Gift Guide: What Our Editors Want For Christmas

We see a lot of geeky gear and gadgets in this job, and some of them inspire us to part with our cold hard cash to buy for ourselves. Here’s what’s on our Christmas lists.

Luke Hopewell, Editor, Gizmodo Australia

15-Inch 2.6GHz Retina MacBook Pro with Retina Display

I’m all about practical Christmas gifts. Stuff I can use all year round. Arguably, the thing I use most (besides underwear) is my laptop. I use my personal 2011 11-inch MacBook Air to produce Gizmodo everyday, and the thing is starting to really show the wear of being used 16-hours per day for everything from bashing out breaking news to writing long features and gift guides like this one.

To replace it, I’d probably ask for the 15-inch MacBook Pro. I had to send my review unit of this one back recently and have been trapped in a slower, lower-res experience ever since. It’d make me more productive and work would be much more enjoyable using this 15-inch slab of pretty everyday.

Anyone got a $3199 to spare?

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Angus Kidman, Editor, Lifehacker Australia

Nexus 5

My review Nexus 5 had to go back to Google this week, and it’s only a vague sense of needing to stay “on brand” for Lifehacker and exercise some fiscal restraint in the festive season that has stopped me heading straight onto the Play Store and ordering one. For me, it’s not so much the hardware as the software. KitKat and Google Now work so well; they don’t get in your way, while everything just flows along smoothly. That said, the camera has also made me aware of the shortcomings of my current handset (the BlackBerry Q5). If Santa stuffed a Nexus 5 in my stocking, I would be one very happy boy.
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Chris Jager, Journalist, Lifehacker Australia

Made-To-Order Arcade Machine

My mate recently bought himself a made-to-order arcade machine for his man cave. It’s a proper stand-up cabinet that comes packed with over 12,000 pixel-perfect arcade ROMs, ranging from Robotron: 2084 to Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles: The Arcade Game. My wife is a non-gamer, which makes this a pretty tough sell as a Christmas gift (she would basically never see me again.) And then there’s that price tag of $1700! Still, a man can dream…
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Elly Hart, Night Editor

Z-Bar LED Desk Lamp Generation 3

Stiff necks. RSI. Headaches. Eye strain. Workspace-related health problems like these can be helped — or even prevented — with the right lighting. This aluminium desk lamp extends to over a metre in height, features various levels of dimming, and comes with 42 LEDs that illuminate a large surface area. Just thinking about it is making me feel more productive.

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Danny Allen, Publisher

Ms. Pinky And The Interdimensional Wrecked System

No, it’s not a rare album from a 70s psychedelic rock band… It’s a system for those into making music and it’s going to be my Christmas present to myself. The clever Ms. Pinky devs have crafted a collection of software and time-coded physical vinyl that let you ‘scratch’ digital audio on your computer like it’s pressed to a record.

And there’s a Ms. Pinky Max for Live plug-in for easy integration to my software DAW of choice: Ableton Live. The special time-coded vinyl will sit on my regular Technics direct-drive turntable, but instead of sending musical audio into my PC, time-coded speed/rotation messages are sent to (and interpreted) by the Ms. Pinky software. The result: I get to experiment with scribbles and scratches of and over my own drum loops and productions, in a manner more flexible than more widely known options like The Bridge from Serato.

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Rob Hussey, Web Developer Extroadinaire At Large, Allure Media

Suunto D6i

Dear Santa,
Could I please receive the Suunto D6i dive watch with Wireless Air Integration?
The watch has all the usual essential dive measurements like your depth, time and no decompression time limits but has two fancy extras!

+ It includes wireless air integration so that you can check how much air you have left in your tank without the need for checking your clunky gauges.
+ Plus it also has a 3-axis compass to help me navigate around the underwater worlds, which can be surprisingly easy to get lost in.

Thanks Santa dude!
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