Ho! Ho! Ho!

Since this Christmas has already been spoken for (meaning that our trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong was basically it), I can pretty much let my imagination run wild since there is no requirement that we (OK, me, I suppose) needs to afford any of this! So last night I sat around thinking about what products out there that this Frugal Propellerhead think are just cool and I’d put on my Christmas list if Santa had deep pockets.

We’ll start with computer stuff since that’s what I know the best. We’ll start off with something small, but never-the-less, very cool; the Corsair Survivor flash drive. These things are made of aircraft grade aluminum and sealed to pretty much survive any kind of abuse you want to give it. As often as I tend to lose them, I kind of think that the size and weight might be a bit of an advantage.

Then there’s the darling of the media and probably THE hot tech item this Christmas…. “Tablets”. I like the concept a lot, since the vast majority of what people do on their computers at home would be things that work well in that format. Really, I don’t have a HUGE favorite, since there isn’t much to give between the top contenders. With that being said, I do like the Motorola Xoom though. It just has a nice look and feel, like the iPad without the ridiculous price. The Android 3 OS works well, and build quality is very nice. Bet you thought that I’d say ThinkPad Tablet, didn’t you. Too much money for what it does….right now anyway!

On to the obscure (relatively); the Wacom Cintiq. Most people are at least marginally familiar with digitizer pads, but this is another order above that with a digitizer overlaid on top of a special display so that you can work on your images directly. Unfortunately, very expensive…..like more than a thousand expensive, but very cool though!

While at least peripherally on the topic of photography, I’d love to have a quasi-pocketable camera. The parameters would be that it has a sensor bigger than the typical compact, full manual controls, the ability to take a “real” flash and preferably the ability to change lenses. ……And the winner is??? The Panasonic DMC-GF-1. OK, you are probably saying: what the heck is that? I know, I know; Panasonic struggles with naming products, but trust me, this thing is VERY NICE! If it didn’t cost $800 new and $500 used, I’d already own it! Here’s what it is. It’s a Micro 4/3^rd camera with an interchangeable mount, that’ll not only take the growing list of m4/3^rd lenses, but virtually any other mount lens via adapters courtesy of its phenomenally short “back-spacing”. However, it’s not the ability to mount lots of lens that attracts me since I really only want it to mount one; the 20mm/f 1.7 “pancake lens. It’s fast at f1.7, it’s 23mm depth so extremely slim, making it very pocketable, and very sharp. The build-quality is phenomenal and it’s festooned with traditional dial and button controls that translate well to old fogies like me. This thing is a perfect counterpoint to my beastly D300 DSLR. It’s not hard to figure out why this type of cameras has become so popular in such a short amount of time.

On to audio equipment: if I had my druthers, I’d happily replace everything I own with Rotel. I know it’s expensive, but it’s amazingly underpriced for the performance, plus, the stuff is just so nice looking! Probably my favorite is the RSP-1098 (black-face of course, but the black and silver is nice too) Pre-amp/Processor.

Of course, that means I’d have to have a stack of separate amps as well…..woe is me; I guess somebody has to suffer the fate. This thing is so cool it has a front-panel LCD monitor that you can use for menu items or check on whatever video you are queuing up.

While we’re on the topic of hitting up the big guy in the red suit; I’d want to have a separate system for audio only that had speakers driven by rebuilt Dynaco Mk IV tube monoblock amps for the mains.

The front-end would be fed by a Rega Planar 3 turntable and there’d be a pair of Sennheiser HD600/650 headphones when I don’t feel like running speakers.

Then, the last but not least category, is of course automobiles. In my case, that would be the Audi S4 from the late-90s/early 2000s chassis. This was that short period of time after Audi got their quality control issues resolved, but before they got so impressed with themselves that they lost their minds and started building those A**-UGLY models with the huge grills! Those might be better cars, but I just can’t bring myself to drive an ugly car….even in my imagination.

If you ever wondered what make a run-of-the-mill techno-geek a Frugal Propellerhead, you can see the difference above. Yes, many of these things are pricey, and some could even be considered class-leading, but none of them are the most expensive or even considered excessively price in their class. What they all have in common though is that they are all well-designed, well-built and return great “bang-for-the-buck” for the money…..at least IMHO anyway. Now if we were REALLY dreamin'/wishin'.....there's always the $118,000, R8......

I’d love to hear from any readers on what you guys are thinking is cool and would love for Santa to bring you this year.