For many South Africans, the festive season is a time for giving and receiving gifts.
Tech gadgets such as smart devices, gaming consoles, earphones, and gaming peripherals can make excellent presents.
We investigated cool tech gadgets for gift ideas and settled on ten that cover a range of budgets.
Below is a range of gadgets you could buy for yourself, or as a gift for a friend or family member.
MacBook Pro 16-inch (M1 Max 1TB) — R65,199
Apple launched the new MacBook Pro in October 2021, bringing back the HDMI port, SD card reader, MagSafe charging, and USB-C ports.
This laptop comes with Apple’s most powerful MacBook processor, the M1 Max, as well as 1TB of solid-state storage.
The M1 Max offers performance that is twice as fast as the previous Intel Core i9 model, and up to 2.5x times faster performance than the model with the Radeon 5600m graphics.
DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone Flymore Combo — R24,999
The DJI Air 2S Drone can record footage in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps) and 5.4K resolution at 30fps.
The drone boasts vibrant footage, even in low-light, thanks to its high dynamic range, high resolution, and accurate colour reproduction.
It can achieve maximum speeds of 38.4 kilometres per hour and has a flight time of up to 31 minutes.
Nintendo Switch – OLED Model — R7,999
The new Nintendo Switch offers a 7-inch OLED display and 64GB of internal storage.
While offering several improvements over its predecessors, the OLED model still provides three modes — a tablet mode, handheld mode, and TV mode.
Some of the games you can look forward to playing on the Nintendo Switch OLED model include Fortnite, Minecraft, The Witcher 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 Earphones — R6,749
Sennheiser says these earbuds produce the best listening experience, which can be adjusted with the new smart control app.
The buds offer a battery life of 7 hours, which can be extended to 28hours by charging them through the charging case.
The active noise cancellation combined with passive noise isolation allows users to listen to high-quality music, podcasts, audiobooks, and calls, even in noisy environments.
Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic (R890) BT Smartwatch (46mm) — R7,398
Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 4 in August 2021, boasting larger displays and impressive features such as optical heart-rate sensing, electrical heart-rate sensing, and bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Through bioelectrical impedance analysis, Galaxy Watch 4 users can measure their body fat percentage (or body composition) through the watch itself.
“Users can monitor their blood pressure, detect an AFib irregular heartbeat, measure their blood oxygen level, and, for the first time, calculate their body composition,” Samsung said at the launch.
Corsair K100 RGB Optical-Mechanical Wired Corsair OPX Switch Keyboard — R4,245
The Corsair K100 is an optical-mechanical gaming keyboard with the company’s own OPX RGB key switches.
The keyboard boasts Axon hyper-processing technology, which Corsair says delivers user inputs up to four times faster.
It has a durable aluminium frame and features Corsair’s iCue control wheel to switch apps and skip tracks quickly.
JBL Charge 5 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker — R2,699
The JBL Charge 5 is a portable Bluetooth speaker that is both IP67 waterproof and dustproof.
JBL’s latest Charge model offers significant improvements over the Charge 4, including a 20mm dome tweeter, 40W power bank output, and USB-C charging.
The Charge 5 also features Bluetooth 5.1 and can connect to multiple other JBL speakers through the company’s PartyBoost system.
Amazon Echo 4th Gen Smart Home Hub — R1,916
The Amazon Echo 4th generation combines premium sound, a ZigBee smart home hub, and a temperature sensor, promising seamless control of your connected electronics.
Thanks to the ZigBee smart control system, the Echo 4th generation is a hub for other smart devices that use the ZigBee standard.
The Echo 4th generation is easy to set up, and the device is made from 50% recycled plastic, 100% recycled fabric, and 100% recycled die-cast aluminium.
MECOOL KM2 Android 10 Media TV Smart Box — R1,288
The Mecool KM2 media box offers streaming in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with HDR10 and HDR10+ support.
With 2GB of RAM and a quad-core 1.8GHz processor, the device is smooth to navigate and offers impressive performance.
The media box is Google Certified and comes pre-installed with essentials such as Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube.
Hydroponic Smart garden — R989
The Hydroponic Smart Garden makes growing herbs and microgreens indoors possible all year round.
Each unit features power and water indicators, and a LED light source with a timer.
The Hydroponic Smart Garden comes with a growing media, fertiliser, and seeds. Users can grow herbs and microgreens such as Mint, Corriander, Basil, and different kinds of lettuce.
