The Tom's Hardware 2017 Gift Guide

Kingwin Hot Swap Bay

Something more practical, perhaps? This hot swap bay can hold three 2.5/3.5" drives. The drives can be removed without shutting down the PC, making it easy to recover data from a storage device on the fly. It also makes it easy to access multiple drives if you lack sufficient space in your PC case. It's also got a power and drive activity LED, a fan status LED, and a temperature status LED.

Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam

Logitech has become the go-to manufacturer for webcams. The C920 supports 1080p video using H.264 protocols. It also has a built-in microphone, and it comes with a built-in stand to sit snugly on your display. It uses Carl Zeiss optics with premium 20-step autofocus.

Intel Optane Memory Module 32GB

Intel's 32GB Optane memory module can read data at up to 1,350MB/s and write data at 290MB/s. In this configuration, it's highly useful as a cache for slower storage devices (namely HDDs). You can read our Intel Optane Memory review here.

SteelSeries Rival 110

This inexpensive mouse has an 7,200 CPI optical sensor and is relatively light at just 90g. The ambidextrous mouse has a total of six buttons, and it is decorated with RGB LED lights around the scroll wheel and back of the mouse. It should work well for competitive PC gaming or for any other task, and is competitively priced.

Cougar Puri TKL

Cougar designed this tenkeyless keyboard with Cherry MX Red switches and white LED backlights. The LED backlights can be controlled by key commands, negating the need for software. Cougar also provides a protective magnetic cover with this keyboard.

Mini USB Keyboard Vacuum

It doesn't matter how careful you are around your computer, eventually the system's going to get dirty. This mini vacuum is designed primarily for cleaning dust and loose debris out of your keyboard. Although it may not get everything, the vacuum suction mixed with the brush on the end should remove most dirt and dust. If you've had to painstakingly pull every key off your keyboard to clean, you'll quickly see this product's value.


MORE: Best Cases
MORE: Best CPU Cooling

Creative Sound BlasterX H5 Tournament Edition

Creative's Sound BlasterX H5 is a Beyerdynamic's clone, and that heritage gives it excellent quality, but at an attractive price. It uses 50mm neodymium drivers and produces high quality sound. Faux leather is used for the ear cuffs and headband, but we've found them to be light, and comfortable, and they fit very well. They are one of our top gaming headset recommendations.

Creative Sound BlasterX G5

Creative designed this headphone amplifier with its SB-Axx1 multi-core processor to accelerate the decoding of high-end audio. It also has a high-quality Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC and a Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 amplifier chip. This hardware allows the device to provide significantly louder and clearer audio than your average PC.

Sol Republic Bluetooth Headphones

Sol Republic's Bluetooth headphones are designed to be affordable and comfortable. The two earbuds are connected to a soft plastic body that holds the battery, controls, and all other hardware. The body rests on your neck while the headphones are in use, and this keeps the weight of the device from straining your ears. These headphones can be used for up to eight hours on a single charge.


MORE: Best Deals


MORE: Hot Bargains @PurchDeals

Raspberry 3 Pi Model B

The Raspberry Pi is one of the ultimate gifts for tech enthusiasts. You can use it to study software development, and eventually you can use it as a controller for robotic devices. Or if you aren't interested in developing software, you could use it as a lightweight computer for watching videos, browsing the web, or playing Android games. The Raspberry 3 Pi Model B is significantly more powerful than the original Raspberry Pi or the Raspberry Pi 2. It uses a Broadcomm SoC with a quad-core 1.2GHz ARM processor. The SoC uses Broadcom's VideoCore IV graphics processor as well.


MORE: Best CPUs


MORE: Intel & AMD Processor Hierarchy

Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
  • JoeMomma
    I have the Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 128GB. You didn't mention it's main reason for existence. Toughness! It is waterproof to 100 meters and I have seen one dropped from a 10 story building and still work (with a few minor scratches).
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    All flash drives are water proof if you just let them dry out first. Had several get dropped in water over the years and continue to work. Just had to let them dry first.
    Reply
  • elbert
    The steam link is on sale for70% off from steam so its only $14.99.
    http://store.steampowered.com/app/353380/Steam_Link/
    Reply
  • BaRoMeTrIc
    Steam Link is currently 14.99 on Steam. So definitely don't buy it from Amazon.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    ^^Wow that's a serious deal for a Steam Link. SOLD! Price is good through 11/6.

    Regarding gift cards for Steam and whatnot, keep an eye on Groupon and Dealcatcher. Regularly you'll see a discounted offering. Here's an example for a $60 12-month Xbox Live (Gold) membership for $48 that Dealcatcher linked to eBay:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Xbox-LIVE-12-Month-Gold-Membership-for-Xbox-360-XBOX-ONE-/141607184417?rmvSB=true

    But I'll wait for Cyber Monday before buying any tech stuff. Almost always you will get a better deal than the so-called Black Friday "deals" out there.
    Reply
  • Firedrops
    That G13 Gamepad really hurts... I wish they'd update it already, don't want to buy Razer and have yet another background software running.
    Reply
  • lazymangaka
    A 128GB MicroSD card is also a must-have for all of those new Nintendo Switches that will be opened on Christmas morning. The 32GB of internal space goes quickly, especially if you're buying most of the games digitally.
    Reply
  • bloodroses
    Not sure I'd put the SNES Classic Edition in the gift guide list. While it's a neat little device for retrogamers, the thing is harder to find than the Tickle Me Elmo was; outside hiked ebay prices.
    Reply
  • rabbit4me1
    Apparently the clown cars inside I guess cuz the guy that wrote this was really a bozo he has no idea what's out for Christmas and he completely missed the Jedi challenge thingy... Sad and he got paid to do this article
    Reply
  • rabbit4me1
    Apparently the clown car is in sight and this bozo doesn't really know what's hot and not for Christmas in the tech world. He completely missed the Jedi challenge thingy you use the cell phone with that's cool as all get out. Sadly he was paid for this ...sad..
    Reply