Good Mac Xmas gift?

I'm looking around for xmas presents for the gf, exploring the possibilities of accesories, programs, etc I could get for her laptop.

She has a 15" MacBook pro, and does alot of work related stuff w/ it (she's in advertising, uses alot of the Adobe CS3 apps).

Any accessories or programs I could get that'd make a good present? I think she's set w/ CS3 so I'm leaning towards accessories rather than programs

thanks!

It sounds like she might be pretty well set up with Mac stuff already. The only thing that comes to mind is a fairly large USB memory stick (8 GB or so) for transferring around those enormous CS3 files. Memory sticks are getting bigger and faster all the time - it is possible that she doesn't have a fairly current one? Always useful!

Wacom tablet? They are a little on the expensive side but nothing beats using a pen for graphic work.

You could approach it a couple ways.

You could ask her for some ideas. Computers are very personal, and it would be easy to get the wrong thing for her. It takes some of the surprise out of it, but then it also takes some of the bad surprise out of it too.

Alternatively, you could get her a gift card from Apple and do some fancy things with how you wrap it. Hmmm... Depending on how much you want to spend on her...

If you have some photos of things you've done together - an outing or even just some goof around time - make an Apple book in iPhoto. You don't have to go for the hard cover. Make a medium size soft cover book, and use that to give her the gift card. Done right, that could be a real hit with her.

I second the Wacom tablet. I couldn't survive without mine.

What about a 24" external monitor?

more RAM?

thanks for the suggestions!

USB memory drive - I like the idea, would make a nice toss in. Are there any brands I should learn towards? avoid?

Wacom table - looked into it, too pricey, wouldn't be for her either.

Gift card - nah, that'd be phoning it in

applebook - can you elaborate? never heard of it before? just a picture album made via iPhoto? seems like a good throw in like the USB drive


she mentioned wanting one of these a while ago iLap but she got one on her own and took a possible layup present away from me. she ended up not being a fan and doesn't use it all that much.

are there any other accessories conducive to somebody who uses their laptop while lying in bed?

Cherokee said:

I second the Wacom tablet. I couldn't survive without mine.

What about a 24" external monitor?

more RAM?

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thanks but a big 'no' on all of those. she's not knee-deep enough in CS3 nor her advertising career to warrant any of those. plus i'm trying to spend $200 at the max

McBayne said:

applebook - can you elaborate? never heard of it before? just a picture album made via iPhoto? seems like a good throw in like the USB drive

Click to expand...

That's it. ^_^

Why not get her something non-work related like maybe a iPod nano? Just a thought.

dacameraman said:

Why not get her something non-work related like maybe a iPod nano? Just a thought.

Click to expand...

that'd be my first idea but she has one.

and i'm not looking for a gift that's necessarily tailored to her work usage of her macbook, just throwing it out incase there was something that'd fit the bill

Does she have a laptop stand? And or a USB light? Good luck finding perfect gift. I'm still working on that myself.

McBayne said:

thanks but a big 'no' on all of those. she's not knee-deep enough in CS3 nor her advertising career to warrant any of those. plus i'm trying to spend $200 at the max

Click to expand...

Well, you don't need to be "knee deep" in CS3 or an advertising career to enjoy any of these gifts.

You can get a Wacom intuos3 4x6 for $199.00

She can be really creative with it. It's an industry standard for Photoshop work.

You can't be really creative with a flash drive. ;D

you can get a portable hard drive if you are looking at more storage then a flash drive.

Maybe you could get her one of those fancy acid free photo albums and a few stickers. So she can put her photos (edited in PS CS3 and printed out) into it and do that scrapbooking thing. It's an idea.

Are the apple photo albums acid free? I remember ages ago Jobs talked about them in a keynote. I dunno if Apple still do them or not.