Holiday Buyer's Guide 2006, Part 4: Gifts for Non-Geeks

Western Digital MyBook Essential 250 GB

The 250 GB Western Digital MyBook Essential

It's the holiday season, and we know you're spending time with your family, taking loads of pictures and recording epic-length family videos. But where will you store them? Fortunately, Western Digital is giving you a place to put all of your holiday memories. The Western Digital 250 GB MyBook Essential external hard drive is a great gift for anyone who needs more hard drive space, but doesn't have enough working knowledge or time to install a new internal hard drive.

Shopping for an external hard drive can often be a daunting task - there are many companies out there, all offering similar products with different features. The big selling point for us with the MyBook was its ease of use - it was a cinch to set up. After opening the box you're just a USB plug away from another 250 GB of hard drive space; no messy software installation and configuration required.

Aside from its simplicity, the MyBook also runs cool, works silently, and looks sleek and contemporary in any work or play environment. The outer shell is black, with a large neon green lined power button that you can't miss - and even if you did, the drive turns on and off with your computer.

The MyBook is also quick. Our speed tests clocked the drive at high USB 2.0 performance numbers, which means you won't be sitting around all day waiting for your file transfers between hard drives. The Western Digital MyBook is the perfect gift for anyone this season, whether it's the video editor in your family, the MP3-obsessed college student, or the hardcore gamer who's run out of hard drive space.