I’ve been reviewing technology for 15 years. If you buy me any of these stupid gadgets, please include a gift receipt.
What I tell my kids is that when it comes to gifts, it’s the thought that counts. But buying someone a trashy present shows how little consideration you put into the gift. Understand your giver and don’t give anything that insults their intelligence. You wouldn’t buy a fashionista copy brand clothes or smelly perfume and expect them to like it. If you’re a tech geek like me, don’t buy crappy gadgets or computer hardware.
I’ve been building computers since George H. W. Bush was president, and reviewing all kinds of equipment from laptops to phones to USB hubs since George W. Bush’s second term. I’ve been reviewing computers professionally for over 15 years, covering everything from gaming notebooks to his SSDs. So if you want me to buy you a tech gift that I’ll actually love and use, you need to do your homework instead of jumping on the first Black Friday sale you see.
For the love of Jobs and all things holy, please don’t drag me or the tech geeks in your life into these things. Also, if you must do so for any reason, please include a return receipt. That way we can get our money back and put it towards something useful.
Membrane (non-mechanical) keyboard
Artists need tools. That’s why a good keyboard that allows you to type faster and more comfortably is so important. That means you should buy a mechanical keyboard with high-quality switches that are either clicky, linear (smooth descents), or tactile (bumpy but quiet). I’m very particular about my keyboard and need the Kailh Box White’s clicky switches and beautifully sculpted keycaps to feel comfortable.
Therefore, forcing me or anyone else to buy a non-mechanical (aka membrane) keyboard is completely foolhardy. These cheaply made keyboards don’t have physical switches, but instead have chinky rubber domes and other light parts that make contact with his PCB. It’s like sticking your finger into a bubble popper that kids are playing with 500 times a minute.
Instead of including a return receipt in this box, please include a gift certificate to an orthopedic surgeon to treat your stiff fingers. Or maybe you could pack a claw hammer to put your awful membrane keyboard out of its misery.
Membrane keyboards are often cheaper than mechanical keyboards, but that’s not always the case. Here are some affordable mechanical keyboards.
Third-party SSD or SSD less than 2TB
If you’re an enthusiast shopping around like me, SSD is a solid choice. (See what I did there?) You can never have too much storage. So if you have one SSD, receiving a second girlfriend’s SSD will give you even more space for your media files, games, and apps. If his current SSD is old and slow, a faster SSD may change the experience. Also, if you have a laptop that already has a good SSD (without expansion), you can always take out the gift’s SSD and put it in one of the following: best ssd enclosureuse it as an external backup drive.
However, SSDs are not better than defective ones. Whatever you do, don’t buy his unbranded SSD. It’s my data there, so don’t punish me with a cheap brand drive like KingSpec, Kingsman, Dogfish, Gigastone, Timetec, Somnambulist, etc. Have you ever heard of a sleepwalker called IRL? Are you a sleepwalker? And if you think I’d leave my files on a drive manufactured by one of these companies, you must be falling asleep at the wheel. In the storage space, there are many top SSD brands such as Samsung, WD, SK hynix, Crucial, Solidigm, Corsair, Sabrent, Patriot, and even his MSI.
By the way, don’t bother buying an SSD with less than 2TB capacity. If a person is on a tight budget he can buy himself a 1 TB SSD, but if a power user like me buys he will have to buy 2 TB or even he will have to buy 4 TB. The best choice here is the Samsung 990 Pro. This is the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD and Only $119. But if you want to spend less, the WD SN770 is only $99.
Laptop with 8GB RAM or 256GB storage
In 2008, if you had bought me a laptop with 8 GB of RAM, I would have been very grateful to you. Because back in the days when people were still using Windows XP and Vista, this was a good amount of memory. But over the years, the amount of RAM used by operating systems and popular apps like Chrome has increased significantly. As I type this, I have dozens of tabs open in my browser, and the browser alone is using 7.5 GB of RAM. And that’s before you count operating systems, chat apps, screenshot apps, etc. Today, 16 GB of RAM is the minimum specs a new PC should have, even for my tech-savvy mom.
Also, 256GB of storage used to be enough. My laptop had an 80 GB boot drive, and I remember thinking that was more than enough to run Windows 7. But these days, you shouldn’t consider a laptop with less than 500 GB of storage. Windows and its updates and paging files alone take up less than 500 GB of storage. It’s easy to eat up a lot of your drive before you can install a single application or save a single file. I said above that a 2TB SSD is ideal, but most laptop vendors charge a lot of money for storage, so a little less is fine on a laptop.
So if you’re buying me a laptop, don’t consider one with 8 GB of RAM or 256 GB of storage.Many laptops, especially best ultrabooks and ultraportables, The memory can be soldered to the motherboard, so there is no way to upgrade it after purchase. I might be able to upgrade his SSD on the laptop, but I wouldn’t count on it these days.
It’s embarrassing that companies continue to make 8GB/256GB laptops considering how cheap RAM and storage are. But believe it or not, some of the flashiest models are available with entry-level configurations with such unacceptable specifications. For example, Dell sells $599 configuration The company’s flagship ultrabook, the 8GB/256GB XPS 13, and Apple’s MacBook Air for $1,099 There are only 8GB/256GB.
The best productivity laptop I (or anyone like me) can buy is the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11. This is a great ultraportable that weighs just 2.5 pounds, has a great keyboard, and lasts over 13 hours on a single charge.
Professional monitors below 4K or gaming monitors below 2K
In 2023, 1080p (aka Full HD) is just that. . . 2016. Don’t get me wrong. For a 14-inch laptop screen, 1920 x 1080 pixels is plenty. However, many 6-inch cell phone screens now have higher resolutions, so if you’re buying a desktop monitor, go for at least 4K (3840 x 2160) if productivity is your thing, which will get you there. must be 2K (2560 x 1440). For games.
Why not use 4K for gaming? Ideally, you’ll also have a high-end graphics card that can comfortably game at that resolution.
Consider the pixel density of a 27-inch monitor, which is currently considered a small monitor. It’s only 81 PPI, compared to 163 PPI for a 4K monitor and 108 PPI for a 2K monitor. I love Roy his Lichtenstein as much as the next person, but I don’t want the pixels on my monitor to get so big that my Windows desktop looks like one of his paintings.
And I understand. There are many 1080p gaming monitors with high refresh rates. These might be fine for people looking for a bargain or serious eSports players who need a 400Hz or 500Hz refresh rate. But unless you’re a professional eSports gamer (or one who really aspires to be), you won’t be able to benefit from such fast speeds.
If you purchased a 1080p monitor, please include the receipt. Because you’ll be replacing it with a display with more pixels. Here are some recommended products that you can get at a low price.
soldering iron without stand
If you do a lot of electronic hobby projects like I do, a soldering iron is very important. I love building robots with my son and putting together weird chains of LED lights, microcontrollers, and sensors. If you want to attach pins to your microcontroller or permanently complete the circuit, you will need to solder them.
The good news is that there are many cheap soldering irons on the market. Starter kits are available for $15, but don’t buy a soldering kit that doesn’t come with a sturdy stand or holster to hold your iron.
When I’m soldering, I often have to put the iron down while I’m doing other things, like looking for wires in drawers or checking to see if there’s enough solder in the holes. . Without a stand to secure the iron to the holster, the iron would start rolling around on my work surface, fall into my lap, set something else on fire, and accidentally rub the iron against my body, causing me third-degree burns. You may incur losses. wrist.
I don’t think your gift will buy me a new house if my house burns down, nor will it pay for my emergency room visits or my expenses when I am unable to work due to my burns. So, buy a soldering kit that comes with a sturdy stand that’s heavy and won’t fall over, or buy a third-party stand and put it in a gift box. Here are some great soldering irons with stands.
portable monitor without kickstand
As my colleague Brandon Hill said, there are a lot of things. Why buy a portable monitor? This Black Friday. Portable monitors give you a second screen when you take your laptop with you. If you like working on Raspberry Pi projects, a portable monitor is a great way to connect it to your board, even if it’s on your workbench.
As someone who travels for work and does Pi projects at the same time, I love portable monitors. However, one thing I don’t like about this model is that it doesn’t have a sturdy kickstand, so it falls over easily. For example, Asus’ ZenScreen MB16ACE Save at $140However, there is no built-in stand, so you have to fold the origami-style case back and prop it up. This makes it easy to accidentally knock it over and requires you to keep a case handy.
We recommend using the INNOCN 13.3-inch OLED Portable Monitor instead. It has a built-in kickstand and OLED panel, and supports both USB-C and mini-HDMI connections. There is a 15-inch version, but I prefer a smaller, portable monitor that fits easily in my bag or hotel desk.
PC case without USB-C port
Most PC builders should be able to use newer and better chassis. However, if you buy one, you’ll want to make sure the case has at least one USB-C port on the front or top.
Some of the best PC cases lack this fairly basic feature. However, considering that many devices today use USB-C, having only a Type-A port on the top of the case is unacceptable. What if someone hands me a USB flash drive with a Type-C port and I need to plug it in? Most have Type-A, but not all.
Luckily, there are some great deals on PC cases right now. In the meantime, buy one that looks good and has space for an ATX-sized motherboard.
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