The Tom's Hardware 2017 Gift Guide

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I have the Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 128GB. You didn't mention it's main reason for existence. Toughness! It is waterproof to 100 meters and I have seen one dropped from a 10 story building and still work (with a few minor scratches).
 
^^Wow that's a serious deal for a Steam Link. SOLD! Price is good through 11/6.

Regarding gift cards for Steam and whatnot, keep an eye on Groupon and Dealcatcher. Regularly you'll see a discounted offering. Here's an example for a $60 12-month Xbox Live (Gold) membership for $48 that Dealcatcher linked to eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Xbox-LIVE-12-Month-Gold-Membership-for-Xbox-360-XBOX-ONE-/141607184417?rmvSB=true

But I'll wait for Cyber Monday before buying any tech stuff. Almost always you will get a better deal than the so-called Black Friday "deals" out there.
 
That G13 Gamepad really hurts... I wish they'd update it already, don't want to buy Razer and have yet another background software running.
 
A 128GB MicroSD card is also a must-have for all of those new Nintendo Switches that will be opened on Christmas morning. The 32GB of internal space goes quickly, especially if you're buying most of the games digitally.
 
Not sure I'd put the SNES Classic Edition in the gift guide list. While it's a neat little device for retrogamers, the thing is harder to find than the Tickle Me Elmo was; outside hiked ebay prices.
 
Apparently the clown cars inside I guess cuz the guy that wrote this was really a bozo he has no idea what's out for Christmas and he completely missed the Jedi challenge thingy... Sad and he got paid to do this article
 
Apparently the clown car is in sight and this bozo doesn't really know what's hot and not for Christmas in the tech world. He completely missed the Jedi challenge thingy you use the cell phone with that's cool as all get out. Sadly he was paid for this ...sad..
 
The Logitech G13 is currently selling for $57.95 on Amazon. Not sure where the inflated price in this article came from.
 


It's not, really when you consider what it is: a two-in-one device. It is a portable console that can be used either on an HDTV like a PS4 or XB1, or it can be taken on an airplane and played with as a hand held device. For $300 (US - Amazon) I consider that a fair price. The only fault I see is that they don't have many games out yet for it. But that never stopped Sony from launching their latest Playstations either.
 


I agree that the Switch isn't that bad of a price at all. It's priced competitively with the PS4 and XB1. The SNES Classic isn't that bad of a price either; if looking at retail. He might be noticing the gouged online prices of that device.
 
One item I'm kind of surprised not to see on this list, although it's not computer based but is geeky cool: The Lego Snowspeeder. I'm not even a huge Star Wars fan myself, but still think that kit is pretty neat since I build Lego kits as a hobby. That $200 price tag is hard to swallow though.
 


Yeah and unfortunately the trend for smart phones (Android) these days is going away with allowing a memory upgrade with a micro-SD card. I think it's a conspiracy between all the Android phone makers to force people to pay more up front for more memory. Years ago I bought a 64GB mSD card for my 2011-era 32GB Motorola Razr (16GB internal, 16GB mSD card) giving it a whopping 96GB memory. Had that phone not become outdated, I'd still be using it as a phone. But it's still a backup video and camera device and I have about 20GB left in storage compared to only having 4GB left on my 32GB Samsung Note 5. It's real aggravating not having enough memory to have home videos and movies simultaneously in storage at my fingertip on demand.
 


That's why I went with a Motorola phone over Apple, Google, or Samsung phones. They at least have sdcard expansion ports in them. I ended up going with the Moto Z Play; just because it actually has a headphone jack that so many others want to get rid of as well. It sucks the industry is turning more and more into forcing what they 'think' you want instead of actually listening to their customers. The next thing you know, they'll try to convince (force) you into thinking you don't need to make calls anymore with your cell phone and remove that functionality as well....
 
^^ +1. You nailed it. There's a movie that Kevin Costner was in about building a baseball field (Field Of Dreams). The classic line in it was "If you build it, they will come." I may go back to Motorola, but at the time I was not happy with my carrier dropping updated Android OS support for it (Verizon) after three years. The phone worked perfectly through 2014 and was 4G/LTE, so it wasn't like it was out of date with the current cell tower tech at the time. I did have to replace the battery however and they are getting harder and harder to find.

In any event, I'm due for a phone update (I'm on T-Mobile now) next year and looking at alternatives. Being memory upgradable will be high on my priority list. I'll start keeping an eye on Motorola again and what they'll be releasing next year. Their Moto Z2 Force did catch my eye when released back in the summer, but I'm sure they'll have replacement model next year. I do not take paying the same amount for a phone that I can get a nice laptop for very lightly.
 
I personally have been using Xiaomi phones for the last few years. My Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 cost just $130 in 2015, had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC, 2GB of DDR3, 16GB of storage, aluminum body, 1080p screen, 4050mAh battery. That had an SD card slot, but was unfortunately limited to 32GB cards.

My new phone, the Xiaomi Mi6, came with the Snapdragon 835, 6GB LPDDR4X, 128GB UFS 2.1 storage, ceramic back, and it cost just $430. It doesn't have an SD slot, but with 128GB of storage I don't really feel I need it. As it was on sale, that was the least expensive model of the phone available too.
 
I got G13 last year and it's actually pretty great! I also use a Xbone controller, no issues with one or the other, though the G13 is far more flexible with customization.

It has a STEEP learning curve, I got through that by playing the Mass Effect Trilogy and Dragon Age Origins with it. Once I fiddled with what I liked it was awesome. Honestly, it has spoiled me a little, and it is not easy going back to a standard KB/M setup.

The screen is a bit of a gimmick. When I am not playing games it displays me RSS feeds, which is what helps keep me in the loop with Tom's Hardware.
 
There were definitely a couple good gift ideas on there. I like the Lithium rechargeable batteries. Dremel. Air compressor. Solar powered charge bank.
 
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