24 Last Minute Gift Ideas Under $150

LED Lamp

This stylish LED lamp from Philips can produce any kind of ambient light you might want. The LivingColor LCS5001 (in silver) and LCS5002 (in graphite) offers a remote color ring control that lets you light up your space in any shade you like. It costs $138 and consumes only 7.5 W of electricity.

Electric Screwdriver

These days, you can find strong miniature electric screwdrivers in a third generation. The Skil 2336-02 3.6V iXO Lithium Ion Screwdriver is compact and powerful, and has helped many a Tom’s Hardware staffer out of a jam, when other tools couldn’t do the job. The 3.6 V Lithium Ion battery has helped us assemble countless cabinets and other projects, but weighs under 11 oz (300g). Find this puppy at building supply outlets for under $50 (for example, PlumberSurplus.com sells them for $42).

Programmable Robot

Do you know somebody who loves his soldering iron as much as he likes to program in C? The Arexx Engineering YT-3000 YETI Walking Robot Kit might be just the thing! This kit includes all the necessary software plus an RS-232-based IR transceiver to help him build a walking robotic companion. He can download sample code or his own custom programs into the YT-3000, which ambles about thanks to its two servo-motors. You can purchase this kit from Newark for about $140.

Another Alarm Clock

Here’s another classic, attractive clock radio: this one’s called the Mini-Dolmen, comes in yellow-lime, green, turquoise, and pink, and costs $55 from Unica Home.

Wooden Keyboard

Greybusters makes an usual (and attractive) wood-grain keyboard from pineapple wood. This unit will set you back about $36, plus shipping and handling, from ComputerUniverse.net.

Unique Speaker System

The Creature II 2.1 loudspeaker rig from JBL makes a striking visual impression thanks to its strange, yet flowing, looks. The satellite speakers handle up to 9 W, while the Subwoofer delivers 27 W. The volume control is built into the subwoofer, and you can pick up a set for $75 from Etronics.com.

Runaway Alarm Clock

It’s hard to take the working alarm clock from Nanda called Clock too seriously. That’s because the unit runs away and hides as soon as the alarm goes off! Once it starts beeping, Clocky gives you one change to get up; if you snooze, Clocky rolls off your night stand and goes looking for a hiding hole, beeping all the while. You can only hope it doesn’t get stuck under the bed. Available for $50 at Buy.com.

Inexpensive SSD

Testing at Tom’s has helped to make solid state disks (SSDs) familiar to one and all. You can purchase an OCZ 32GB SSD from EWorldSale.com for a mere $93 (a $20 manufacturer rebate is available until 12/31/2008).

19" LCD

Not all monitors have to be 24-inchers. For normal use, a 19"model can do the job just fine. For the Dell SE198WFP, 19"also means 1440x900 resolution. Pick one up for only $129 at Dell.com.

Blu-ray/HD-DVD Drive

The LG GGC-H20LK is a combination optical drive that plays both Blu-ray and HD-DVD disks, and can burn numerous DVD and CD formats with ease. You can find one of these units for as little as $105 at Mwave.com and help yourself or your favorite HTPC owner to high definition DVD playback at a marvelous price.