2020 is a year full of surprises and new beginnings. For us, it is the mark of our entry into the world of Podcasts with Tech & tonic. We want to first thank all of you listeners who have stayed with us and listened to our sometimes meaningless rambles about tech.

We want to thank our supporters, new and old, that has been the kindle in our fires and the motivations we needed when we were wondering if podcasting was the right area to pursue. We have learnt plenty too from our first year and season in podcasting. Of course, we have enjoyed it alongside all our guest too. For that, we also want to thank all of our guests that has appeared on our show and has shown continuous support to our show. We are looking forward to 2021 and a bigger year ahead of us with new contents and expansion to new platforms. 

Back to today’s very special and final episode of the year 2020 though. We explored some shopping ideas for Christmas to prepare us for 2021 and even beyond. We pick some things that we could easily buy online right now to gift, and even keep for yourselves this Christmas and New Year. Here are our top 5 list of things that you can buy for yourself or to gift your loved ones for the year ending celebrations of 2021!

Of course, we are not just going to leave the podcast here alone. We are going to help you decide on your Christmas 2020 shopping options. In no particular order, here are the top 10 things we think you can buy for yourself or gift your loved ones in 2020.

Nintendo Switch (~MYR 1,339 onward)

No, it is not new. But it is fun. The Nintendo Switch revolutionised the portable gaming industry with a highly compact, yet powerful hardware that you can bring around without while keeping games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild running as smooth as butter. It is also the perfect size for you to carry around in your travel pack should you need to bring gaming with you on your year-end holidays. Either that, or something to keep you busy at home.

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The Nintendo Switch go from as low as MYR 1,339 on Shopee. Of course you can get your hands on one from Lazada too. We are looking at local options with proper local support too, so we do not recommend getting one that ships from out of the country. You might be able to get your hands on the Animal Crossing special edition or the Fortnite edition too for a little bit more money. Again, go for reputable dealers.

Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite (MYR 249)

What better way to keep yourself sane than constant exercises? To be fair, I have more than one answer for that; I do not know what I asked that question in the first place. Keeping yourself busy at home is very important at this time though, exercising is one way to keep yourself busy and healthy.

So there is no better gift than a fitness tracker in that case. No, not a Fitbit. Not even a Samsung Galaxy Watch. It is a Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite that will only set you back MYR 249.

The Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite can last up to 9 days on a single charge, more than most fitness trackers can manage. Its 1.4-inch square display gives you all kinds of fitness information and even allows you to keep track of your smartphone notifications. All of that in a package that is priced less than MYR 250.

You can get the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite at this time for MYR 199 exclusively on Lazada. This is the current pre-order price and would be a perfect gift for not just fitness lovers. We do not know when the promotional price would end.

Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam (MYR 539)

Video conference calls are more important now than ever. The thing is, a video call is still not as natural as meeting someone face-to-face. But better video quality will always help. So you need a better webcam than the one that your notebook PC comes with.

You need a Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam for all your video calls. That, or start your own streaming channel, because even streamers love this as their main stream camera. it feeds up to 1080p footage up into the streaming platform and even your video calls, why would they not love it.

Of course, any videographer would tell you to get your lighting set up correctly to make stream and video calls look much better. But starting with a good camera does not hurt at all. The Logitech C920 HD Pro is definitely a good option to start with.

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The Logitech C920 HD Pro is available on both Shopee and Lazada from Logitech themselves, which is definitely a good news. It is originally priced at MYR 539, which may sound like a lot of money for a small webcam. It is now only going for MYR 398.99 though, at least for the time being. It is still not exactly cheap, but this is a perfect upgrade for you, and even your loved ones.

Razer Seiren Mini (MYR 249)

Speaking of video calls and conferences, you need a good mic. Sure, the Logitech C920 HD Pro already has a built-in mic. But you can make your set-up even better with a separate dedicated mic. You can go for the Razer Seiren Mini for something that is relatively inexpensive.

Out-of-the-box, this nifty little mic comes with its own plastic base that you can quickly work with and get things going. It is a USB mic too, so its basically plug and play. There are nearly zero set-up required after that, so you can really get going in 10 seconds when you get your stuff.

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Besides the added benefit of better audio quality in your conference calls, you can use the mic for streaming purposes, or even for podcasts. I know I use it for podcasting. All this, in a package you can just chuck in your bag and worth MYR 249 on Shopee and Lazada. At this price, it is really hard to find a good mic for all those purposes.

DJI Pocket 2 (MYR 1,549 ~ MYR 2,169)

They say the best camera is the one that is accessible to you at the time. Most of the time, that is your smartphone. But what if we tell you that there is an alternative that could really change your video creation experience?

That is the DJI Pocket 2, DJI’s latest small form factor OSMO product. It is super cute, and uber cool in our books. Like its name suggests, it is small enough to fit in your pockets when you need a compact and quick set up for videos and even photos. If you get the Creator Pack, it comes with a whole slew of stuff as well that enhances your experience with it and even help with vlogging and other content creation process.

Who says you need a large gimbal set up to take impressive videos for social media and even YouTube? Nobody said that you need to spend MYR 10,000 and above too, for all these purposes. A package that is smaller than your smartphone and a budget of MYR 2,200 is more than enough.

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We admit, MYR 1,549 is not exactly cheap. It is not something that you can easily buy and giveaway as well. We think that this is perfect for those expecting too though, so shower them with some love. It is also still cheaper than buying a regular camera, and even most mid-range smartphones. You can get the DJI Pocket 2 from DJI’s Official Store on both Shopee and Lazada.

1MORE Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless Headphone (MYR 599)

We recently had a chance to review this piece of kit and was very impressed with the audio quality, build quality, and its overall performance. We do not blame you if you have not heard of the brad before. No, it is not some china product that tries to copy JBL and Jabra products.

The 1MORE brand actually comes from the United States of America (U.S.A.). The 1MORE Dual Drive ANC Pro Wireless Headphones may be built in China, but it exudes the quality expected from an American, or even a European company. Of course those mean nothing if the audio is not great.

To that, we are happy to report that the audio produced from this piece of kit will not disappoint. What might stop you from buying it is probably its price at MYR 599. We promise though though, if you live an active livestyle and do not trust those Truly Wireless type earphones, this is the one for you. You can get yours now exclusively on Lazada.

Sony WF-1000XM3 (MYR 999)

This is our personal favourite when it comes to audio gear. If you ask us to leave every other earphones and headphones at home and only carry one pair of earphones for our travels, we will pick this every single time. No joke, we were so impressed by this device that we actually went out of our way to pre-order these kits.

The Sony WF-1000XM3 is probably the best sounding Truly Wireless Earphones at its price. It is not cheap, to be fair, at MYR 999 retail. It sounds fantastic though. It does a lot of other wireless earphones no justice because the price suddenly looks reasonable when you put on the WF-1000XM3.

Sony also arguable has the best active noise cancelling technology to date. The latest WH-1000XM4 over ear headphones still use the same processing as the WF-1000XM3 as well. That is just a testimony to how good the noise cancelling technology is on the Sony earphones.

We have to say though that this kit is a little on the bulkier side compared to other solutions. Still, we love it, and it is an essential part of our travel kit and gear bag. It can go on and on for 8 hours and the case holds two charges for 24 hours of music playback. Nearly nothing comes close to this pair of earphones.

It is not a new piece of gear though. It is out in the market for over a year already. It is still a highly popular piece of kit for audiophiles even. So if you have any friends claiming to be audiophiles, this is a really good gift for them. At this time too you can get your hands on one from Shopee and Lazada for as low as MYR 749.

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LG XBOOM Go PL5 (MYR 649)

Sticking to the theme of audio, we understand that not everyone likes to have something stuffed into their ear. Thanks to the unique equatorial climate and weather behaviour in this region of the world as well, wearing a pair of over-ear headphones might get uncomfortable thanks to sweat. In that case, you want some good speakers.

In that case, we pick the LG XBOOM Go PL5 Bluetooth speaker with Meridian Audio. “What is Meridian?”, I hear you ask. Meridian is a British firm that dedicates their lives in high-end audio and video solutions. They are more established in the audio world as one of the world’s renown High-Fidelty audio system makers. They do not just let anyone use their name on products. That also means that the LG XBOOM Go PL5 is the real deal.

We have it too, thanks to LG, and we were so impressed by it when we first fire it up, it became our speaker of choice when we go for parties and when we need a wireless speaker to work with in parties and social gatherings. This is truly one small package that packs a lot of punch.

It goes on and on for up to 18 hours as well with the light show. You can either plug audio in via the 3.5mm jack, or even connect it via Bluetooth for convenience. It charges via USB Type-C and is even water resistant. That also means you can safely bring your speaker to the pool to enjoy.

The only issue is that all that goodness does not come cheap. This little pill looking speaker will set you back MYR 649 on retail. Thankfully for the holiday seasons, LG has some promotions going on these punchy little things. You can now get them from LG’s offcial store on Shopee and Lazada for as low as MYR 449.

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Logitech G304 Lightspeed Wireless Mouse (MYR 245)

What is tech without gaming? These days also, every other person can appreciate gaming and the way that small part of the tech world affects the tech world as a whole. Yes, the gaming industry is also a billion dollar industry with growth still predicted to continue. You cannot ignore gaming then.

One of the biggest benefits from the gaming industry is that we can now enjoy products made for gaming and e-sports, but not pay an arm and a leg for it. The improvements made for the gaming industry culminates to the really simple things we take for granted every day on our desks, our mouse.

There are plenty of reasons why you should choose a gaming mouse, especially wireless ones, over regular mouse. For one, latency and stability. Gaming mice like the Logitech G304 Lightspeed gaming mouse you see here are built for not just speed, but accuracy. In eSports and gaming, every second counts, so you want your mouse to respond to your every input as soon as you hit the buttons. Hence, Lightspeed technology from Logitech.

The Logitech G304 Lightspeed wireless gaming mouse made it to our list not just because of its Lightspeed moniker though. It is a rather portable nifty mouse you can even carry around in your work bag. You can take it anywhere and it will not stand out as a gaming mouse too, if you want to be a bit more conspicuous. But it still has the performance to slay your opponents when you need it to.

All these are packed into a package that will set you back MYR 245 on retail. No, that does not sound cheap, because it technically is not. But then again, wireless mice do go for around those prices and even more. Still, you can get it for a steal at MYR 168.99 from Logitech’s official store on Shopee and Lazada this Christmas.

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External HDD/SSD (~myr 150 onward)

If you really do not know what to pick still for your loved ones, the best thing, and the most general thing you can buy for them is an external storage drive. Why? This could be the most versatile thing in our arsenal of gears, and it could be the most crucial at times.

When you work outside a lot, you tend to rely on things that are portable and easily accessible from any device. You also want something reliable, something that will not fail when your own device fails. You want a backup external storage unit.

You can choose between the traditional hard disk drive (HDD) format, or the new age solid state drive (SSD) format. Of course, there are speed differences. But there are some reliability benefits to the older, slower HDDs too. Of course, they are also cheaper.

No matter which type you get from them though, they can appreciate the extra storage and backup space you have given them. They can store more movies now, or rather, you can store more movies to enjoy on various mediums now. You can even back up your smartphone data to your external storage if you want.

The benefit of getting an external storage drive for yourself or your loved ones though is the relatively inexpensive options you can find today. You can find a 1TB sized HDD for less than MYR 150 these days. Of course, if you want to go for something like a Western Digital Passport pre-built external HDD, that is going to cost you a little bit.