10 December 2004
by Noah Kravitz
Reviews Editor

Yes, it's another holiday gift guide. Another Mac-Centric gift guide, even. I'll keep this short and sweet -- a couple of can't-miss items each in a bunch of Mac-related categories. You're bound to find something here for someone on your list ... and a few things for yourself, too.

Systems

iBook G4 - $999 and up, Apple
Our collective fingers here at PBC are crossed in hopes that Apple will be taking the wraps off the new PowerBook G5 in a few weeks at MacWorld San Francisco. That being said, we can't leave road warriors in the cold this holiday season. I bought an iBook G4 12" for my own use back in June and I still love it. Given its more than ample processing speed, and great battery life, durability, and price point, I couldn't justify forgoing the iBook in favor of spending more on a PowerBook. The new revision models feature integrated Airport Extreme connectivity standard, and the $999 12" entry-level offering sports a 1.2GHz processor and built-in Combo Drive. Hard to beat that for less than a grand.

iMac G5 17" - $1,299, Apple
I know, I know, this is a PowerBook site. But I can't help myself. See, I have a tiny, tiny workspace in the corner of the computer lab where I teach (my full-time day job), and our Business Office needed a laptop for a new hire. So we decided to give the newbie the iBook G3 I'd been using and buy me a spanking new iMac G5. I love it. Not only do I have a gorgeous, bright 17" widescreen with a really pretty good integrated sound system (and optical audio out), and a blazing fast G5 processor to play with, but I also got half my desk back. If Apple would just stick a TV tuner and El Gato's PVR software in these things already, we might just be looking at the future of productivity and home entertainment wrapped up in a two-inch thin package. Imagine a 30-inch model for $2,499 (or even $2,999). Hang it on your wall, connect it to your cable/sattelite TV feed and surround sound speaker system, and keep a wireless keyboard/mouse and media remote by the couch. You'd be the coolest cat on your block.

Audio/Video

DVX-POD 7010 Portable Media Center - $599, AMA Technologies
This one's strictly for early adopters: For 600 clams it should have a 60 GB hard drive, not the 20 GB'er that's actually in there, and I really wish it supported MPEG-2 video for easier transfer of DVD footage. That being said, the DVX-POD is as close to an iPod Video as you'll get until Steve-O decides it's time to bring moving pictures to the Apple faithful. DVX-POD's 7" widescreen display is bright and sharp, on-the-fly a/v encoding allows you to record TV shows using the built-in timer (quasi-PVR) function, and the USB 2.0 port lets you drag and drop files between the POD and your Mac with ease. The POD is a little big for those of us used to our iPods, but it's also guaranteed to have geeky strangers convinced you're either a high-up in Cupertino or a very cool spy from a far-off time and place.

iPod 40 GB - $399, Apple
The iPod Photo is silly and not worth the money. The iPod mini is cute, but doesn't hold enough data for hardcore music junkies (which most anyone is bound to become once they get ahold of an iPod of their own). Apple just forced a nifty conceptual artist's take on the U2 Edition iPod off of eBay, so that's out, too. Go with the original: The 4G models are the thinnest yet and the click wheel makes me jealous everytime I see it (though I still love my trusty 3G Pod). If you're going to lay out 300 clams for the 20 gig version, anyway, double your storage capacity for an extra $100. You can always use the extra storage space to cart around photos, video, and other documents just like a secret agent.

EyeHome - $199, El Gato
Streaming media around a home network shows a lot of promise, and there's no doubt in my mind that computers will soon be at the core of our home entertainment systems. I'm still not quite satisfied with what's out there in the media server/receiver marketplace, mainly because I don't like the idea of having a Mac running server software in one room just so I can listen to music in another room. UK company Hermstedt's Hifidelio integrates a CD player/burner with an 80GB hard drive and network connectivity and won a Best of Show award at the recent MacExpo London, but it's not yet available stateside. That being said, El Gato's EyeHome is the best digital media player I've tested to date. EyeHome handles all flavors of iTunes audio save for those darned DRM-managed AAC files, and it integrates with the rest of "your iLife" (iPhoto, iMovie, etc) near-seamlessly. EyeHome also plays extremely well with El Gato's EyeTV, which is just about the only PVR solution out there for Mac users. For $199 EyeHome should come with wireless connectivity built-in, but it's easy enough to hook it up to an Airport Express or less expensive wireless AP client.

Laptop Accessories

Marham Portfolio - $129, InCase
This is one crazy laptop bag. Beyond fitted protection for your Mac and a detachable shoulder strap, it's got pockets and sleeves for literally every accessory you can think of, from CDs to portable hard drives, and jump drives to paper hard copies. Plus, it's got an integrated pocket for your iPod with a little cutout to thread your earphone cord through so you can enjoy your tunes while the Pod stays safe and sound tucked away with your laptop. Available to fit all sizes of PowerBooks and iBooks.

Laptop, Shoulder, iPod, and Messenger Bags - Varying Prices, Waterfield Designs (l) and Tom Bihn (r)

There are a lot of computer bags out there. Heck, the iPod alone has spawned an entire cottage industry devoted to sleeves and cases. These two West Coast of the USA shops consistently turn out some of the best designed and constructed offerings to keep your gear safe and you looking good. Having recently shopped for a laptop bag as a present for someone, I know what a personal choice it can be, so I won't dare to recommend a particular model. Tom Bihn makes a cool T-Shirt, too. Browse the sites for yourself, and don't be shy about asking the experts for advice -- nice folks man both shops. And tell 'em Noah from PowerBook Central sent you...

iPod Accessories

ER-6i isolator Earphones - $149, Etymotic Research (l) and EARS EM3 Earphones - $99, Future Sonics (r)

Earlier this year I reviewed Future Sonics' EARS earphones and proclaimed them, "The best iPod earphones ever." Given their cost, portability, and excellent performance, they truly were the best earphones I'd come across to recommend to iPod users. At that time I hadn't yet tried a pair of "Etys." About a month ago, the good folk at Etymotic Research sent me a pair of their special edition ER-6i isolater phones color-coordinated to match your Pod. Now I know what the kid at the bookstore meant a few months ago when he implored me to, "Get the Etys. Get the Etys." You really can't go wrong with either set of earphones for that special someone on your shopping list. The EARS might be my slight favorite when it comes to straight-up performance (I tend to listen to a lot of rock, r&b/funk, and electronica) but it's virtually a toss-up. Both systems do an excellent job of blocking outside noise, which is key to immersing you in your tunes. The Etys come with two sets of ear sleeves, foam and flanged rubber, and the flanged tips make for the most comfortable earbuds I've tried to date (The EARS' foam sleeves aren't bad at all, but the Etys rubber caps are much better for jogging, trips to the gym, or long airplane flights - sweat and other moisture dries foam out over time, see). Both systems use standard 1/8" stereo minijack connectors, so of course they'll work with your PowerBook, iBook, iMac, and most anything else you might want to use them with. So it might just come down to this: The Etys are cooler looking. The EARS are $50 cheaper.

Allofmp3 Gift Certficates - $1/GB, Allofmp3.com
Allofmp3.com is kind of like iTunes plus on-the-fly encoding of music in your choice of file format and bitrates, minus the DRM encoding, and for about 1/10th the cost. Seriously, U2's new album can be had in 192Kbps AAC format for a little under one US dollar. Of course, the legality of the site has a lot to do with behind-the-times Russian and international copyright laws and it's hard to say if and when Apple, the RIAA, or Metallica might send a crew of lawyers out to Siberia to try and shut the service down Sydney Bristow-style. That being said, give the gift of music on the cheap and geek chic this year (at your own risk).

Goodies on the Cheap

discHub - $11.99, discHub
This is one of those things I thought was silly until I held one in my hand. I still think it's kind of silly, but in a cool design object sort of way. Which, according to my own screwy logic, means I actually have come to like it quite a bit and think it would make a nice gift for someone worth 12 of your hard-earned dollars. Plus, the more of you use these things, the fewer scratched up discs I'm bound to get from Netflix next year. discHub holds 11 CDs or DVDs safe and sound in between layers of neoprene. No more scuffs, no more scratches. And six neato color schemes, to boot.

Cassette Adapter CPA-9C - $20, Sony
Forget all those newfangled FM transmitters that don't work so well in urban areas, anyway. Hook your iPod into your car stereo the old-fashioned way with a cassette adapter like this one from Sony. The simulacrum-of-a-cassette styling is the perfect nouveau-retro compliment to your simulacrum-of-a-CD-collection digital music player, and the 1/8" minijack plugs right into your iPod, iPod mini, iPod Photo, PowerBook, iBook, and most anything else on the planet that's small and plays music or voice recordings. The bonus car charger won't do much for your Apple gear's power needs, but you can always re-gift it to your favorite audio luddite.

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Noah Kravitz runs the Technology and Culture blog Threebase.com. He is an educator, musician, and writer who now lives in Oakland, CA and is the author of Teaching and Learning with Technology.