Chanukah is underway and we're less than a week away from Christmas. The clock is ticking, people! While there have been tons of tech gift ideas floating around the web, it can still be hard to narrow down those favorites. Trying to come up with that perfect gift for that special someone can very overwhelming, especially when electronics are involved.
If you're reading this, we're going to have to assume that technology is high on your list -- whether that's for giving or receiving. This was a great year for electronics. There are literally endless options to choose from this year, from giant 3D TVs and set-top boxes to tablets and accessories.
We made our list and checked it twice. In the end, we were able to narrow down 5 of our favorite tech gift ideas under $500. That price is sort of the sweet spot for tech items, somewhere between budget-conscious and completely showing off. Take a peek and see what you think. If you show up with one of these a few days late, we're guessing that your recipient won't mind the tardiness all that much.
Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire
Two great products are currently taking a big chunk out of the tablet market. Both of these devices are designed for those who want an iPad-like device, but don't want to fork over the $499 starting price and maybe want something that can actually fit in a small bag or even in a pocket.
At $249, the newly launched Nook Tablet is Barnes & Noble's best and most expensive e-reader. That's not a knock; this thing is worth every penny. But it's really much more than an e-reader. It's a full fledged Android tablet, albeit a little smaller than some of its competition with a 7-inch screen. Besides being a reading buddy, it adds in plenty of entertainment, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, as well as access to thousands of Android apps from Angry Birds to maps, to e-mail and office productivity tools. Other features include a 7-inch color touchscreen, a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM (with microSD slot for storage expansion), access to the Nook Library, and B&N's free Nook Cloud service. It's nearly identical in looks and functionality to the NOOK Color reviewed by our own Ian White, but the NOOK Tablet offers a more powerful process and the Android O/S installed by default.
If you want to save a few bucks, Amazon's similarly sized, and equipped Kindle Fire is priced at just $199. The Kindle Fire is currently on fire, Amazon's most gifted item this holiday season and one of their top sellers overall. Besides the low price, this Android tablet offers up a 7-inch color multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology, Adobe Flash support, and Amazon's own web browser, known as Silk. It also comes packing 8GB of storage, which comes in handy since you can access a wealth of apps, music, movies, and more, all through Amazon. One of our favorite hobbies with our new Kindle Fire is to browse Amazon's app market for the free app of the day as well as check out the massive app discounts in Amazon's Android App Market. You can stock this thing up with games and other entertainment for next to nothing!
Sonos Play:3
Sonos offers up a great selection of whole-house audio products that are really easy to set up. Unfortunately, a lot of them aren't that easy to afford. Thankfully, the company released the Play:3 this year. At $299, this is a great way to get Sonos into the home -- and everyone should want that! When hooked to your home network, this one-box solution can stream music off of any connected computer, as well as services such as Pandora, Napster, Spotify, and even iTunes. Even better, it actually sounds very nice, thanks to three integrated speakers and three Class-D digital amplifiers. If you have a few bucks left over, consider pairing two of these boxes together for a killer stereo setup in one room or music all around the house.
OPPO BDP-93 Network Blu-ray 3D Disc Player
Despite being the highest priced item on our list, the BDP-93 also may be the one that gets the most use -- as well as plenty of accolades. Blu-ray players are dropping in price, so this player's $499 MSRP may be a little tough to swallow. However, it's the perfect example of the adage "you get what you pay for."
First and foremost, it has the Marvell QDEO Kyoti-G2 88DE2750 upscaling chip so it can make the most of your existing DVD collection. It also offers 7.1-channel analog audio outputs so it can deliver extremely high audio performance with older, non-HDMI-capable audio receivers. For maximum flexibility, the BDP-93 plays back Blu-ray 3D discs, standard 2D Blu-rays and DVDs, as well as SACD, DVD-Audio, CD, DivX, HDCD, and much more. The BDP-93 can also play back content that's stored on USB or eSATA drives and adds in the bonus of embedded Netflix and Blockbuster on Demand.
ChannelMaster TV
Remember how you used to be a slave to the schedules of your favorite TV shows? Neither do we. In fact, I don't think I even know what day my favorite shows are on, let alone the time. The DVR is a beautiful thing. Thousands of people ditched pay TV this year, so they may be suffering with the necessaity of watching TV programs when they're actually bring broadcast with... ugh, commercials!
If you find yourself (or a friend) without pay TV services, but still want to be able to record and watch your favorite network TV shows in glorious high definition, consider the ChannelMaster TV. The gift of free DVR is the gift that keeps on giving. For the price of the hardware investment ($399.99), friends and family can have a lifetime of on-demand entertainment, without the need for a pay TV service. It hooks up to any OTA antenna and can store up 35 hours of HD programming or 150 hours of the standard-def stuff on its internal 320GB hard drive (expandable via a standard eSATA port). It also offers up perks that many people can't get with pay TV, including access to content on networked computers, as well as tons of on-demand movies and TV shows through VUDU.
Pioneer VSX-1121-K Receiver
There's absolutely nothing like the gift of great audio. It's true! Adding a good receiver into someone's mix should pretty much guarantee you "nice list" status for the rest of your days. The VSX-1121-K is certainly the receiver to give this year, as it not only adds seven channels of amplification (110 watts x 7), but also puts the power of Apple's AirPlay into that home setup.
At $497.95, this model has THX Select 2 Plus certification, Audio Channel Return, web radio, a 1080p video scaler, and plenty of other goodies to accommodate the ultimate AV setup. It even has support for Pioneer's free iControlAV2 Control app, so you can control it from any iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. Other features include six 3D-capable HDMI inputs Zone 2 preouts, an RS-232C port and two 12-Volt triggers.
Oh -- and that AirPlay allows the user to stream all sorts of iTunes goodies from your computer, as well as an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. If that's not all that important, opt for the less expensive ($218) Pioneer VSX-821-K 5.1 receiver. This lower-priced model doesn't have the AirPlay or as many bells and whistles. That said, both offer the option for great surround sound, for the holidays and beyond.
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