The spirit of holiday gift giving has always been a staple tradition, almost from the dawn of time. Of course, the big tech companies like Logitech, Sony, SteelSeries and Razer have not been around since the dawn of time. But now, we have the luxuries of utilizing advanced technical hardware, meticulously designed A.I. and a mix of artfully crafted tech solutions for our everyday lives. And what better time to upgrade than during the holiday gift-giving time. As always, we made a list and checked it twice, we edited it thrice and just in time for you to capture the best holiday deals in time for Christmas! With two sleeps left, you’re running out of time!
Here is CGMs specially curated list of the best holiday gifts for tech lovers:
Sony SRS-XG300 X-Series Wireless Portable-Bluetooth Party-Speaker
Price: $349.99
This speaker has been highly rated for its quick and easy portability, with its very useful retractable handle. To add, this medium-sized boombox has been tested to have 25-hour battery life, ensuring it could play all the content users want to enjoy on-the-go. This holiday gift for tech lovers allows users to listen to their favourite tracks on Spotify or binge a show with friends on Netflix. It also has an IP67 rating meaning it is dustproof and waterproof.
New Wave M90 Mini Blaster
Price: $159.99
The New Wave M90 Mini Blaster can be a nice touch in an audiophile’s collection. It is a miniaturized replica that was said to be approximately 60% smaller and lighter than its audio ancestor, the “King of Boomboxes” released back in 1981. Some solid features include adjustable treble, bass balance and volume knobs; Bluetooth 5.1, offering the best in wireless range and stability; and has a built-in 20,000 mAh battery which is said to provide up to 40 hours of listening to your favourite playlists.
Kensington Audio Switcher
Price: $149.99
As the name suggests, the Kensington Audio Switcher allows users to seamlessly switch between and up to three different audio sources. This is a useful holiday gift for a techie who either works from home or loves to have an uncluttered desk. This audio switch was made for professionals who are busy with meetings on Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom—along with listening to music on Spotify or Apple Music, all on one headset. It also does not require a wall plug; just a USB-A port on a Windows or macOS PC is needed to power this convenient little device for tech lovers.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate Keyboard
Price: $279.99
If you have a loved one who is both a tech collector and keyboard enthusiast, the ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate keyboard can be a solid holiday gift option this Christmastime. The keyboard features PBT Doubleshot keycaps, ROG NX extra quiet mechanical switches, ROG custom stabilizers, and a maximum poling rate of 8000Hz. One of our writers wrote: “The two words that come to my mind to best describe the feel of using the ROG Strix Flare II Animate are ‘premium’ and ‘comfort.'”
Logitech Aurora Collection
Price:
Logitech G735 Wireless Gaming Headset: $299.99;
G713/G715 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: $199.99/$249.99 ;
G705 Wireless Gaming Mouse: $129.99
The Logitech Aurora collection has been the latest PC peripheral lineup that has a very holiday, festive aesthetic! Every piece of equipment is RGB-enabled, from the G735 headset, a G705 wireless mouse to the G713 and G715 wired/wireless TKL keyboards. This collection was featured in CGMagazine’s Back-To-School essentials, and can definitely be a great holiday gift for tech lovers to continue tackling the new semester.
Amazon Echo Studio (2022)
Price: $259.99
The latest version of the Amazon Echo Studio is a great holiday gift for a tech lover friend or family member who is either an audio buff or an owner of multiple Alexa-controlled devices. This updated edition now has Dolby Atmos spatial audio processing for a wider, more immersive experience with five speakers producing powerful bass with improved clarity, dynamic midrange, and crisp highs. While it can stream your best songs, it can also help connect and utilize other features on other Alexa devices, on top of its own skills.
TP-Link AXE5400 Tri-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi 6E Router
Price: $299.99
With so many family and friends over for the holidays, you will need all the bandwidth to entertain each and every guest. TP-Link AXE5400 Tri-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi 6E router can be a great holiday gift to ensure the whole family or household experiences consistent Wi-Fi connections without disappointment. Also, it is great for future proofing for newer devices that can connect to the dedicated Wi-Fi 6 connection, meaning less traffic from common 5-G connection devices.
ViewSonic XG340C-2K 34″ UWQHD 180Hz HDMI 2.1 Gaming Monitor
Price: $799.99
A gamer’s sweet joy! Maybe you need to refresh your monitor game with this stunning gaming monitor from ViewSonic. This holiday gift is perfect for gamers or tech lovers who want that extra visual immersion with its 180 Hz refresh rate, ultra-wide QHD resolution, super-fast HDMI 2.1 connection, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, VESA DisplayHDR 400 enchancement, 1ms response time, and comfort features—such as height adjustment, tilt, swivel, flicker-free enhancements and a blue light filter feature to avoid eye strain.
HUAWEI Watch GT Runner Smartwatch
Price: $398.00
This smartwatch can be a very thoughtful holiday gift for that special someone who may need to keep track of their health or leads an adventurous life. One of our writers wrote: “Battery life, a sticking point with many smartwatches, has absolutely astounded me with the HUAWEI Watch GT Runner.” While it has a smart AI to track physical and exercise levels, it can also help to track the users’ stress and sleep levels. Time for your tech lover to get healthier physically, spiritually and mentally.
WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD
Price: Starting at $204.99
Having an SSD storage device on your PC, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X is almost a given, with more AAA games taking up so much storage space. Western Digital has been one of the storage leaders offering this storage option in 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB forms—allowing users to easily store massive games upwards of 200 GB a game. It comes with crazy transfer speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s^2, has a dedicated game mode, and can reach near-max PCIe Gen4 speeds. The tech company also offers the option to include a heatsink to help maintain peak performance for any users’ rigs.
Kensington L1000 Bicolor Ring Light
Price: 39.99
This is an awesome holiday gift for anyone who has to be on-camera a lot—whether that is meetings or content creating on Twitch, TikTok or other streaming platforms. If you check out our column “Dear Content Creators“, it will tell you how much good lighting can enhance your webcam quality without spending too much on a high-end webcam. This ring light has its own webcam mount to fit webcams of all sizes, has 96 LED lights with a max brightness of 960 lumens and can be adjusted for different light temperatures (cool, natural and warm).
Samsung Freestyle Smart FHD Portable LED Projector
Price: $897.99
The Samsung Freestyle Smart FHD Portable LED Projector was said to be “portable, powerful and surprisingly simple.” This can be a perfect holiday gift for the whole family, to watch all the great Christmas movies and TV specials—like Disney+’s The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special or The Santa Clauses. With its cylindrical design, it is portable and easily stores numerous great features: the auto keystone, auto levelling, and autofocusing technology ensures it will fix any weird picture quality. The 180 degree panning design also shows off for big picture viewings or casual bedroom watching.
NZXT H7 Elite
Price: $199.99
Still have that friend who said they were going to build a PC pre-pandemic, or was that you? This is the holiday gift you or that friend needs; there are literally so much RGB lights from NZXT’s three 140 mm whisper-quiet fans. Start the holiday season and new year with the perfect case for your new, or upgraded rig. Our review noted, “With the White NZXT H7 Elite case, you will find a crystal-clear glass side panel that looks gorgeous for most modern PC builds.”
SteelSeries Arena 3 Full-Range 2.0 Gaming Speakers
Price: $199.99
If you are a parent or guardian “working” from home (actually playing God of War: Ragnarok), and have to take care of your little ones or elderly ones, headphones may be off the table. These SteelSeries gaming speakers may be the perfect balance as a holiday gift to enjoy the immersive experience of gaming in your home office while still being aware of what is happening in the rest of your household. The Arena 3 speakers offers easy connection and wire-free setup with Bluetooth, and a bunch of audio customization options for all your needs. Its 4″ drivers are said to produce powerful bass, vibrant mids and emit crystal-clear highs.
Corsair MP600 GS 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD
Price: $219.99
For a little bit more from Western Digital’s SSD option, Corsair has crafted their alternative SSD with super fast Gen4 speeds. It clocked read/write speeds up to 4,700/3,900 MB/s, meaning less loading times for booting up Windows and loading games. This SSD also has a compact M.2 2280 form-factor that could fit onto most motherboards, whether that could be making upgrades on laptops and notebooks with PCIe Gen4-cable CPUs. Invest and save time by adding this holiday gift on your list.
Razer Raptor 27 Monitor
Price: $799
While this was Razor’s first attempt at a gaming monitor, this may be the first step in solidifying themselves in the monitor competition. As noted in our review, it has “a 27-inch, 2,560×1,440-pixel panel which supports FreeSync and G-Sync-Compatible adaptive refresh—along with a wide colour gamut and a 165Hz refresh rate.” One special characteristic the Raptor 27 has its mounting capabilities to attend all setup needs, whether for gaming or for productivity purposes. This can be a great holiday gift investment for a loved one who works a lot on computers.
Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive
Price: $399.99
If you have a friend or family member who are looking to build the best, most powerful workstation PC, the Samsung 990 Pro SSD might be the perfect fit for them. Or maybe this is right up your own alley, and you need a holiday gift to treat yourself. This SSD has one of the fastest transfer speeds with up to 7,450/6,900 MB/s read/write speeds, and has been said to use less power with up to 50% improved performance per watt. Its nickel-coated controller provides effective thermal control, so doing the most renders will not overheat your system.
iam8bit Record Player Shirt
Price: $29.99
iam8bit has masterfully sown some of the most stylistic clothing for audiophiles and anyone celebrating geek culture. Their 100% airlume combed and ring-spun cotton makes it an extra comfy, soft shirt—which is also tagless, meaning no behind-the-neck itch. This record player shirt can be a great holiday gift for that one friend who cannot get enough of listening to their vinyls. It is currently available in two colours: Black and Cardinal.
