HardwareGeeks.com - HardwareGeeks Holiday Gift Guide

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Posted by: Michael on Thu, Dec 04th, 2008

Can you believe it? It’s the holiday season again and it feels as if no time has passed since we last put together this gift guide for you all. Times may be rough, the economy is not as great as it should be and there really isn’t a lot of money going around, but on the bright side, this all can be a great thing for you. Why?? Well because retailers are having outrageous sales so there’s a chance you may find a bunch of the things that we’ve included in this guide for dirt cheap (or maybe not). I guess it’ll depend on what your Geek wants. We’ll guarantee you’ll find some great stuff in this years guide though!

We wanted to limit the list to just 10 items, but there are so many cool things available we just had to make room for them all, and unlike previous years two people have joined forces to put this list together. Me (Michael) and Radiris, the two of us looked over every product we reviewed this year and have narrowed it down to the 12 best on this list.

So let’s get on with the list!

We will start with Radiris all time favorite item, and although it might not seem like a great gift idea it is. It is also the greatest thing created for frequent travelers and also for people that have portable computers. It being 3M’s privacy screen. As a frequent traveler, I (Radiris) often work during long flights, or read personal emails and the one thing I hate and dread – is the sneaky punk that’s either next to me, or behind me, that’s trying to peek over my shoulder…like come on dude – relax.

Another reason – which is why my company actually justifies, buying us one, is that it protects confidential information from being innocuously shared with our competitors. I don’t feel the need to hide everything I do on my computer but sometimes, when working in large rooms with tons of people, its nice to have some sense of privacy and the screen does just that.

Michael on the other hand thinks, the privacy screens are not just great for frequent traveler’s but also good for those of you who enjoy lan parties. A sneak attack on an opponent isn’t a sneak attack if they can look over your shoulder and see where you are at. The 3M privacy screen puts an end to walk by cheaters as i call them. You know the guy that walks behind you nonchalantly and peeks at your screen.

3M privacy screens range in price depending on the size of the screen you are covering, you can find them at Amazon.com and most office supply retailers.

Now lets talk phones for a moment, there are four amazing phones available right now and all of them get this are sub $100 USD. In these tough economic times an affordable cellphone is a good choice but one of these four phones is a great choice as not only are they sub $100 USD, but they are feature rich.

The first phone I will mention is the Palm Centro, a great phone and depending on the carrier and the model you get, it will cost you absolutely nothing or $99 to get. That is if you get it with a 2 year contract. The Palm Centro is an amazing little phone and is geared mostly to teens but a lot of young adults love them too especially because of it’s form factor and ease of use. I personally think of the Centros as a stepping stone for the Sidekick loving teen who will eventually end up with a more powerful smart phone.

Where to get a Centro:
AT&T—$49.99
Sprint—$79.99 (new rose and olive colors with twice the memory as the older models) FREE with older red, pink and black models for Sprint
Verizon—$99.99

The above prices are with a 2 year contract, and those prices will expire after the holidays.

The next phone I will mention is the Pantech Matrix for at&t, it is oe of my all time favorite phones to text on, it is a dual slider phone similar to the Pantech Duo but it does not run Windows Mobile. I have been using the Pantech Matrix for a little over a month now, and my fingers have never had as much exercises in their life. I have text so much on that phone I don’t even know how it has survived. The phone is also one of the coolest looking phones around, Just look at the picture on the right. It’s HOT!!!

The Pantech Matrix is only available from at&t wireless, and you can get one for $79.99 with a 2 year contract.

Now onto another phone that I love to text with, but this one is from Sprint, and it’s the Samsung Rant. Similar to the Pantech Matrix but it isn’t a dual slider. It however is a slider phone but only a QWERTY keyboard slides out as the number pad is under the screen and exposed. The Rant is another amazing phone and texting is fun and easy on it. It also has probably one of the best User Interfaces around. Sprint also offers loads of services that you can get with the phone, such as Sprint Music, Navigator and SprintTV. If you get the Sprint Unlimited Plan which is the best Unlimited plan from any carrier, you can enjoy all those services for just $99.99 a month. But it gets better. The Samsung Rant will only cost ya $49.99 with a two year contract.

Samsung Rant is only available from Sprint.

I know I said only 4 phones, but there are two phones worth an honorable mention, the first being the Samsung Epix, a phone that is very similar to the BlackJack two, but with a touchscreen and an optical mouse. It is the first phone ever to have an optical mouse. It is also one of the few phones that takes advantage of at&t’s 3G network. With it’s built in GPS you won’t get lost either. I have had the phone for three weeks now and I wish I didn’t have to send it back to Samsung, because I would so make it my main phone if I could.

Everyone who I have let use this phone over the three weeks that I have had it love it as well, so if you get it for the little geek or big geek in your life they will love every minute of it. The Epix is a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone.

However with it’s $199 price tag after a 2 year contract and $100 Mail in Rebate it isn’t one of the most affordable phones around.

The last phone I want to mention is the Palm Treo Pro, and it is currently available directly from Palm Unlocked for $549. I also have had this phone for a little over three weeks and I will tell you right now its a great phone.

I have always been a fan of Palm, but with in the past two years or so their phones haven’t appealed to me as much as they use too. But they have turned around and began to win me back with the Palm Centro. Now with the Palm Treo Pro I am completely won over, the design of the phone is simply amazing and it is probably one of the fastest Windows Mobile 6 smart phones that I have used too date.

It will make the perfect gift for the mobile professional in your life. I know I wouldn’t mind getting one for Christmas. It also is a sexy phone and one of the reasons Palm has won me back. The design is just beautiful. Also it is very comfortable to hold and the QWERTY keybord is soft onthe fingers. Not sure how to explain it but it feels good when using it.

I have checked all the major carriers and maybe I missed it, but the Palm Treo isn’t available with any of them, so you will have to buy it directly from Palm. But with the $549 price tag it ma be a bit too steep for most of us this holiday season.

Now on t something that isn’t a phone, and something that may not be for the average geek, maybe the mother geek in your home, and it is Tiki Tag. Tiki Tag is an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader that allows the user to easily customize what happens when a specific tag is read. You can set it up to remember your passwords on different websites or open albums like I have mines set up to do.

If you have home automation software installed on your computer, you can even customize tiki tag to turn on and off your lights. It really just depends on what your technical knowledge is. But there are also so many apps available on the Tiki Tag website that you don’t have to create your own you can use what others have created.

Everything is web-based so there is no software to install except for the drivers for the Tiki Tag reader that is plugged into your windows or Mac based PC.

Tiki Tag is available for $49.95 at Amazon.com.

We can’t do a Holiday Gift Guide with out mentioning a Television, and we have in our list what we think is the coolest TV available, the Samsung T260.

When I (Radiris) first laid my eyes on Samsungs T260 I fell in love. I became a fan at that very moment and can now work for them considering the amount I brag about their latest product. This year they came out with the offspring of a Computer Monitor and the a HDTV. The Samsung T260 is a TV Monitor combo and it looked just as sleek as any other LCD on the market but it was different, at first I didn’t know what it was until I noticed it had a hint of red that just pulled me in closer…it was so damn sexy. I had the honor of being in the presence of its Product Manager and he explained every tic and tac of it and let me just say this – you are getting more than just a bang for your buck with this combo.

Imagine having this huge office – with a tiny laptop on your desk, and a massive Excel spreadsheet to work on or picture this: a college student who’s room is so small that even his thoughts don’t fit (sorry – I had to be corny) – well, this TV/monitor combo is the ideal gift for these individuals. The person in the huge office could use this monitor (24 or 26 inches) to see the many rows and columns in their spreadsheet, and could then easily switch to watch the latest episodes of CSI: NY on HD (on their break of course!). The student could then have this awesome looking TV/monitor combo on their computer desk, and they could use it to game, to watch TV, to do work, etc.

It is the perfect gift idea, and not just for geeks for anyone! The Samsung T260 is available at Best Buy and Buy.com for as little as $479.99.

We also thought the Navigon 7200 was good enough for our list, however after using it for a while it got Radiris lost twice and forced her to take the longer route on some trips. While the Navigon 7200 is a sexy looking GPS it only made the list because it is the better of two GPS units we tested this year. The first was an HP GPS unit that well just didn’t work to well.

The Navigon 7200 is available from all major retailers and has a starting price of $279.99.

One of my favorite items that made the list are really two separate items but both basically do the same thing, and they are the HP 8” df series Digital Picture Frame and the 3.5” Digital Picture Frame.

Both Frames are beautiful, the 8” frame comes with five customizable color plates, so that you can match it with your decor, the included remote also makes it easy to browse through the pictures you have stored on the frame. I have mines in my living room and I think it’s a beautiful addition to my living room and will be a beautiful addition to anyone’s living room. The df series frames are also available in 7 and 10 inches.

The 3.5 inch frame is probably the best frame I have seen of its size, it is also very stylish. I think its great for anyone who travels a lot. I personally take it with me on my long trips so that I can decorate my hotel room with pictures that are familiar to me, and for $49.99 you really can’t go wrong.

Both the 8” and 3.5” frames are available directly form HP at Shopping.hp.com.

As a Tech Site, we gotta get real techie with the suggestions, so we hope this suggestion will get us there!

The iZ 3D Gaming Monitor. The monitor is simply amazing and brings the games played on it too life, especially if you or the gamer in your life loves action games. Just seeing the explosions jump off the screen or if you are into driving games seeing the the smoke from your damaged car coming out at you. It just litterally ads a new level of excitement to the game.

All gamers of all ages will love the iZ 3D monitor. For more information on the monitor and where you can buy one visit http://www.iz3d.com

Now onto our final suggestion for this holiday season, a notebook from HP. Normally we like to mix and match what notebooks we recomend, but quite honestly, HP has dominated the notebook market this year and there for are the only ones worth mentioning. I know Apple fans will bash me for that but I don’t care.

We recomend the HP HDX Seris notebooks. The new HDX 16 and HDX 18. These two notebooks are probably the most powerful and amazing notebooks available and the first notebooks to ever receive our Clutter Free Certification which means the notebook has very little pre-installed software to slow it down.

These two notebooks are great for gaming, watching movies and or just doing day to day work on. If you, or any loved one is in need of a notebook this holiday season, we recommend the HP HDX Series.

The HP HDX series is available directly form HP.

That is it for our holiday guide, and we hope you like our recommendation’s if not feel free to check out these recommendation’s from our partners. Epsons Gift Guide, Edge Tech Gift Guide, and HP’s Gift Guide.

From everyone here at HardwareGeeks.com, we wish you all a Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! Feliz Navidad! Happy Chanukah! What ever you believe in what ever holiday you may have we hope you have a great one!