get one for every computer user on your shopping list. Having immediate access to so much data that easily fits in any pocket is powerful technology, and streamlines work flow between multiple computers. I'm working on getting some in for testing for 2007.
Gift Card
When shopping for the geek who seems to have everything, this is much appreciated, assuming it is for the right retailer. Not sure if we’d prefer the Core 2 Duo X6800 or the new Quad Core, for example? How about what motherboard we’d want to upgrade to, or the case that we’d like to build our next creation in. Don’t fret, just get some gift card dollars to your geek’s favorite computer retailer, and you can be sure it is what they want. Tiger Direct, NewEgg, and Amazon are all possibilities here; just make sure that it is not for some Men’s Wearhouse!
Happy Shopping!
--Jonas
Technorati tags:
Christmas shopping, geek, gift guide, holiday shopping, online shopping
The list is based upon the last year of products, and what I’ve found has been useful to me over this last year. Anything on this list will enhance a technophile’s daily grind, and that is a very good thing.
LCD Monitor
After having my first LCD for almost a year now, I can tell you that I won’t go back to a regular screen. If you’re still using a CRT, this should be at the top of the list. And the bigger, the better is also true. Thankfully, prices have dropped over the last few years so that now 19 inchers can be had for less than $200 so this is not the big ticket item it was a few years ago. For frequent DVD movie watchers, consider a widescreen one as well. For shopping ideas check out our monitor reviews here.
MP3 Player
Portable digital audio players are another technology that gets fairly heavy use by many users. Now is also a great time to take the plunge, whether for a first time user, or an upgrade. While the category is nearly synonymous with iPod, this year saw introduction of some viable non-Apple players including SanDisk’s Sansa, and Microsoft’s Zune. Just remember to keep in mind the storage capacity, and that more is always better.
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
Quite often, the mouse and keyboard of a system is often an afterthought after the budget has run dry. Let me assure you that this is the type of gift that will be used on a daily basis. Once tried, they are sorely missed when using, ahem, lesser gear. Whether a full mouse and keyboard combo, or a stocking stuffer notebook mouse, this is one present that is great to have because it’s very freeing to not have those wires tying one to their ‘puter, and no ball to clean as they’re optical.
Handheld Digital Assistant
While smartphones continue to get all of the attention, I still continue to use my Palm T/X. Far more portable than my notebook, using standard SD Cards, and built in Bluetooth and WiFi ensure all the right connections. I know that I use my Palm quite often, and have heard from others that the iPaq and Axim (both Window’s based) are not nearly as trouble free. Forget that a new Linux based Palm is coming sometime down the road, for now, the T/X is the best handheld that Palm has ever made.
GPS
I had heard early in 2006 that this was the year of GPS. I doubted it, but with price drops, I jumped on board. I’m really glad I did. I find myself using it more and more to simply save time over digging out a map and planning a route. Rather than being lost, this is a great gift for your favorite driver, and when you arrive quickly with no misdirects, you’ll be even gladder that you purchased it.
Tell him it’s a really cool piece of electronics, but really you’ll be compensating for his lack of direction! Now couples everywhere can concentrate on buying snacks at the gas station, rather than trying to remember directions to the destination.
Flash Card Reader
With the ever expanding array of flash cards on the market, a flash card reader, whether for a free drive bay, or USB is incredibly useful. The right reader can simplify the process of getting those images off of the digital camera, and music onto the music player (with removable memory). This is a relatively inexpensive product that will be used and appreciated.
Powered USB Hub
When you’re running out of USB ports, a powered USB hub is just what the digital doc ordered. Get one with plenty of ports, and they’ll be room for hooking up plenty of stuff.
USB Flash Drive
A USB flash drive makes a wonderful stocking stuffer. With 1 gig capacity drives now less than $20 on sale, it’s affordable to get one for every computer user on your shopping list. Having immediate access to so much data that easily fits in any pocket is powerful technology, and streamlines work flow between multiple computers. I'm working on getting some in for testing for 2007.
Gift Card
When shopping for the geek who seems to have everything, this is much appreciated, assuming it is for the right retailer. Not sure if we’d prefer the Core 2 Duo X6800 or the new Quad Core, for example? How about what motherboard we’d want to upgrade to, or the case that we’d like to build our next creation in. Don’t fret, just get some gift card dollars to your geek’s favorite computer retailer, and you can be sure it is what they want. Tiger Direct, NewEgg, and Amazon are all possibilities here; just make sure that it is not for some Men’s Wearhouse!
Happy Shopping!
--Jonas
Technorati tags:
Christmas shopping, geek, gift guide, holiday shopping, online shopping
posted by digitaldoc at 9:11 PM
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