2020 Gift Guide: Top Computers & Laptops

Gift Guides

Dec 8

Written By Maria Bonacci

2020 Gift Guide: Top Computers & Laptops

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Check out the other great posts in this series: Krafty Planner 2020 Gift Guide Index

Fire HD 8 Plus tablet

If you’re looking to give someone a tablet this Christmas, one of the top picks is the Fire HD Plus Tablet. With this device, you get a lot of technology for an affordable price and it makes a great gift for kids, teens, and adults who want a nice tablet with a lot of entertainment features.

It has an easy to see, sharp quality display on the 8 inch HD screen. Plus, you get great audio and the ability to connect with smart devices. The gift is perfect for those who want a tablet that operates fast, is easy to charge, and has plenty of storage.

It’s a dual-band with plenty of WiFi ability. Plus, you get a lot of storage space. The storage ability on this model has been expanded, so you can get 32 or 64 GB and more if you add a microSD card.

You can get up to 1TB of additional storage if you expand. The quad-core processor is what makes this device deliver the best experience in everything it does for the user. Thanks to the 3 GB RAM, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the internet or streaming entertainment.

It has a powerful battery life that can and will last you the entire day, up to 12 hours of continual use, and with wireless charging, there won’t be any lull in what you choose to do.

You can choose books to read from your digital library, you can chat with friends, or hear your favorite playlist. When you need to charge the device, it can charge completely in less than 4 hours.

During this time, the device will go into what’s called the Show Mode and this is what enables you to use it with Alexa. This means you can find out what the weather is, pull up an app, or direct Alexa to play a song for you.

You can check your Facebook account, use Instagram, watch Prime Video, Netflix, and more. You’ll have access to countless shows or movies along with songs. The device also has a Game Mode that’s popular.

You can also use the tablet to instruct Alexa to call or video call others in your contact list. If you have other smart devices in your home, you can use the tablet to interact with those devices.

If you want to take a look at your budget, get in a workout, or do something creative, you can do that with this device. You can do all of this hands-free.

The device can also be used for video recording using the rear and front-facing cameras.

Get this tablet here: Fire HD Plus

Apple MacBook Air

This holiday season, laptops are one of the most desired gifts. You can find a great laptop for a decent price with the Apple MacBook Air. This is a 13 inch, thin, lightweight laptop at just over 5 pounds that not only runs good but looks good, too.

It delivers a top-notch laptop experience, whatever you’re is doing online, thanks to the high-resolution retina display that boasts True Tone technology. With the power of 4 million pixels, that means that you not only see more colors but that they’re a lot clearer.

This technology relies on sensors that will automatically change the clarity and color of what you see on your screen as well as on the touch bar.

This feature is used so that you get true to life images that look smoother for the best viewing experience. However, you have the option to disable this feature if you desire.

The power of the laptop gives a performance that’s two times faster, thanks to the Intel Core i3 processor. There’s plenty of storage available with this MacBook.

You can have up to 2TB of SSD storage. One of the key features of this model is the new keyboard. It’s designed with a scissor mechanism. This gives the keys better support and makes the keyboard more durable as well as easier to use.

Typing on this kind of keyboard has a more solid feel but without the clicking noise. Plus it has a backlight, so it’s easy to see when you’re in a darker room. This laptop also has a fingerprint ID, which is called Touch ID to log in.

This is a feature that gives an added level of security for users. Plus, it’s convenient and faster to simply touch the laptop rather than having to type out a password.

The laptop has decent stereo speakers that offer more bass and greater volume. These speakers are good for use with entertainment options and more.

The device has a built-in three microphone array and an HD camera and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The reason this is a great feature has to do with the connection experience.

They perform like USB-C cables so that when you charge the device or want to move any data, it’s quicker and easier.

This MacBook also has what’s called the Force Touch trackpad. This trackpad has sensors that let you click all over the trackpad for faster use rather than having to click within a specific area. This device also has Bluetooth capability.

Get this laptop here: Apple MacBook Air

Acer Aspire

Technology products are always one of the bestselling categories when it comes to gift-giving and there’s probably someone on your shopping list who wants a new desktop computer this year.

Buying a desktop doesn’t mean that you have to spend a lot of money if you want to find a quality machine that performs well without going over budget. Quality and saving money is what you can get with the Acer Aspire Desktop.

This model can handle a multitude of tasks. It’s a great choice for teens, college students, entertainment, and everyday home use. It has the Windows 10 operating system and comes with anti-virus software installed.

A top-selling feature of this computer is the durability of it. One of the reasons that this machine is so reliable has to do with the Intel Core i5-10400 processor. With this type of processor, you don’t run into slow loading issues or having the machine bogging down when multiple apps are open.

Plus, this lets the desktop boot up in just seconds when you turn it on. This feature is what gives the machine its speed and makes it one of the top desktops on the market. Having a powerful processor means that the computer can hold its own in any performance test even against more expensive desktops.

It comes with 12GB of memory, so it can hold a lot of data. It also means that it can handle graphics, gaming, and more with ease. Plus, this storage is expandable. One of the top-selling features for this desktop is its connectivity ability.

It has Wi-Fi 6, which means it’s the latest upgraded version for connectivity, translating into faster speed when you’re online. That also means that if you’re doing something like transferring data or creating task heavy operations like using or creating video, the desktop will still react quickly to user commands.

The desktop has an 8X DVD-RW and another star in the pros column for this computer is the number of ports that it has. It offers 2 USB 2.0 ports as well as 5 USB 3.0 ports. It’s also Bluetooth compatible.

It boasts high-def audio for whatever you want to listen to, thanks to the 5.1 channel surround sound. It also has both headphone and microphone jacks for private listening or for something like video conferencing.

The design itself is slim, so it won’t take up a lot of space wherever it’s placed. It’s great for small apartments or dorm rooms.

It comes with a USB keyboard and mouse, but some people choose to upgrade both of these for ones that are more customizable or offer more features.

Get this computer here: Acer Aspire Desktop

Lenovo Flex 5, 2-in-1 Laptop

Think convertibility when you’re planning to buy a laptop for someone on your shopping list this holiday season. When you have a laptop that’s adaptable to any of your surroundings, you get one that’s ultra-portable and convenient.

Lenovo’s Flex laptop has a lot of different positions it can transform to, thanks to the flexible, yet sturdy 360-degree hinge. You’ll have the ability to fold the laptop just the way you prefer to use it.

You can stand it up easel style, tilt the screen backward or position it to perform like a tablet. When you use it as a touchscreen, you can use the included Lenovo Active Pen.

Normally, such a versatile hinge would have to come with a laptop that’s clunky and weighs a lot, but this one isn’t built that way. It barely weighs over 3 pounds.

Keeping the weight down is due in part to the lightweight chassis the laptop has. Instead of being designed with heavy metal on the sides and top, this one is made with a plastic coating, which enables it to be lighter than many laptops and that makes it perfectly portable.

It doesn’t skimp on power despite being lightweight. The power behind the laptop is thanks to the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor. That means you get plenty of ability to handle whatever you’re doing along with quick reaction time to commands.

This enables the laptop to be used for gaming as well as everyday tasks. The laptop also offers plenty of connectivity features. You’ll have access to an HDMI port as well as a USB port and audio jack.

Plus, the laptop also has USB 3.1 Type-A ports. To turn the device on, it powers up using the button on the side. The only drawback is that it’s easy to push that button if you push your hand into the side while lifting the device.

The laptop supports Bluetooth and also has a pretty decent webcam. The webcam has the ability to handle solid video creation for whatever you’re doing, making it comparable to more expensive laptops.

There are no high-end abilities with the webcam, such as facial recognition, but there is a great safety feature that a lot of users like. Whenever someone doesn’t want the webcam on, they can use the privacy shutter to make sure they’re not accidentally sharing their lives online.

Another great safety feature is that the keyboard has the ability to log users in by fingerprint rather than having to enter a password. The speakers for this model are 2 watts, which equals just over 90 decibels, which means the sound is comparable to people loudly talking. The laptop charges quickly and gives you as much as 10 hours of battery usage.

Get this laptop here: Lenovo’s Flex laptop

Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop

If there’s one piece of equipment that matters in the gaming world, it’s a gaming laptop. The performance of this can determine how well the games are played and the more powerful the laptop, the better the gaming experience will be.

The Acer Gaming laptop offers affordable quality for even the most serious of gamers. It has a sharp design, and on the lid of the machine, a look that’s both edgy and appealing - thanks to the Predator logo.

The bottom of the laptop is designed so that it doesn’t get too hot to hold. What sets this system apart from others like it on the market has to do with the Nvidia GeForce GTX. You get the power of the new, quicker GDDR6, which translates into better speed and greater memory over previous graphics cards.

Another feature offered by this laptop has to do with the frame rate. The higher this is, the better the greater the quality gamers will see in the games without blurring. You get a high-end frame rate experience using this laptop, but without the high end cost.

The refresh rate for the laptop is an impressive 144Hz, which keeps the frames sharp.

The machine has solid, immersive audio that uses MAXX power so that you can hear the sounds broadcast in your games.

Second to the performance of a gaming laptop is that laptop’s keyboard and Acer doesn’t disappoint in this area, either. It has a 4 Zone RGB keyboard that is backlit. One of the keys is the Turbo option, and what this does is kick on the laptop’s dual fans when you’re pulling more from the graphics.

Because these fans are powerful, when they’re firing, gamers will want to use headphones. Another key on the keyboard that gamers will want to make use of is the PredatorSense key.

This key helps you to create unique gameplay by adjusting the speed of the fan, your game profiles, and more. You’ll find that the keys are quiet and well-spaced and the laptop has a reactive trackpad.

It also has what’s called the Killer DoubleShot, which means that the system will decide what has access to faster networking. It gives more importance to tasks that demand more power from a connection, such as gaming.

The next thing that’s important in a gaming laptop is the power of the battery. Acer has designed this laptop to give more playing time without slowing the frame rate. The amount of time you’ll have is going to depend on the different demands you’re putting on the system. There are plenty of ports for connections. You’ll have use of HDMI 2.0 as well as USB 3.1 ports.

Get this gaming laptop here: The Acer Gaming laptop