Graduation Day, a time to congratulate the young scholar and
not with something dorky like dinner at the surf & turf place you
like -- No, get �em some tech and gift card at a food truck.
I can�t
help with the latter, but I do have 5 great pieces of gear that
won�t kill your budget nor have them turning and rolling their
eyes after they �thank� you.
Here we go.
#5 is so easy.
The Roku LT streaming video box.
This little guy
streams full screen video over broadband to any TV and only
costs about $50.
We�ve loved this one for a long time.
Netflix,
Hulu lus, Amazon, HBO Go, Pandora and more - but no iTunes
support, and it�s best for streaming *services* not great for
streaming the kid�s own collection of pirated media.
And it�s Wi-Fi
only, but that better not be a problem or the grab needs to back
and repeat Tech 101.
#4 Samsung Galaxy Note.
5This is the device that blurs the line
between smartphone and tablet.
5.3-inch HD screen.
Killer for
media, looks a little foolish as a phone, but they�re not gonna
make calls anyway, just text.
It�s 4G for great wireless data
speed and has a excellent 8-megapixel camera.
The size isn�t
for everyone, and abojt the cheapest we can find it right now is
about $560 unlocked.
#3 the 11-inch Apple MacBook Air.
This is really the only
laptop anyone�s talking about right now.
Starting at a grand
its super thin, instant on, huge battery life and much faster than
last year�s model.
And laptops are still a mainstay, even in the
face of trendier smartphones and tablets.
#2 Klipsch Image S4 earphones.
Why do these rank so high in
my list?
Because you can�t go wrong: Everyone needs good
earphones, they work with whatever the grad already owns, have
the highest score of anything on our list -- 9.0 -- and they�re only
$70 street including the prestigious Klipsch name.
This is great
gifting.
#1 choice is a tie: The newest Apple iPad or the Amazon
Kindle Fire.
I put them both in -- not everyone can come up with
$500-$830 bucks for an iPad.
That�s where the $200 Kindle
comes in strong - no apologies needed.
The iPad is the best
tablet out there, but the Kindle Fire is different, not categorically
worse.
And a lot of students still don�t have a tablet at all, but I
can assure you they want one.
Check our whole CNET guide at dadsandgrads.cnet.com.
I�m
Brian Cooley, thanks for watching.
