6 awesome and cheap last minute gifts for the technophile in your life

Oh no, just look at the date. You’ve left it a little late again, haven’t you? That might as well be me soliloquizing in the mirror.

It’s not a fun prospect: hunting for a Christmas gift through the jungle that is the local mall, or scrolling pages upon pages just to find that one great deal that won’t empty and burn your credit card. All the gifts mentioned below are under R300.

This Christmas gift shopping thing isn’t easy, but we’re here to help.

Below are a list of simple but awesome little last minute Christmas gifts for those in your life that enjoy the odd gadget and gizmo.

And if you don’t quite have a silicon-blooded individual in your life, you could probably buy one of these for them anyway.

So, without wasting another fleeting moment, here are our 6 awesome, but cheap last minute gifts, the price and where you can snatch them. But you should probably act quickly, because time is a-ticking.

Romoss Sailing 2 5200mAh Power Bank

Price: R263 at Takealot

I can’t think of anyone I know who hasn’t desired one of these bad boys, especially in the wake of South Africa’s energy crisis. It’s a rather large power bank crafted by Romoss — a company that’s vested in the power storage business. The large capacity Samsung battery cell will allow for users of smartphones, tablets and pretty much any device that allows microUSB charging, to juice up for up to three times in some cases. It also charges Apple products, and doesn’t look half bad either.

Everki Laptop Backpack

Price: R249 at Kalahari

There aren’t too many technophiles who don’t enjoy lugging their gadgets around with them. This is especially true if they own a gaming laptop or partake in a paranormal number of flights per year. The Everki Laptop Backpack is the baby of the range but can still swallow a 17.3″ laptop with ease. It also has mountains of storage space for things like cables, drives, business cards and text books, so college kids or business executives can enjoy its versatility.

Lava Lamps

Price: R100 at Game

You can’t really go wrong with something aesthetically pleasing for the techie’s desk, so a trip back to the Seventies with a cool lava lamp will be greatly appreciated. Of course, these things do use power but they do look brilliant on a desk at night alongside a computer with the same glowing hue. These versions are available in red or yellow, but we’re sure that other stores also stock these.

Fellowes Deluxe Laptop Screen Cleaning Kit

Price: R289.90 at Incredible Connection

This might seem like a bit of an insult (akin to someone buying you deodorant for you birthday, but it’s not at all. If anything, a clean laptop (or computer in general) is a happy laptop. Cleaning the machine is also paramount to keeping bacteria off the keyboard and screen, which becomes something of a hazard during those winter months. The Fellows Deluxe is a pretty comprehensive screen cleaning kit too, featuring anti-static liquid spray, a microfibre cloth, a fine-haired brush for keyboards and screen edges and a USB cleaning tool, which cleans dirty USB port pins.

Skullcandy Smokin in-ear earphones

Price: R189 at Nivo Interactive

Skullcandy is quite a respected name in terms of personal audio accessories and its Smokin range is one of the best sellers. It’s fashionable, provides great sound and is relatively cheap. The silicone tips provide noise-cancellation which is perfect for noisy spaces while there’s also a microphone built in to allow its user to take calls. And it also comes with a fair degree of street credibility too. If the pink examples aren’t to your secret Santa victim’s fancy, there are a host of additional colours and styles, including a rather over-the-top “Rasta” variant.

Deepcool N2600 Bamboo Notebook Cooler

Price: R289 at Zaps Online

Lastly, the most fashionable idea in this lineup is courtesy of the world’s spate of overheating laptops. The Deepcool N2600 is probably the most stylish laptop cooler out there, and laptop users (and laptops for that matter) will be happy to know that this thing is rather efficient too. Featuring two 140mm fans, two USB ports and a power switch, it’s practical and handsomely good looking. Of course, it might privileged form over function too much for the avid gamer, but it’s definitely environmental friendly, and something we’d love to find in our Christmas stockings.

Conclusion

Of course, these are just a few ideas we’ve managed to come up with in the office. There are hundreds of possible things to get a technophile, including very basic yet geeky items like personalised mugs with Star Wars characters emblazoned on them, or practical items like a USB hub or desk cable management solutions.

The key is, with any gift, is to buy it with the heart, not the wallet. And from the team at Gearburn, we wish all our readers a wonderful festive season.

Let us know what geeky gift you bought for your loved one this season in the comments section below.

Feature image: Mike Mozart via Flickr