The Christmas holidays are upon us and, as we celebrate the birth of the foundation of a religion, we also tend to capitalize, and in turn, be victims of capitalism, during the festivities by participating in the madness that is Christmas gift-giving. Does anyone still remember the saying that it’s “the thought that counts?” Anyway, before I rant on about people not giving a rat’s ass anymore about the feelings of the giver by becoming ultimately selfish and throwing a bitch fit because the recipient did not get exactly what they want, I’ll try to share what I know when it comes to Christmas gift-giving, for the geek you love.

Memory card
No matter how much memory a geek has, it will never be enough. So the safest gift you can give, if you can afford it, is a memory card. You have a bunch of options, too, depending on the form factor your geek prefers. There’s Secure Digital (SD), Multi Media Card (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Compact Flash (CF), USB drives, etc. in capacities ranging from 256MB to 4GB or more. The higher the capacity, the better. But as you go up the capacity range, so does the price. You should not get the highest capacity if you don’t have the budget, but try to give at least a gig of memory. It’s pretty much useless giving something lower than that.

Input devices
A new keyboard or mouse would also be a great gift to the gamer geeks, since they’d be mashing and bashing their way to the final level of the latest PC video game. Nothing annoys a geek most like a spacebar that gets stuck while playing a game. But, make sure you get a really nice keyboard or mouse, as the gamer geek prefers reliability and durability with their input devices. If you can afford a boxed wireless keyboard and mouse, the better, but if you can’t, at least a USB keyboard and mouse will do. And for the graphics geeks, a pen and tablet would be a really, really nice gift, but a bit on the pricey end. Any decent computer shop should carry any of these. If they don’t, run out the door and go to another one that does.

LCD monitor
Nothing compares to playing the latest game or watching a high-def DVD than doing these things on a new and bigger LCD monitor. I watched a DVD once and then when I got an LCD monitor, a 17″ one, I watched it again, and the experience was unreal, its like seeing the movie for the first time. Maria Ozawa is lovelier than when I saw her before. For LCD’s, the bigger, the better. But more pricey. So if you’re going to give your geek this present, make sure you either live with them, or you’re married to them.

A Notebook
It’s not like before that a notebook cost an arm and a leg. There are lots of alternatives to the branded ones, and small companies and manufacturers are making a name for themselves by providing cheap, yet state-of-the-art notebooks. Lesser known brands are cheaper than the popular ones, BUT make sure you get mroe bang for your buck by comparing the technical specs of at least three notebooks before settling on one. If you really want to make sure you get your money’s worth, bring your geek with you. Just make sure you tell your geek the cap on your budget, as geeks tend to add little things that add up. And fast. It’s still pricey though, but it’s a whole lot cheaper than a 42″ LCD monitor.

USB thingies
There are dozens of stuff you can plug in a USB port of a PC or notebook, like a fan, or a bluetooth dongle, or a thumb drive, or a headset. Any computer accessory that you can plug in the USB port is a well-accepted gift.

A coffee maker, with a bag of ground coffee
All geeks are addicted to caffeine, and about 90% drink coffee. The other 10% drink caffeinated water. Well, it’s not accurate, but it gives you a rough, ballpark figure as to how broad my knowledge is. Which is not that broad. Anyway, if you are really on a budget, a coffee maker (single-serve will do), would suffice. But of course, don’t forget to include a bag of ground coffee so your geek can, at least, test your gift. It would be a good idea also to include a person that would make the coffee, as geeks are usually stuck to their chairs with their eyes glued to their monitors.

A chair
Not just a plastic, patio chair, but a nice, ergonomic, reclining computer chair with the seat made of a mesh, not cushion, that allows air through that keeps your geek’s hiney feeling fresh all day long. It also let’s fart go through without lifting one side of your butt.

Collectible Toys
Watch your geek’s eyes light up when they open up their present to find out they just got a 12″ Optimus Prime, or a scale model of Morpheus. It’s not really something to play with, but to cherish and to boost their ego because they own one that is so cool. At least to their eyes. I wouldn’t mind receiving a scale model of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. With Fenrir. Or a scale model of Kaneda from Akira. With his bike.

A portable media player
It comes in various sizes and shapes, with iPod leading it’s clones. It also has different capacities, much like the memory cards. But this one plays audio AND video. Buying cheap means you are risking your money because you won’t be able to test the device properly unless you brought a notebook with you. If you didn’t, then just make sure you keep the receipt, just in case.

A Segway
It will always be part of my Christmas wish list, geeky or not. There’s one displayed at the SM Science Discovery Center at the Mall of Asia, just in case you were wondering what it looks like in real life.

Whatever you decide to give your geek this Christmas, make sure your message is loud and clear. And that message is that you care for them and it is your way of reminding them that you are there for them no matter what. Christmas is a time to rekindle friendships and reforging alliances. Besides, it’s just fair to give something to your personal tech support after bugging the heck out of them the whole year.