This holiday season, as with previous years, the hottest gifts will be electronics, including video games, digital media players, gadgets and computer related equipment and software. Here are some tips for choosing the best electronics gifts for your loved ones:
Televisions
With prices continuing to fall, it seems everyone is upgrading to a new LCD or plasma HDTV. A brand new HDTV is a great gift idea for a wife to give to her husband or for adult children to get for their parents. Before jumping into such a large purchase, however, consider whether the home has HDTV access or whether you’ll need to also upgrade to a better cable or satellite package or install an over the air antenna setup to receive HDTV signals. Also consider where the TV will be placed in the home, some homes may not have room on a wall for such a large screen. In this case, you may consider a smaller screen and also consider buying them a stand to place the TV on. Consider the size of the screen as well, HDTV’s range from 32 inches, all the way up to 60 inches and higher. The larger the room, the larger the TV it will be able to accommodate. Top rated models include Samsung’s LCD LN-T3253H (32″), Panasonic’s plasma model TH-42PZ700U (42″) and the Sony KDL-46XBR4 LCD (46″).
Digital Media Players
Digital media players are certainly the hottest electronics gifts over the last few years. They have evolved from white plastic card deck style players that only played one type of media and that had clunky navigation and low battery life, to slender, sleek and sexy players with advanced navigation, superior ease of use and the ability to play or display many types of media, including music, movies, TV shows, games and photos. The most advanced type of player is the iPod Touch, which not only acts as a media player, but can also surf the web, play games, send email along with many other functions. However, the budget conscious gift giver is not left out, as with the innovations come price drops on earlier models. When choosing a digital media player, consider the tech savvy of the user. Will ease of use be a major concern? If it is, Apple’s iPod line has the best reputation for ease of use. Also consider the size of the person’s music library, will they have enough room should they want to place all their music on the player? If someone has a smaller music library, a 2-10 GB player should suffice. If they have a large music collection, consider getting them a roomier player, from 30GB and up. Consider the usage of the player, will the person be using it while running or exercising at the gym? Then consider a flash based player, like the iPod Shuffle, which will be sturdier than hard drive based players.
Video Game Systems
With video game systems, you have the big consoles, the XBOX 360, the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. You also have the handheld consoles, the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS Lite. When choosing a video game system, consider the age of the recipient. For families, the best choice would be a Nintendo Wii, with it’s abundance of family friendly games and ease of gameplay. For hardcore gamers, teens and older males, the choice would be either the XBOX 360 or the Playstation 3. With it’s better range and availability of quality game titles, the XBOX 360 should be the choice for most people. For hardcore gamers, the Playstation 3 would likely be the better choice. For older gamers, puzzle enthusiasts, kids, and really, just about anyone, consider the Nintendo DS Lite. It has a vast selection of games appropriate for any age, tons of puzzle games, casino games, role playing games, racing games and much more. It’s also easy to use. The Nintendo DS Lite is also an appropriate gift for seniors, with it’s array of self improvement titles like Brain Age, Flash Focus, Big Brain Academy, among others. For teens, consider the PSP, with it’s games and media capabilities.
Video Games
When you have chosen a video game console as a gift, don’t forget to get them some games! Hot games for various consoles include Halo 3, Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and BioShock among many others. Check reviews at sites like GameTab.com and make sure the game is age appropriate.