So you’ve just gotten your bonus and you have no idea what to spend it on. Should you splurge on a good meal? Take the missus for a romantic getaway? Buy the kid a toy?
We suggest being selfish and buying yourself a new toy. Find out what gadget’s best to blow your year-end bonus on with our handy little guide.
Kindle Fire
Do better than just getting an e-book reader. Get one that lets you watch movies, use apps, play games, listen to music and surf the web on top of just reading e-books. The Kindle Fire from Amazon, powered by its own cloud-accelerated web browser, is going for US$199 excluding shipping online.
Microsoft’s Arc Mouse
There’s just one word for this mouse: cool. It might not be as efficient at headshots as your gaming-specific peripherals, but it’s wicked awesome, and taking it out in front of a geek girl is like Bond holding his ubiquitous shaken-not-stirred martini glass. Her pants will come off fast, we promise.
And you can fold this thing, too.
Prices start at S$89 at major IT retailers islandwide.
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Forget the iPad2, everyone has that. Go instead for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a sleek, handsome handful touted as the best non-Apple tablet available. It’s smaller than the iPad, can run Flash, and accepts external memory cards. Also, it runs on Android. What’s not to love?
From S$848 at electronics retailers islandwide.
Nintendo 3DS
The 3DS is a steal at its new discounted price, and the array of games being made available every day is stunning. The only downside to this is that you can’t avoid paying for games the way you could with a Nintendo DS and a R4 card. That’s where the bulk of your bonus will go… but it’s worth it!
At S$269 by itself from game stores islandwide!
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Lenovo IdeaPad U300 Ultrabook
This ultrabook has an understated beauty to it. Seeing it on the table in the meeting room is a bit like watching a gorgeous lady with perfect lipstick drink her coffee at a random café. But enough with the lovesick musing – this 1.32kg light and 14.9mm thin ultrabook boots up in about ten seconds, and is a powerful little thing with its eight hours of battery life.
It’s expensive, but well worth the splurge: the i5 version starts at S$1,899.
Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
A sleek universal remote like no other, the Harmony remote features activity-based control that, once setup online, makes all your technological needs accessible through the press of a single button. Expect to be able control the volume, channel, playback controls and more of difference devices.
Compatible with over 5,000 brands and 225,000 devices, this is a steal at S$399 for that special couch potato in your life. Alright so it’s a little steep for just a multi-remote controller, but imagine having only ONE instead of the three to five sitting on your coffee table.
Sonos Play: 3
A wireless speaker system that also doubles as a streaming hub? We’re sold. The Sonos Play: 3 allows users to stream songs from smartphones, tablets and computers, and gives you access to more than 10,000 internet radio stations to boot. It’s compatible with iTunes and supports not just audio formats, but also lossless Flac files.
It even has a remote app for the iOS and Android. It comes at a recommended price of US$299.
Gunnar Eyewear
We never thought we’d see the day, but here it is: spectacles (or eyewear if you want to be sophisticated) that enhance your computer viewing experience. The Gunnar range for eyewear caters to mere computer users to hardcore gamers, and its yellow tinted lenses promise enhanced detail for clearer vision, visual endurance and decreased eye fatigue, among many things. Oh, and they’re prescription compatible!
Prices start at US$79. You’ll have to order online.
Vioguard UVKB50 Self-Sanitising Keyboard
Remember when the news broke of that study that said keyboards were even more germ-infested than women’s handbags? While some of us have been obsessively washing our hands after each keystroke, there are others who’ve done one better. Meet the Vioguard self-sanitising keyboard, a sleek machine that bathes its attached keyboard with germicidal ultraviolet light automatically when not being used. Ultraviolet or UV-C light is a well-known disinfectant, and is capable of killing more than 99.9% of harmful microorganisms within seconds.
It is for use in investigational situations only though, so you might want to have a story ready when you call their HQ for a price quote.
