.FLYINGHEAD HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
.TITLE Expensive (but worth it) gifts for the truly worthy
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.SUMMARY So, no one’s going to buy you that Bugatti Veyron you’re dreaming of, eh? Well, perhaps you’re loved enough to merit a gift that’s just expensive ($500-$5,000), rather than something in the millions. If you’re looking for geek toy love, you’ve found the right place.
.FEATURE
So, no one’s going to buy you that Bugatti Veyron you’re dreaming of, eh? Well, perhaps you’re loved enough to merit a gift that’s just expensive ($500-$5,000), rather than something in the millions. If you’re looking for geek toy love, you’ve found the right place.
As I mentioned last week in [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200612/00001894001.html|"Super-expensive gifts for the rich and excessive"]], we’re doing things a bit differently. Rather than just the dull recitation of popular products, we’ve turned to the ZATZ editors, to a bunch of experts in the [[http://www.netpress.org/|Internet Press Guild]], and to a bunch of tech gaming enthusiasts, my own gaming buddies in the Iron Phoenix gaming community.
.H1 A sweet pair of Aliens
Let’s kick off the tech gifts with a pair of ‘puters: an Alienware laptop and desktop. I’ve had the pleasure of using the [[http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/aurora_m9700_cp.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AURORAM9700-CP&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT|Alienware Aurora m9700 laptop]], shown in Figure A, for the last few weeks and I’ve got to say I’ve pretty much fallen in love with this machine.
.FIGPAIR A This is a laptop even Liz and Max would love.
Normally, I can’t wait to get review units out of here. We have a limited amount of review lab space and every item that goes back means more space for other projects. But this machine is such an ideal device that I’m going to be very, very sad to see it go.
.TEASER We’ve got so many gifts, you’ll have to tap here to see them all!
The version I have clocks in at a bit over $3,000, has a 17" screen with a resolution of 1920×1200 — exactly the same as on my 24" monitor on my desktop. It’s got a 2.4GHz 800Mhz FSB Turion 64 mobile processor, 2GB RAM, twin 160GB drives, an NVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS video card, and quite a bit more. To be clear, this baby is a monster. It’s a full desktop replacement, capable of gaming and serious programming — but it’s not exactly light.
Although I’ve had my pick of high-end laptops from Dell, Sony, and others, it’s the Alienware device I’ve just really grown to think of as a real work partner. Honestly, in just a few short weeks of use, it’s become my favorite machine.
Senior editor James Booth took the dream machine concept even further, dreaming up the most extreme Alienware desktop he could find. He started with the [[http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Area-51_7500/area-51_overview.aspx?SysCode=PC-AREA51-7500-R4-CP&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT|Area-51 7500]] shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B This is one mean looking system. And it’s mean inside, too.
He loaded it with an Intel Core 2 Extreme running with a 1066MHz frontside bus. To that he added Windows Media Center, along with a tuner and remote. He upgraded the chassis to add video cooling, system lighting, and "high-performance liquid cooling". He dropped in 4 gigabytes of 800Mhz RAM, added three 750GB serial ATA drives, putting him well above 2 terabytes(!) in storage.
Not willing to miss out on any features, he dropped in dual DVD combo drives and dual 768MB NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX SLI video cards. The power demands on that were so huge, he needed to add in an 1,000 watt power supply and — well, at this point, he ran out of slots. That’s good, because so far, the box he’s equipped tops $8,000. It’s over our $5,000 limit for this article, but what price can you place on love?
It’ll play World of Warcraft (and just about everything else) real smooth.
.H1 MonolithMC HD
While we’re on the topic of PCs, we’ve got a home entertainment PC that’ll blow you away. The [[https://monolithmc.com/viewproduct.php?p_id=4|MonolithMC HD]] is a surprisingly inexpensive home media PC, costing only $999 for a machine that can record and store your videos. Think of it as an open-source Tivo, because this beast runs Ubuntu Linux and MythTV, the open source DVR software. The HD version of the MonolithMC product has HD video out, all the way up to 1080p.
So, why are we recommending a Linux MythTV box, when you can go out and buy a Tivo? First, there’s no monthly service fee. Second, it’s nice to support a product that pre-ships with an installed Linux environment. And third, this has a lot of horsepower for managing videos, pictures, music and all the rest.
.H1 The inevitable Apple wishlist item
When you’re on the subject of holiday gift wishes, someone out there’s going to want a Mac. If you’re thin enough and hip enough, perhaps you can be one of the lucky few who gets a sweet little overpriced [[http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=925997E8&nclm=MacBookPro|MacBook Pro]], shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C It’s stylish and svelt. Are you?
The MacBook Pro is now running the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which is pretty darn quick. It’s also got an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 video card, with 256MB SDRAM. Is it as fast as the Alienware’s mobile graphics card? No way. But it’s not bad for a Mac.
The system we equipped has 3GB (for some wacky reason, Apple tops off their MacBook Pros at 3GB — go figure). Now, get this. When we added an extra 1GB of 667 DDR2 SDRAM to the mix, the system’s price increased by $575 to $3,374.
Before you go off and buy that Mac, think about this. That’s $575 whopping dollars for 1GB of RAM. So, how much extra is Apple gouging you for? The identical RAM, purchased from Crucial, is $146. Gotta love those Apple folks, eh?
.H1 Q1 — a really teeny full PC
DominoPower contributor Ron Herardian suggested the [[http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/ultramobile/np_q1_v000suk.asp|Q1]], shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D It’s tiny, it’s fun, and it’d make you the most popular person at your next party.
This thing is smaller than the smallest laptops, but has a full version of Windows, along with all the media features you’d expect from a Media Center PC. Frankly, we think the Q1 may be more cool than useful except for certain business uses, but for those of us who live for gadgets. it’d be a heck of a find under the tree.
.H1 Wouldn’t you like a Pepper Pad, too?
While we’re on the topic of teeny PCs, DominoPower contributing editor Nancy Hand found one she thinks is pretty slick. It’s the [[http://www.pepper.com/|Pepper Pad]], a tiny little Linux Web pad, shown in Figure E.
.FIGPAIR E They come in colors other than pink, as well.
Not much runs on it, but the Pepper Pad is running a variant of Firefox. Plus, you can download the Mobipocket reader and a program that turns Pepper Pad into a remote control. We’re intrigued and you might like it.
Nancy says:
.QUOTE It’s Toy Time again. Sadly most of the toys in my cubicle are last year’s obsolete and no-longer-loved experiments. A couple of the items I’ve seen recently might prompt a little house-cleaning to make room.
.QUOTE For less than $700, HanBit America offers the Pepper Pad 3. One source referred to this as a "couch computer" but Hanabit calls it a Web computer. It’s 11 inches by 6 inches and weighs about 2 pounds. With a 20GB harddrive, AMD processor, Linux operating system, a full keyboard, touch screen, and lots of built-in features it might replace your iPAQ. If it runs the Domino Administrator Client, it might replace my laptop.
.H1 Get NASty with network storage
Freelance technology writer Daniel P. Dern, one of the Internet Press Guild members, checked in with a bunch of truly geeky, hard-core additions to our list. He suggests:
.QUOTE A RAIDed SATA NAS, fully populated with 750GB SATA drives, for me, and for some friends, for (finally) getting a more robust home office storage solution.
He recommends, at minimum, [[http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509|DLink’s 2-bay DNS 323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure]], shown in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F Your hard drives deserve a nice home.
Now, let’s be clear. This $299 box is the case and network connection only. You still need to add drives (which will push this into the $500 range).
If budget permits, Dan suggests Infrant’s four-bay [[http://infrant.com/products/products_details.php?name=ReadyNAS%20NVPlus|ReadyNAS NV+]], shown in Figure G.
.FIGPAIR G The ReadyNAS is a much more industrial device.
This device brings enterprise-level NAS technology down considerably in price. It’s got RAID, gigabit Ethernet, continuous system monitoring and backup capabilities. Without drives, these bad boys of storage are $650-850. If you drop in four 750GB drives, you’re talking 3 terabytes of storage for $2,999.
Finally, Dan suggestes:
.QUOTE For a real splurge, I’d add in three 750GB external hard drives, for off-site backups (one to copy to, one to take to the vault, one in the vault).
Backups are essential, so if you really care about your technically inclined friends, this is a gift of pure love. Dan tells us SATA drives are cableless, so swapping and upgrading drives is a painless process.
.H1 A better keyboard chair
While we’re on the topic of Dan’s suggestions, he’d also like to recommend a split keyboard attached to a chair, like the one shown in Figure H.
.FIGPAIR H Nice idea. Too bad you can’t have it.
The gotcha is that the keyboard shown has been discontinued. If you want to provide a loved one with a split keyboard solution, you’re going to need to get creative.
Dan recommends a [[http://www.hermanmiller.com/aeron/|Herman Miller Aeron chair]] as a starting point. They’re about $700. Add to that a split keyboard, like the [[http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/freestyle.htm|Kinesis Freestyle Solo]], shown in Figure I, and you’ve got yourself a pretty special chair.
.FIGPAIR I The Freestyle should be out pretty soon.
Of course, you’re going to have to figure out how to mount them together, but what’s a little duct tape among friends?
.H1 Attack of the flat screens
You had to know we’d be recommending (or at least suggesting) some quality flat screen TVs. We’ve got three that seem to be the crowd favorites. At the most expensive (and, still, amazingly inexpensive for what it offers), is the [[http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=KDSR60XBR2&Dept=tvvideo&CategoryName=tv_ProjectionTVs_RearProjection_55to80TVS|Sony 60" SXRD Rear Projection Television]], shown in Figure J.
.FIGPAIR J Me want big HDTV.
This bad boy goes up to a full 1080p, has a native display resolution of 1920×1280, and has more inputs and outputs than Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan, combined. At about $3,800, it’s a pretty good deal as well. Let’s be clear, though. This is not a plasma or LCD. It’s a big box that’s almost two full feet deep. If you’ve got the space, they’ve got the picture.
By the way, I’ve had a 60" Sony television for nearly a decade. Mine’s not HDTV — it’s just plain ol’ TV, which was all they had back in the mid-90s. Sony’s not on my favorite company list because of the whole root kit fiasco, but I’ve got to give their hardware credit. Amazingly, even after enduring three or four moving truck experiences, the thing still works. Curious about how pricing has changed? More than a decade ago, I paid about $4,400. And that was 1994 money.
But let’s say you want to spend a few bucks less. Why not check out the $2,500 [[http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/PlasmaTV/HPS5053XXAA.asp|Samsung 50" Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV]], shown in Figure K. It’s got a built-in tuner, PC input, two HDMI ports, and it’s only 18" thick.
.FIGPAIR K This is one sweet screen.
Many folks argue over the benefits of LCD vs. plasma. Back in the olden days, both technologies had their problems. Today, the fragility and burn-in issues of plasma is largely a thing of the past. Some LCD displays have better angles of viewing, but it really is up to the buyer to decide which individual model is best for your needs.
Since we’ve done a rear-projection TV and a plasma TV, it’s only fair we round out our guide with an LCD TV, dipping again into the vast array of product Samsung provides. This time, we’re recommending the [[http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNS4695DXXAA.asp|46" LN-S4695D LCD TV w/Built-In Tuner]], shown in Figure L.
.FIGPAIR L The LCD variant is a bit more expensive.
Even though it’s smaller than the unit above, it costs about $700 more. The difference, as best as we can tell, is a slightly better image quality. I’ve tended to really like LCD displays, but I wouldn’t kick a plasma display out of bed, if ya know what I mean.
.H1 Beosound 3200 hard disk music storage system
DominoPower senior technical editor Mick Moignard shared with us some of his thoughts on his home audio system:
.QUOTE Neither I nor my wife are much of the gadget freak, techno toys persuasion, really. But we do have one indulgence, and that’s a Bang & Olufsen TV system, complete with DVD and video. My one thing in the "sky’s the limit" category would be a B&O Hard-Disk recorder to go with all this.
Figure M shows Mick’s TV setup alongside the B&O stereo. To be fair, the real reason we’re showing you Mick’s personal stereo is the duck. As far as I can tell, this is officially the first duck to make it into CU.
.FIGPAIR M What can we say? The man has a duck.
Mick also wanted to share with us the world’s longest remote control, shown in Figure N.
.FIGPAIR N Maybe size really does matter.
.QUOTE That shows the real gem, the single remote that controls everything. I really don’t actually watch much time-displaced TV, nor do the rest of the family, but on the times that we do want to, something better than videotape would be nice. But it’s in the dream category, especially now that it seems to be on the way out at B&O, replaced by far more esoteric gear, totally in the dream category.
The real product recommendation in this section is the super-slick $3,500 [[http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=35|Beosound 3200]], shown in Figure O.
.FIGPAIR O B&O makes some very stylish devices.
Mick tells us more about it:
.QUOTE Nikki, my wife, wants something else. She wants to replace the CD player with B&O’s newer Beosound 3200 model that also has a hard disk. She wants to use it to create custom playlists right on the thing’s disk and play those with the remote without all that tiresome finding and loading CDs.
.QUOTE Playing through it’s own speakers (that’s one of them above the TV Figure M) beats an iPod and headphones, any time, and beats all that ripping to a laptop and then squirting into an MP3, not that she has one of those.
.QUOTE I have this feeling that next she’ll want the round-the-house linkup that lets you play stuff to any speaker set in any room, and still just carry around and use the one remote control. And yes, that lot is staying in the dream category, too. You can find out exactly what Nikki is after, and lots more to drool over, at http://www.bang-olufsen.com.
Hey, Mick. I don’t know if you know it or not, but B&O’s a Lotus shop. Their media page (for press info) has our favorite, happy little Domino icon.
.H1 One ring to romance them all
I’m not sure exactly who Iron gaming’s Lord Darrious is trying to romance, but he’s certainly pulling out all the stops. In our previous gift list, the one with the super-expensive gifts, he’d found a $29,999 ring, discounted to a mere $11,499.
In this article, he’s dropped his sights to a ring that’s a mere $1,479. This one’s a [[http://www.amazon.com/White-Gold-Princess-Three-Stone-Diamond/dp/B000GZIO70/sr=1-29/qid=1164895805/ref=sr_1_29/103-2488247-2167004?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry|14K White Gold 1 1/3 ctw. Princess Cut Three-Stone Diamond Ring]], as shown in Figure P.
.FIGPAIR P It’s pretty. But does it measure WiFi?
What more can we say. Darrious, man, you’ve sure got the right intentions. Dude, I hope she’s listening. Good luck!
.H1 The big-money gift certificate
And, now that we’ve seen Darrious make his latest play for the ladies, we’re going to wrap up this article with what seems to have become a gift-giving theme from ZATZ Managing Editor Denise Amrich: the Amazon gift certificate:
.QUOTE $5K Amazon Gift Certificate. Wouldn’t a shopping spree from Amazon be a great gift? Nothing better than being able to get what you really want — you could buy a new PC with a huge monitor and a printer and still have money left over for sofware.
She says, "That’s the stress-free gift!"
To be clear, we get nothing from Amazon for this series of shameless (and somewhat pointless) recommendations. It’s just what we do.
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I hope you’ve found something you want. If not, we’ve got some less expensive items coming up in our $50-$500 category.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
To read "Super-expensive gifts for the rich and excessive", visit http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200612/00001894001.html.
For more information on the Internet Press Guild, visit http://www.netpress.org.
For more information on the Alienware Aurora m9700 laptop, visit [[http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/aurora_m9700_cp.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AURORAM9700-CP&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT|http:\//www.alienware.com]].
For more information on the Area-51 7500, visit [[http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Area-51_7500/area-51_overview.aspx?SysCode=PC-AREA51-7500-R4-CP&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT|http:\//www.alienware.com]].
For more information on the MonolithMC HD, visit [[https://monolithmc.com/viewproduct.php?p_id=4|http:\//www.monolithmc.com]].
For more information on the MacBook Pro with the wildly overpriced RAM, visit [[http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=925997E8&nclm=MacBookPro|http:\//store.apple.com]].
For more information on the Q1, visit [[http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/ultramobile/np_q1_v000suk.asp|http:\//www.samsung.com]].
For more information on the Pepper Pad, visit http://www.pepper.com.
For more information on the DLink NAS, visit [[http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509|http:\//www.dlink.com]].
For more information on the ReadyNAS NV+, visit [[http://infrant.com/products/products_details.php?name=ReadyNAS%20NVPlus|http:\//www.infrant.com]].
For more information on the Herman Miller Aeron chair, visit http://www.hermanmiller.com/aeron.
For more information on the Kinesis Freestyle Solo keyboard, visit http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/freestyle.htm.
For more information on the Sony 60" rear-projection TV, visit [[http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=KDSR60XBR2&Dept=tvvideo&CategoryName=tv_ProjectionTVs_RearProjection_55to80TVS|http:\//www.sonystyle.com]].
For more information on the Samsung 50" plasma TV, visit [[http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/PlasmaTV/HPS5053XXAA.asp|http:\//www.samsung.com]].
For more information on the Samsung 46" LCD TV, visit [[http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNS4695DXXAA.asp|http:\//www.samsung.com]].
For more information on the Beosound 3200, visit [[http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=35|http:\//www.bang-olufsen.com]].
For more information on the Darrious’ ring, visit [[http://www.amazon.com/White-Gold-Princess-Three-Stone-Diamond/dp/B000GZIO70/sr=1-29/qid=1164895805/ref=sr_1_29/103-2488247-2167004?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry|http:\//www.amazon.com]].
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.BIO
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