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12 best Christmas gifts for techies

By Team HardwareZone - 19 Dec 2014

12 best Christmas gifts for techies

With only one shopping weekend left till Christmas, this is your last chance to snap up the perfect gift for the techie in your life. We've rounded up the 12 best gifts across a variety of budgets, so no matter who you're buying for - friend, significant other, parent, office secret santa you've never seen or heard of before - we've got you covered.


 


LG G Watch R

If the techie in your life is also fashion conscious, and has been turned off by ugly square smart watches, wait till he see the LG G Watch R. The G Watch R combines leather, black metal and a round face design for one of the most attractive smart watches around. And, as it's powered by Android Wear, it also boasts a bevy of useful features. Finally, a wearable that he won't be ashamed to wrap around his wrist.

HWZ Hands-on

 

 


Xiaomi Mi Band

Looking for a secret santa gift under $20? The Xiaomi Mi Band is the perfect choice. Don't be fooled by its low price, the Mi Band is a full activity tracker and can be used while walking, running, jumping rope or doing sit-ups. It will also track your sleep patterns at night, vibrate when you're receiving an incoming call, and if you have a Xiaomi phone, you can use it to automatically unlock your phone when you're nearby.

HWZ Review

 

 


Fujifilm X100T

For the retro, photography-loving hipster that's close to your heart, consider the Fujifilm X100T. Fujifilm has improved on its much-loved digital compact, the X100S, to produce the X100T. The X100T comes with the 16MP X-Trans CMOS II sensor, as well as an improved electronic viewfinder. It also sports an electronic shutter mode, so you can shoot silently. With the electronic shutter, there's no problem shooting at 1/32000 sec. Attractive retro looks, customizable controls and good image quality, all in one package.

HWZ News

 

 


Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer

Giving someone a weighing scale may seem like a bad idea (especially if its your girlfriend or wife), but wait until you see what it can do! The Withings WS-50 is far more advanced than your standard scale: besides tracking your weight, it can also track your body fat and BMI. And you can even check your heart rate by just stepping on the scale without any need for wires or additional sensors. The WS-50 can even track the air quality of your room. All information can be viewed on a web interface or the free iOS and Android apps. Get an early start on that new year's resolution to get into shape!

 

 


Apple iMac 5K

Looking for a lavish gift for a professional photographer or video producer (or aspiring one) who works with high resolution content? Then the new iMac with Retina 5K display will be a godsend. With its ultra high resolution 5K display, this means that users can edit 4K content in their native resolution and still have space for other assets. And even if they're just a regular user, they can always enjoy the gorgeous display.

HWZ Review

 

 


Yamaha LSX-170 desktop audio system

The Yamaha LSX 170 features two speakers that fire upwards as well as a special conical Sound & Light Reflector that literally bends and diffuses light and sound over a 360-degree range. The end result is a warm glow of light and evenly dispersed sound that fills the room. Perfect for a cozy night in.

HWZ Review

 

 


ASUS PG278Q Gaming Monitor

For the gamer in your life, this large 27-inch screen ASUS PG278Q monitor has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, and supports a blistering fast 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and NVIDIA's G-Sync technology that all but get rid of stutters, lags, and tearings in games. Now, he can no longer blame his monitor for missing that frag!

HWZ Review

 

 


Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

What's better than a thin and light premium tablet? One that's waterproof too, that's what! The 8-inch Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is exactly that, coming in at 6.4mm thin, weighing just 270g, and is IP65/68-rated. Powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, it has the horsepower for even the most demanding of apps.

HWZ Feature

 

 


Fiio X1

Here's a Christmas gift that’s perfect for the music lover - a highly pocketable media player that’s small enough to fit into any pocket, and will play music in almost any format, in up to 192kHz/24-bit resolution. For extra points, simply throw in a microSD card loaded with high resolution versions of his favorite audio tracks.

HWZ Review

 

 


Hifiman HE-560

Three words to make your resident audiophile’s face light up this Christmas: Planar. Magnetic. Drivers. Unlike other headphones that sport these highly responsive drivers though, the HifiMan HE-560 is very light for its size, and the use of hybrid velour/leather earpads make it extremely comfortable, which just means hours of pure listening pleasure.

 

 


DJI Inspire 1

The Inspire 1's a drone that comes with its own 4K camera and can transform (it folds in its legs so that the camera isn’t blocked). If you have two controllers (sold separately), one person can control the drone's flight while another mans the camera!

 

 


Logitech G910 Orion Spark keyboard

The Logitech G910 Orion Spark is one of the best mechanical keyboards on the market. It uses Logitech's custom-built in-house Romer-G switches, has customized keycaps that guide your fingers, is made of a smooth non-slip material and even has an app (IOS and Android) that you can download to customize the keyboard with. Perfect for anyone that spends an unhealthy amount of time in front of their computer.

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But wait, that's not all! In conjunction with our Christmas gift recommendations article and in the spirit of Christmas, HardwareZone is also giving away a set of input devices as prizes! To find out how, join in and participate in this forum thread. Merry Christmas!

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