PCMag’s First-Ever Gift of the Year Awards: Our Experts Select the Best Tech for Everyone on Your List

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already time to start thinking about your holiday shopping. But what makes for the ultimate gift? To answer this important question, we went to our team of experts, who tirelessly test hundreds of tech products each year, and asked them what they’re thinking of gifting this year and, equally as important, what they’d like to receive. And, given the current state of the world, we’ve kept affordability in mind. The result: a dozen top picks across as many key categories.

What you’ll see below are not necessarily the top products of the year, but the ones we deem particularly gift-worthy. We’ve got the essentials like phones and PCs that just about anyone would appreciate. Plus, a few fun, unexpected choices that are sure to delight.

Our sibling sites are also hosting their own unique Gift of the Year awards. Check out the winners at CNET, Lifehacker, Mashable, Popular Science, and ZDNET for other fantastic holiday present ideas. —Eric Griffith

Laptop Gift of the Year: Dell XPS 13

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Dell)

Looking to buy someone in your life an excellent laptop at an even more excellent price? Dell’s budget-focused reinvention of its iconic XPS laptop is one of the best laptops you can find for under $800. This 13-incher brings most of the luxury features you’ll find in costlier premium laptops, like a sharp, fast, and colorful touch screen, a snappy keyboard, and a slick, thin, and light chassis. It all makes for a worthy PC competitor to Apple’s revolutionary MacBook Neo. We gave the Dell XPS 13 our Editors’ Choice award, and it’s by far the top Windows laptop to gift in 2026. —Joe Osborne

Desktop Gift of the Year: Apple Mac mini M6

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Apple)

The title of Mightiest Mini Desktop goes to the Apple Mac mini with M6. Yes, the memory shortage spurred a sizable price hike over the previous model, but the Mac mini is still the most powerful desktop you can get for less than $1,000. It boasts Apple’s most potent chip yet, which has an upgraded neural coprocessor, more advanced graphics, and faster memory bandwidth. Like most Macs, this one—an Editors’ Choice—is ready for the long haul; it should last your lucky giftee a long time. —Joe Osborne

Phone Gift of the Year: Google Pixel 11

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Google)

With the Pixel 11, Google has slimmed down its Android phone and trimmed the camera bar, making the unit thinner and lighter. Plus, the rear triple cameras have a 50% larger main sensor that captures way more light. On top of that, the Pixel 11 is jam-packed with useful AI tools, including Magic Capture, a smart camera feature that extracts key photos from video, and Magic Cue, an on-screen assistant for instant contextual actions. As a cherry on top, the Google phone offers 19 hours of battery life, so your giftee has no excuse for missing your texts. —Kimberly Gedeon

TV Gift of the Year: Vizio Mini-LED Quantum TV

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Vizio)

The Vizio VQM-series Mini-LED Quantum TV is a dirt-cheap television that punches way above its weight in terms of performance. Its colors are well-balanced, and its picture looks good despite not being particularly bright. Plus, it supports both Apple AirPlay and Google Cast for streaming from your phone, tablet, or computer. This Editors’ Choice set is a great package at under $280 for a 55-inch screen and under $800 for a massive 85-inch screen. —Will Greenwald

Earbuds Gift of the Year: Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Anker)

The Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro midrange earbuds, which deliver effective active noise cancellation and a rich, bass-leaning sound profile for heavy music listeners, would make for the perfect stocking stuffer. They eschew the usual suite of AI tools, but have multipoint Bluetooth for up to three devices and a neat touch-screen charging case that lets you check battery life and switch between sound modes. The buds come in four colors, including pink and blue. —Florence Ion

Smartwatch Gift of the Year: Apple Watch Series 12

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Apple)

The exceptional Apple Watch Series 12 puts the smart in smartwatch thanks to built-in Siri AI, which can answer the wearer’s burning questions. An Editors’ Choice, it has a long-lasting 54-hour battery and is durable enough to withstand dust and full submersion in water. It tracks your health with a brand-new sensing system that regularly checks your heart rate and other vital signs during and between workouts. Plus, this stylish device comes in multiple sizes, materials, and finishes, so you can perfectly tailor the look to fit your giftee. —Andrew Gebhart

Health and Fitness Gift of the Year: Oura Ring 5

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Oura)

The Oura Ring 5, an Editors’ Choice, strikes the perfect balance between a stylish accessory and a useful health tracker. It looks stunning and is comfortable to wear around the clock, thanks to its thin, sleek design that feels practically weightless on the finger. Under the surface, it accurately tracks activity, sleep, and stress. The well-organized app clearly displays holistic, long-term health trends such as cardio capacity and cardiovascular age. Even better, it lasts for over 10 days on a single charge. —Andrew Gebhart

Smart Glasses Gift of the Year: Viture Beast

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Viture)

The Viture Beast is a pair of prism display glasses that you connect to any compatible phone, tablet, or computer via DisplayPort-over-USB-C to project a huge, private screen right in front of your eyes. It’s a personal favorite (and an Editors’ Choice), ideal for working in a coffee shop or watching movies on a flight, and it has built-in head tracking that keeps the virtual screen fixed in front of you as if it were physically there. The glasses also enable ultrawide 32:9 video with compatible devices, which I find vital when I’m trying to write and edit on the go. —Will Greenwald

Ereader Gift of the Year: Onyx Boox Go 6 (Gen 2)

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Onyx Boox)

If you know a power reader who gets their books from all sorts of sources—or just doesn’t want to use Amazon—Onyx Boox’s readers are a great alternative to the Kindle. The Boox Go 6 Gen 2 is a 6-inch ereader that runs on a version of Android, which means it can load virtually any book, comic, document, or manga file format and run a variety of apps. It also has a microSD card slot that lets you expand storage way beyond what any Kindle can handle. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but this is a powerful little E Ink tablet. —Will Greenwald

Smart Home Gift of the Year: Birdfy Feeder Rookie

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Birdfy)

Shopping for your favorite birdwatcher? The Birdfy Feeder Rookie, an Editors’ Choice, should be at the top of your list. It positions a video camera right next to the seed tray and sends video and pictures to a smartphone app whenever a bird stops by for a snack. We like the Rookie because its camera is much better than similarly priced alternatives. It records clear, smooth 30 fps video and captures sharp stills. Make sure to get it with a bundled lifetime subscription; nobody likes getting a gift with a monthly fee. —Jim Fisher

STEM Gift of the Year: DwarfLab Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; DwarfLab)

Now this is an out-of-this-world gift. The DwarfLab Dwarf 3 lives up to its name, including nearly everything a budding astronomer needs in a compact, ultraportable, yet feature-filled smart telescope. The Dwarf 3, which users control entirely via a mobile device, excels at capturing larger objects in the firmament thanks to its wide field of view. Our testing shows it capturing (literally) stellar images even in light-polluted cities. The affordable device weighs only 2.9 pounds and comes with a padded carrying case. (Tripod not included.) —Eric Griffith

Under-$50 Gift of the Year: Razer Reclusa X Mini 65%

(Credit: René Ramos/PCMag; Razer)

If you’re looking for a present for that special nerd in your life and you don’t have a mint to spend, the Razer Reclusa X Mini 65% is our top recommendation. It’s an enthusiast keyboard with finger-pleasing key switches out of the box and customization features for the DIY community, including a hot-swappable board that supports three- and five-pin key switches. This Editors’ Choice is the best budget tenkeyless keyboard you can buy right now. —Zackery Cuevas

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