Gifts $400 and Up

Roomba 770

Advancing Skynet i chore at a time - $500

Housework sucks, but until we're walking alongside subservient automatons, we're stuck with it -- most of information technology, anyhow. Roombas may not exist able to make you tiffin or wash your clothes, only they tin aid keep your floor tidy with little input. IRobot's freshly updated 6-model lineup spans from $350 to $700, with the $500 Roomba 770 beingness the most reviewed iteration online. Its revamped cleaning head is equipped for anything from pet hair to grit, while its new power management software results in upwards to fifty% longer battery life than previous generations.

Image Millenia CT Speaker System

Pinnacle notch sound in a compact bundle - $700

Image is not a make that many consumers are familiar with -- that'southward because they mainly focus on selling through audio specialists and system integrators. But the crisp, accurate, and detailed sound their speakers produce is well known in the correct circles. Their Millenia CT speakers are no unlike. They are essentially a soundbar in a 2.one bundle, which delivers improve space and separation to the sound, and are the perfect complement for simple dwelling theater setups or a desktop. Anyone who is serious about sound fidelity will appreciate this gift. Plus, there'southward no receiver required, the Millenia CT speakers come with everything yous need for quick setup including the audio cables.

Apple MacBook Air

The perfect balance between portability and ability - $1,200

Ultrabooks are great for pretty much anything but gaming and other GPU heavy tasks. If you're buying for someone else the choice will largely down to their taste in operating systems. Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air is still the gold standard by which other ultra thin machines are measured confronting, and with reason. It's a existent beauty in terms of blueprint and it packs a solid hardware combination for $1,200. Two nifty alternatives for Windows users are the Asus Zenbook UX31, which offers similar specs plus a superior display for $100 less, and the rugged concern course Lenovo X1 Carbon starting at $i,250.

Nikon D7000

Stellar picture quality, records video similar a champ - $one,300

The universally praised Nikon D7000 is almost a couple of years former now but you'll be difficult pressed to find a better dSLR in its price range. Among its key features are a 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, large viewfinder (0.62x with 100% coverage), dual SD card slots, burst shooting at six frames per second, full HD 1080p (at 24fps) film fashion with auto-focus, and a solidly built trunk. A more affordable D5200 model sharing many of the D7000's traits is due out presently but exact pricing is all the same a mystery. If you desire something without the majority of a dSLR merely notwithstanding better than a standard point-and-shoot, the mirrorless, interchangeable-lens Olympus PEN East-PM2 is a solid choice for around $600 (with a 14-42mm f/3.5-v.6 kit lens).

The TechSpot Enthusiast'south PC

A little something for yourself - $ane,500

If information technology's been a while since your last upgrade and you don't mind being slightly behind the generational curve, Black Friday and Cyber Mon make for a compelling excuse to buy a new desktop. Haswell volition succeed Ivy Bridge in the first half of 2022 and you lot can bet AMD and Nvidia are readying their side by side-gen GPUs, merely our Enthusiast's PC volition handle intensive gaming and multitasking for years to come. If a new high-stop machine exceeds your budget, perhaps you tin can upgrade your current system with a few components from our list or you can mix and lucifer parts from our more affordable Budget Box and Entry-Level Rig.

Have more tech gift ideas than the ones listed hither? Postal service them in the comments, we'll consider all your suggestions to include them on this guide until the end of the year.