Remember that if you are going to buy on-line your time is running out to get the gift in so you can wrap it and send it back out. For me I’ve gone to a mix of gift certificates and aggressive bargain shopping on-line early so by mid month December I can kick back and watch the late shoppers sweat.

Shopping Locations and Deals

One of the initial best places to look for bargains will be Tiger Direct where they are launching a Pink Friday program and selling donated brand new products for 50% off with the proceeds going to fight breast cancer. That’s the proceeds as in all of the money taken in and they will be kicking in another 6 figure donation of cash on their own. I bought several TVs there myself last year and found the experience very good. More information on this can be found here: http://www.technologypundits.com

I noticed (and not to reinvent the wheel) ZDnet put up a nice list of deals at retailers if you want to go out and pick up something right now. Most of what they list is probably more in line with what you’d buy yourself but still it showcases so great prices. You can find that reference here: http://blogs.zdnet.com

Not to be outdone PC Magazine has popped up a link of the Best Black Friday sites. It includes Tiger Direct and a number of sites that specifically track deals across the web. This is for those of you, like me that prefer to let their fingers do the walking and give our legs a break. This site can be found here: http://www.pcmag.com

Flat Panel TVs, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD

Home Theater magazine does a great job with shopping guides for a variety of hardware and a great place to start before shopping for any piece of related hardware. http://www.hometheatermag.com Particularly look for how the TV does with de-interlacing that way you can buy less expensive 1080i hardware and potentially save a ton of money on the peripherals. TVs by Fujitsu, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, and Pioneer most consistently pass this test.

On HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray both formats are basically tied right now with HD-DVD having a bit more momentum. My personal view is if you can get something under $200 it is worth the risk and if you go to Costco you can find the low end 1080i (see TV advice above) Toshiba HD-DVD deck for about $180 and it is a deal. On Blu-Ray the PS3 remains the best deal for that format (it is like getting the game machine for free) and the PS3 is being improved all of the time (it just got a software update that improved up-scaling) though it remains a bit noisy for a true piece of high quality AV gear.

Game Systems

The hot system remains the Wii but it remains is surprising short supply for what is now it’s second Christmas. Generally, on-line expect to pay a $100 or more premium to get one before Christmas. I have found stock at list at Game Stop stores on and off and you might still be lucky before Black Friday but, after that, expect to wait or pay this premium. Both the Xbox and the PS3 are good alternatives thought the Xbox has a vastly better game selection. In the end it may be better to give a gift certificate for this class of product because kids may not be happy with something other than what they initially asked for.

MP3 Players and Accessories

As I write this the new Zune 80 GB player has sold out of most retail stores which kind of surprised the heck out of me. It showcases that video has suddenly become much more interesting and this is where that product shines, it supports more video types which makes loading it much faster than an iPod. The shortage makes it somewhat exclusive but be aware, much like the iPods; if you order it on-line you can have it engraved. That’s the advice here if you want a Zune or iPod for a gift buy it on-line and have it engraved as it makes for a much more memorable gift. If video is hot then the iPod Classic or Zune 80 GB should be your choice. I expect the iPod Touch will add hard drive support next year, or do something else, to address this need, but for now, it is a very expensive product given its limited capacity.

On accessories this is one of those things that increasingly is a personal decision because not all accessories work with all products. In thinking about this if you think they would like an MP3 accessory, unless you know what they want, I’d given them a gift certificate so they can make their own purchase. Prices on this class of product typically drop sharply after Christmas and there should be a number of bargains to be had. One thing that is kind of universal thought is the Solio Universal Hybrid charger which is basically a booster battery with solar panels (3) that can keep your MP3 player running after its battery is normally dead. This thing is really cool.

Digital Picture Frames

This is one of my favorite gifts because you can personalize it with digital pictures and even music to make the experience truly special. I’ve had a lot of good luck with Pandigital http://www.pandigital.net in this regard and their newest frames are LED backlit giving them a very high brightness (won’t get washed out in daylight), long service life (LEDs are expected to last up to 20 years), and relatively low power requirements. A good on-line store is digiframes http://www.digiframes.com as they specialize in these products.

Laptops

Laptops are really personal and are typically requested by name. Several products have risen above the rest this last year as special. First, overall, Lenovo laptops tend to be the most robust and are known for being near bulletproof. If this is for someone that wants the product to be quiet the new Gateway 150XL is by far the quietest notebook I’ve ever had in house and it has an HDMI port so it can be used as a DVD player when you are traveling and want to watch videos on one of the new hotel flat panel TVs (don’t forget an HDMI cable), I recommend you also get the extended battery.. If you want something that pushes the envelope on design and performance the new Dell XPS M1330 stands out in that it can be configured with an LED backlit display and a solid state hard drive (which isn’t cheap by the way) and it was designed to make a MacBook look ugly so it is easy on the eyes. For Tablets the HP Compaq 2710p is the best convertible we’ve had in this year and it reminds me a lot of the original Apple Titanium notebook a lot of metal and one of the coolest keyboard lights I’ve ever seen.

Laptop Accessories

A couple of thoughts the Kensington sd200v USB laptop dock with video is an amazing little product that allows you to keep most of your cables simple (other than power and networking). It is a basically a super USB hub that includes audio and video out. The other product is the StarTech Info Safe external Dual Layer DVD burner. This is for folks who didn’t get a DVD drive or DVD/CD burner for their laptop but want something small enough to carry if they want one on the road. This will pull power from their PC so they can actually watch movies on the road (assuming their battery will hold out or can plug into power) and leave the wall wart at home. The iGo Universal Power supply has to be one of the handiest things in existence if you travel a lot and it will work with most planes that provide 12 volts to the seats. Make sure you get one with enough power to power the gift recipient’s laptops and it is better to guess high, rather than low, when in doubt.

Another product I’ve found to be really cool is the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick. Basically it turns your laptop into a little HD TV and it even has a portable antenna. You can often better shows with this than on the native hotel TV and, coupled with the Gateway 150XL above (and its HDMI port) it makes for a great way to get HD TV onto any HD TV set.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully these are enough ideas to get you though the cycle. If you have any specific questions drop me a line at renderle@enderlegroup.com and I’ll try to get back to you quickly. Good shopping, good luck, and have a wonderful holiday season!!