It’s that time of year again when everyone shops for gifts to buy their friends and then prays they chose the right thing. Fans of tech are going to look forward to anything that allows them to automate mundane tasks or introduces them to a new part of their hobby. In that regard, fans of goodtechnologywill look forward to anything new that makes life a little more convenient for them or just shows off cool tech, and the gifts you shop for should reflect that.
Meta Quest 2
Meta Quest 3
Apple Watch Series 9
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
Sony WH-1000XM4
Anker 737 PowerCore III Elite
Mophie Powerstation XXL Power Bank
Crucial X9 Pro portable SSD
Cosori Coffee Mug Warmer and Mug Set
Philips Hue Smart Light Starter Kit
Steam Deck
Valve Steam Deck Docking Station
ThermoPro TP25 Wireless Bluetooth Meat LCD Thermometer
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We’ve made a list of different tools and tech toys that should impress anyone who receives them. While some won’t be the cheapest gifts, they will be perfect gifts for anyone who loves technology and is hungry for solutions to the boring problems of life.
Best VR Gift
The Meta Quest 2 is the perfect entry point into VR. With a great price point, easy setup, and stand-alone capabilities, it’s perfect for beginners.
The Meta Quest 3 has an improved CPU, improved cameras, and color pass-through, making it the closest VR enthusiasts can get to portable augmented reality.
The Meta Quest 2 and 3 are the best entry point VR headsets to own right now. If you’re looking to get your feet wet in VR, the Meta Quest 2 is the best place to start. At the time of this article’s writing, it’s $50 off and doesn’t require any additional baystations or setup to use it.
In fact, the portability of the two Meta Quest models is one of the best points about it. Unlike other headsets, you can bring these headsets anywhere since they’re stand-alone, meaning they don’t require a cable to plug them into a computer or additional equipment to function. This is also where the Meta Quest 3 shines compared to its predecessor. It has a better CPU, color pass-through instead of grayscale (which means you can look at your surroundings through the headset’s cameras in color), and a better display (1920 x 1800 for the Quest 2 vs 2064 x 2208 for the Quest 3). However, the Meta Quest 3 is also twice the price of the Quest 2, despite the improvements you get being well worth the additional cost.
The Meta Quest 3 is being sold in a bundle with Asgard’s Wrath 2, which is a $60 game you’d get for free practically.
Best Smartwatch Gifts
If you or the person you are buying it for has a taste for very cool watches, then the Apple series 9 is a must-have. With a variety of sizes, colors, and bands, the series 9 is even suited to newcomers to Apple’s smartwatches.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic lets you keep track of your health and monitors your sleeping habits. But more importantly, the re-addition of a mechanical bezel gives an incredible amount of control when scrolling through all of your apps.
Thanks to how many things in our lives can be controlled through an app like grills, 3D printers, heaters, and lights, having one convenient place to view alerts and manage all of these apps without the need to take out our phone makes life far more convenient. This is where a Smartwatch is the perfect tool for the job. Not only does it make life more convenient by managing what you need from a spot on your wrist, but it also comes with a whole host of features like microphones, and health tracking options.
Currently, the Apple Watch Series 9 for iPhones and the Galaxy Watch 6 for Androids are at the top of the list of smartwatches to buy. The Series 9 now has the double-tap feature, allowing users to simply tap their fingers together twice in order to interact with apps on their watch. The Galaxy Watch 6 has brought back its physical rotating bezel, making the entire experience of scrolling through and managing multiple apps much easier.
Best Portable Headphones Gift
The Sony WH-1000XM4 balances great sound quality with solid Active Noise Canceling that’s second only to the Bose QC. However, what makes the XM4 better is its quick charging feature, consistent sound quality, and better app.
Audiophiles are very particular about what kind of sounds they want from their headphones. However, it’s hard to complain about a gift that will make their holiday travels much easier. Enter the Sony WH-1000XM4. It has outstanding active noise-canceling, a feature-filled app, and a travel case to help its portability.
The WH-1000XM4 also has a 3.5mm audio jack, so it can plug into any on-flight entertainment system in case you want to watch a movie or purchase anything from there. With 30 hours of battery life, and a quick charging feature (10 minutes of charging turns into 5 hours of usage), the WH-1000XM4 is a clear winner when it comes to travel headphones.
Best Portable Battery Gift
Anker 737 PowerCore III Elite is perfect for charging large devices. With 25,600mAh of storage and 65w output, this is one of the best power banks to own if you plan on using your iPad or Steam Deck on long trips.
Compared to the Anker 737, the Mophie Powerstation XXL is better for small devices. It has 20,000mAh of storage so it can charge most smartphones multiple times before running out.
On the note of traveling for the holidays, sometimes you just need a large battery to keep your electronics charged. Whether it’s a Steam Deck, another handheld gaming device, or just your phone, an external battery will do wonders for you as you travel. The biggest worries to keep in mind are the size, weight, and power capacity. For large power packs, the Anker 737 is one of the best power packs to charge large electronic devices like the Steam Deck.
For smaller battery packs, the Mophie Powerstation XXL is perfect for charging mobile devices multiple times during the day and while it is larger than most of its competition, it’s still small enough to throw into a backpack and carry with you throughout the day.
Best External SSD Memory Gift
Crucial’s X9 Pro has fast read and write speeds, making it great for gaming and just playing movies. But its small size is what makes it amazing for travel.
It’s hard to go wrong with more memory. Whether you’re using it for work, downloading movies, or playing games, more storage makes life a little more convenient when it comes to managing your digital life. Getting someone a portable SSD is a useful gift because your recipient will eventually use it if they hoardtons of gamesor if they take a million photos of their food before they let everyone else finally start eating (you know who you are, and you know who your hungry friends are).
The Crucial X9 Pro is one of the best portable external SSDs out there because of its fast writing speeds and compact size. Its protection rating leaves a little to be desired (surviving a 7ft drop is still pretty solid), but for the price, fast reading speeds, and size, the X9 Pro is an amazing deal.
Best Tech Gift For Your Favorite Coffee Drinker
COSORI Coffee Mug Warmer and Mug set is the perfect gift for any caffeine lover. If you normally drink a Grande from Starbucks, then a 17-ounce mug is more than enough for you.
A heating station will always be appreciated by anyone who works at home and consumes hot drinks to become a functioning human. After all, heating stations and smart mugs have a single job: keep your favorite caffeinated drink hot, so you don’t have to worry about drinking it before it gets cold.
The COSORI Coffee Mug Warmer & Mug Set is perfect for this because the mug itself can hold plenty of coffee (17 ounces) and the warmer is large enough to fit most kinds of morning mugs. Just be careful because the COSORI warmer can reach some high temperatures and may heat up the stainless steel mug far higher than some people will be comfortable with.
Best Home Decor Gift
Philips Hue Smart Light Starter Kit is a great place to get started with building a smart house. Each smart light bulb is energy efficient and makes any room look amazing.
Smart lights are energy efficient and they make any home look incredible. The Philips Hue Starter Kit is the perfect gateway into the world of smart homes, and it comes with three smart bulbs and a hub. From there, you can sync the lights in your house to music, control all the lights in your home with an app or your voice, and even automate specific times lights should be dimmed or brightened.
As a small aside, it’s extremely convenient to leave the house and know all the lights will turn off based on the location of your phone. Then, when you return home, you’ll be greeted with all the lights you need turning on by themselves.
Best Portable Handheld Console Gift
The Steam Deck is currently sold in three models; 256GB LCD, 512 GB OLED, and 1TB OLED.Out of these models, you should get the 512GB OLED, because the upgrades in the OLED model like extended battery life, lighter weight, and a gorgeous display make the $150 increase in price worth it.
While it has some stiff competition this year, the Steam Deck remains one of the best deals forPC gamerslooking for a handheld experience. Valve’s integration of the Steam store onto the console is seamless, and playing games likeHadesandMonster Hunterwhile on the go or waiting in line is a priceless feeling. If a smartphone is the equivalent of a life vest preventing you from drowning in a sea of boredom, then the Steam Deck is the equivalent of sailing the high seas on a yacht.
Touchpads, responsive and customizable controls, Bluetooth wireless, and its Linux-based Desktop mode make it feel like a luxury miniature PC with all the bells and whistles (like Bluetooth wireless) you’d expect to justify its price. Just be sure to get the OLED models over the old LCD Steam Decks. Not only do the displays look better, but the OLED models are lighter, have a longer battery life, and have a higher refresh rate.
Best Steam Deck Accessory Gift
There are plenty of steam docks on the market right now, but Valve’s dock is amazing for its first-party firmware updates to improve its compatibility with the Deck itself.
Docking stations allow you to use your Steam Deck as a main computer. The best docks have plenty of ports for everything you need and can support multiple monitors. While the official Valve Steam Dock has plenty of competition these days, it still remains one of the best docks to own. Compared to other docks, it has a constant stream of firmware updates to improve compatibility and iron out bugs.
Additionally, Valve’s Dock is as “plug-and-play” as anyone could wish for. Just plug into the Deck, whatever accessories you want (like keyboards, monitors, and gaming mice) and power on the Deck. From that point onward, you should be good to go.
Best Kitchen Gift
ThermoPro TP25 offers 4 different thermal probes connected to a single thermometer, allowing you to keep track of 4 different cooking temperatures in one convenient spot.
Wireless meat thermometers are a game changer for people using an oven, grill, or smoker to cook. They let you relax while your food cooks and your food will come out even better since you don’t have to disturb it every 10 minutes to see if it’s done.
For that reason, the ThermoPro TP25 is perfect because it has multiple probes to keep track of what you’re putting in the oven and all of it can be monitored through the phone app. The app also lets you set up timers or alarms for when the food reaches a particular temperature.
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