Sometimes you want to splurge on your friends and family around the holidays—and new gadgets are one of the best ways to do so. Nothing says I love you quite like spending $500 on some potentially life-changing tech.
But when the sky’s the limit on your gift-giving price range, it means you’ve got a basically endless number of potential gifts to buy. Narrowing down your options from the myriad of products available these days can be daunting, even if you’re good at gift-giving. Lucky for you, the Consumer Tech team has done just that. Pick from this list and you’re sure to make anyone in your life happy.
(Product prices were accurate at the time of publishing.)
The coffee lover in your life will thank you endlessly for this one. Learning to make espresso at home can be daunting, but Breville’s Barista Express takes a lot of the guesswork out of doing so. It’s got a built-in burr grinder, too, so it’s really two gifts in one. Give someone a latte and they’ll be caffeinated for a day; give them an espresso machine and they’ll be caffeinated for life. Or however the saying goes.
See Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine at Amazon
Vinyl’s been back in a big way for years now, but chances are there’s someone on your gift list who hasn’t tapped in just yet. There are plenty of budget turntable options available these days, but spending less on one ultimately does lead to a loss in audio quality. Fluance’s RT85N is solid enough for audiophiles to enjoy using it without going for broke. It’s got an elliptical diamond cartridge, a high-density acrylic platter, and an isolated motor to prevent unnecessary vibrations. The simple design will fit perfectly into any home audio setup.
See Fluance RT85N Turntable at Amazon
Sony continues to dominate the digital point-and-shoot market with its Cyber-shot line, and the DSC-RX100 is one of the best around, with a really nice 1-inch sensor and 0.05-second autofocus response. The Zeiss lens is pretty much as sharp as you can get in a pocketable camera, and it shoots excellent video, too, with the ability to hit 960 fps for slow-motion shots. This is a bring-it-everywhere camera; your friend or family member will never want to take iPhone photos again.
See Sony Cyber-shot RX100 at Best Buy
A TV makes an excellent gift, but it can be tough finding one that’s just a generic black rectangle. If you want your TV gift to feel exceptional, check out Samsung’s Frame TVs. When in standby mode, these TVs are meant to look like a framed piece of art, instantly elevating any living room’s home entertainment setup. They feature matte, anti-glare screens that diffuse light and make them look closer to canvas than a TV panel. You can even set them to automatically turn on when you enter a room, and they’ll adjust their warmth and brightness to match the tone set by your living room lighting.
See Samsung Frame TV at Best Buy
Simply put, there is no other laptop available in 2026 that offers as much of a quality experience as the MacBook Neo for this price point. The laptop manages the everyday tasks—whether that’s browsing, streaming, or light editing and gaming—with ease. It sports a bright screen, a solid keyboard, and a surprisingly tactile trackpad with Apple’s usual penchant for quality. If your loved ones are desperate for a new laptop, you cannot go wrong with any of the pretty colors offered by the MacBook Neo.
See MacBook Neo at Amazon
See MacBook Neo at Apple.com
There are so, so many high-refresh-rate OLED monitors kicking around, and you can bet most of them will do you well for a premium experience. However, Alienware’s 5K2K 39-inch ultrawide monitor may be the one that makes the best case yet for curved screens. It’s packed with the latest RGB Stripe and tandem OLED technology to make the screen both bright and legible for all possible needs. Whether for work or pleasure, this gaming monitor makes multi-monitor setups seem extraneous by comparison.
See Alienware AW3926QW Monitor at Best Buy
There are fewer and fewer drones you can easily buy in the U.S. nowadays, but if you’re looking for what’s still the most unique drone experience available today, it’s the Antigravity A1. It’s a drone built with a 360 camera that lets you both capture global footage and see an immersive view with the help of its specialized goggles. The latest version of the A1 also comes in cheaper, with options to fly it around using a wristwatch and the single-handed controller.
See Antigravity A1 Drone at Best Buy
If your giftee is looking for that perfect little gadget to beam their powerpoints at work and the last episodes of Bluey on your kids’ walls, the Aurzen Zip Pro is their best bet. It’s a compact 1080p projector that folds out into a “Z”-like structure. That means you can easily slip it into a backpack. Plus, you only need a USB-C connection to show your content from devices like a Nintendo Switch 2 or for streaming gameplay or your other content.
See ZIP Pro Tri-Fold Projector at Aurzen
For people with limited space, Sonos’ Beam Ultra is everything you want in a soundbar. It’s compact, nice-looking, has good and clear sound, and comes with useful features like night mode for toning down explosions late at night and TV Audio Swap for bouncing audio between your soundbar and Sonos wireless headphones. What really hammers the value home is the ability to play nice with other Sonos speakers, like the Play, for surround sound.
See Sonos Beam Ultra at Amazon
The Matic Robot Vacuum might be expensive, but it’s built differently from competitors. For one, it has a cute cube-like look, which makes it feel reminiscent of Wall-E, but there’s also the more important fact that it uses tech from autonomous cars (RGB cameras instead of LiDAR) to actually see its environment and make decisions in real time, which is a big win for obstacle avoidance. A recent software update that allows users to point to spills and other messes and tell their robot to clean it up makes the Matic a singular value.
See Matic Robot Vacuum at Matic
If you’re looking to really ball out on a gift, there’s arguably not a more extravagant way to do so for any electronic musician in your life than Teenage Engineering’s OP-1. This little machine does a lot: it’s a synthesizer, sampler, and drum machine, and it has the same pristine, iconic look as other Teenage Engineering gadgets. While the original OP-1 is still out there, the Field version has a longer battery life, a thinner frame, and more tape styles.
See Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field at Guitarcenter
There are arguably too many AI features out there right now, but not all of them should be glossed over. JBL’s Bandbox Trio practice amp (the bigger version of its Bandbox Solo) comes with AI features that can strip out vocals and other instruments from songs, allowing you to play/sing along with your own instruments/voice. While the Solo is a good value, the Bandbox Trio is great for anyone who wants to use their amp for practice and playing with other people, since it’s louder and has more inputs.
See JBL BandBox Trio at JBL.com
Despite its tiny size, Apple’s smallest desktop is no puny computer. Its M6 chip has the fastest single-thread performance of any consumer processor to date. With a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine, the M6 chip is more than capable for video editing, 3D modeling, and running local AI models on device. Spec up with more memory and storage, though, because you can’t add more later.
See M6 Mac mini at Amazon
See M6 Mac mini at Apple.com
Apple’s first foldable iPhone is expensive, but it solves many of the issues that Android-based foldable phones still suffer from. Namely, the crease is virtually invisible thanks to the nano-texture layer that also reduces glare. The hinge also allows the iPhone Duo to open into various positions, including tent and mini laptop modes. Apps are still getting updated for the inner screen, but Apple has really thought through optimizing iOS for the two displays.
See iPhone Duo at Apple.com
The king of 360 cameras swooped in this year to overthrow DJI’s popular Osmo Pocket 3 and succeeded. Not only does the Luna Ultra have two lenses (a main and telephoto) for more types of shots, but the screen also detaches so you can use it as a remote from afar. Oh, and the detached screen can also be used as a wireless mic. And with 8K resolution Dolby Vision HDR recording at 30 fps and strong stabilization, the Luna Ultra just blows every other gimbal vlogging camera away.
See Insta360 Luna Ultra at Amazon
The iPhone Duo might be the talk of the town, but if you prefer Android and want a considerably lighter foldable phone, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the best alternative for a passport-sized device. Its 4:3 inner screen is also perfect for watching old TV shows or reading two-page graphic novels that fit the dimensions.
See Galaxy Z Fold 8 at Samsung
See Galaxy Z Fold 8 at Amazon
Source: Gizmodo