Hardware Canucks Christmas Wishlist

Steve's (sswilson) List

So it's that time of the year again, and unless you're a total Grinch, chances are there's going to be some form of gift giving/receiving going on in the near future. If you're like me, seasonal gifts need to be something either completely frivolous, or if practical, something the recipient would never consider buying for themselves. There might be an empty space on the kitchen counter where a toaster oven would be a perfect fit, but please, for the sake of family unity, resist the urge to fill that space until you find one at your favorite boxing day sale.


For Geeks on a Budget
Product: CJ7 Dog Doll MP3 Player with Built-in Speakers
Price: $18 (USD)
Details: CJ7 Dog Doll MP3 Player

In what will be a theme for my picks this year, all of my choices have been influenced by input from HWC members during the past year. Earlier this summer somebody posted a link to a Hong Kong company called "dealextreme" which offered great prices on all manner of gadgets, as well as free shipping to anywhere in North America.

While perusing the site I came across this little MP3 player which I feel will make the perfect gift for any young(ish) Anime fan. Not only does it fall into the "it's so ugly it's cute" category, I can almost guarantee this unique gift will be a one-of when it comes to comparing this year's haul. C'mon... how many other folks are going to get a dog shaped MP3 player that connects to the usb port through that particular location?


For the Hardware Geek
Product: Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower
Price: Price Compare
Details: Cooler Master - Ultimate provider of Computer Chassis

Usually at this time of year there's a clear must-have upgrade path for computer enthusiasts, but this season's offerings have left me waiting in the wings. Intel may have just released i7, but I've never been an early adopter and would much rather wait until the bugs are gone, and prices come down. AMD is making a few noises about their soon-to-be-released Phenom II quad cores, but once again I'm more inclined to let the dust settle before committing to a new (to me) platform.

With that in mind... I'm thinking that a quality case under the tree would be just the ticket for those winter blues while I wait for a new platform to tickle my fancy. A case might seem too practical for my own gift giving/recieving philosophy, but for somebody who'd never consider shelling out the cash for higher end gear, the pleasure of working with a full tower case fits the bill to a T, and those who already have a quality case might feel moving to newer one would be frivolous.

I started salivating over Coolermasters's HAF 932 Full tower case about a week after I finished my Cosmos S internal WC build. Don't get me wrong, I still love my current case, but the HAF offers everything I had been looking for in a case at a clear discount over what the Cosmos S cost me. Once AkG's review (Cooler Master HAF 932 Case Review) hit the street I was even more smitten. Who wouldn't want a case with great Air cooling, excellent options for internal WC installs, well considered cable management, and a rear cut-away CPU socket access? If that wasn't enough, the option to install the PSU in either top or bottom configurations is brilliant.

For the Geek Who Has it All
Product: Murderbox PC
Price: Starting at $4000
Details: murderbox

I've always questioned the value of boutique build computers. To me there didn't seem to be a lot of value-added content for ridiculously priced gear. Top it all off, most of these builds seemed to be comprised of cherry picked consumer parts thrown together into a fancy case without much thought of how it all fit together. Mid November one of our members changed my opinion by offering us a peek into the workings of what a boutique build should look like.

Murderbox ( murderbox ) leaves no doubt as to what kind of value-added content can be had for a price. Everything about it screams attention to detail. In fact, it looks like they locked an engineer and a designer into a room without a chance to get out until they got it right. Component placement is bang on, sleeving looks amazing (including sleeved WC tubing if you want), and the customized Silverstone TJ07 (available as a stand-alone purchase) could easily win "top of show" at any lan party. For the true geek in us, the coup de gras has to be the water cooling loop. Anybody who's ever put a custom loop together will appreciate how clean this installation looks. All in all, if I were to hire a team to put together my dream rig, I doubt very much they could come up with something that looks any better than one of these.

But wait... there's one more little tidbit that adds all the more sweetness to the mix... not only does the murderbox look great, its creator Charles Harwood is a fellow Canuck based somewhere out on the Wet Coast! Sounds like a great chance to help out with our flagging economy.

If I've convinced you that you've got to have one of these beasts, better ensure that your credit card is clear. Prices start at around $4,200 CDN, work their way up to over $8,200, and word on the street is that they're open to suggestions so I suppose the upper end might only be limited by how high your credit limit is.