Don't skimp on buying the very best tech for your loved ones this holiday. These items are the pinnacle of digital luxury and fun.

I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally for 30 years, more than half of that time with PCMag. I run several special projects including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. I work from my home, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

Every year brings a slew of new products, tech-related and otherwise, that are outright unaffordable. Most of these gadgets are not worth your hard-earned money, not when lower-cost alternatives abound. But, there are exceptions. That's why this holiday gift guide is about worthwhile purchases, no matter the cost.

The products here are standouts by any measure—most were reviewed by PCMag analysts, and are the best you can get in their categories. But, none are cheap. Oh my, no. These will set you back many a shiny penny to put under the tree, menorah, Festivus pole(Opens in a new window) , or non-denominational iconography of your choice.

These gifts are all pretty much guaranteed to make a recipient happy. If you've got someone on your list ready for the best tech that life has to offer, and your budget is close to unlimited, consider these products first.

For iOS Aficionados and Content Creators

Coming at you with a fully loaded price of $1,599 with the maxed out storage, Apple's iPhone 13 Pro Max is the most expensive iPhone you can get now. And the most powerful. It is literally the ultimate mobile content creation machine on the market today. Certainly, it's a big, heavy slab of a phone, but that's all part of having the most powerful CPU available (the Apple A15), four different 12-megapixel cameras (three in back, one in front), a large and long-lasting battery (it runs up to 18 hours), and a gorgeous 120Hz screen. You can get this starting at $1,099, but the upgrades mean you're future-proofed to hold pictures and video enough for years to come.

For Big-Screen Fold-Up Fans on Tech's Cutting Edge

The third generation of this foldable phablet, the Galaxy Z Fold3, when souped up to full capacity for storage, comes in at a whopping $1,899.99. It's expensive, it's heavy, and the cameras could be better. But Fold3 is also the most unique smartphone on the US market. Folded it measures 2.64 by 6.22 by 0.63 inches (HWD) for your pocket, and shows a 6.2-inch screen. Unfolded, you get a 5.04-by-6.22-by-0.25-inch brick with a 7.6-inch screen that's almost square. Fold it up a little and it's a perfect video-meeting or gaming device. Plus, the Fold3 is IPX8 rated against dust and water and supports the S-Pen stylus. Foldable is the future, and the Fold3 is the closest thing to perfecting it we've seen so far.

For Serious Gamers Requiring a Killer Keyboard

Take the already elegantly restyled Alienware 6.5-pound, 17-inch laptop design from a couple of years ago (the M17 R4 looks almost identical to the R3), slam it full of great graphics (an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series) and an optional Cherry MX-developed mechanical keyboard, and you've got a winner, albeit one that will cost you. It starts at $1,812.99 and we maxed out the system to $3,609.99 for testing with a 360Hz refresh-capable HD screen, 32GB RAM, a Core i9-10980HK processor, and a 512GB boot SSD, plus another 1TB of solid-state storage via dual 512GB drives in RAID 0. And outside, it has style to spare. All of which added up to the top recommendation we can make for 17-inch screen laptops this holiday season.

For Gifted Gamers With Limited Desk Space

Desktop PCs come in all shapes and prices these days, but few look as cool as this ultra-quiet tower. That's because Corsair's One a200 is liquid-cooled, so the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X inside is kept cold enough to deliver some stellar gaming performance. The unit we tested was $3,799 with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB Corsair Force MP600 M2 SSD plus a 2TB hard drive; you can't customize it much due to the size. The dimensions of the sculpted-metal tower itself are ultracompact, one that goes back to 2017, measuring 15 by 6.9 by 7.9 inches—that's one-third the size of a typical mid-tower. The front sports ports galore with two zones of RGB color. If the gamer on your list lacks space but wants the ultimate gaming tower anyway, this is the one to get.

Got some more money to spend on the gaming system of your dreams? Maingear's Turbo small-form-factor desktop (it's 12.3 by 6.7 by 14.4 inches) fit a 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor and a 24GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card in our test unit, hiking the price up to $6,456 (from the baseline $2,162). But it offers unparalleled performance and design for that price, a helluva ride if you can afford it.

For Top Notch Imagery in Hard-to-Get Hardware

If you're in the market for the top-of-the-line graphics card for your rig, the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X 24G had the fastest test results we've ever seen in a GPU, and a price to match at $1,750—or it was when we tested it. Amazon lists it(Opens in a new window) now for $2,849 with an 1869 MHz boosted clock speed, or higher depending on who the final re-seller is. Assuming you can even order one; they sell out faster than toilet paper did at the start of COVID-19. That's the current, crazy GPU market for you. But it may be worth a try because the Suprim X 24G is power-hungry, huge (at 13.2 inches long), and wide enough to cover three slots with its triple-fans. And it's also the most powerful card you may ever game on.

For Fans of Flight Sims and Racing Games

Gamers need vivid color and smooth motion to get the most out of their play. A screen with a 1000R curve to its 49 inches offering up a bit more of the surroundings only makes it sweeter. You get all of that in the Odyssey G9, which has a native 240Hz display at 5,120-by-1,440-pixel resolution (that's a 32:9 aspect ratio) in a curve. Most curved monitors have a radius (R) of 1800 to 3800...the lower R number of 1000 means it will surround you all the more. The Samsung "Infinity Core" lighting system sits where the screen attaches to the stand, offering up five different back-lighting effects with up to 52 colors. Plus it has a ton of ports including HDMI, 2 DisplayPorts, and 2 USBs on the back. It's pricey at $1,399.99, but the picture and the specs justify it for serious gamers.

For Style-Conscious Executives On the Go

Typically, adding a 15-inch extra display to your desktop doesn't cost that much, but the espresso is pricier because of the stand and the stylus that works the touchscreen. For that $369, you get a gorgeous, portable, second monitor with great color coverage.

For the Sharpest Image in Online Meetings

Most webcam makers were caught unready for the needs of the newly minted work-from-home hordes in 2020. Dell answered with the UltraSharp Webcam, truly the sharpest webcam you can buy, a sleek, metal cylinder ready for mounting on any monitor capable of full 4K streaming and recording. The image quality is outstanding, as it should be for the price tag of $199. Just be sure you have a separate microphone—Dell didn't build one in.

For Top-Notch Hobbyist and Classroom 3D Prints

A thousand bucks may not seem like much compared with pro 3D printers, but the Original Prusa i3 MK3S+'s focus on the hobbyist justifies the higher price with its improving print-bed leveling, thanks to sturdier parts. The prints are always high-quality, and the printer supports multiple filament types (Nylon, PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, Composite). You can also get this flagship open-frame printer for $749 if you want to put it together yourself. Plus it comes with a real anomaly: a gorgeously printed manual called the 3D Printing Handbook. And a package of Gummi Bears.

For Dedicated Digital Monochrome Photogs

With a lower price than the favorite M10 Monochrom last year, the Q2 from Leica is much the same: It only shoots in black and white. The other difference is, the Q2 Monochrom also shoots video. The compact, classy body on this camera runs $5,955 because inside is a 47-megapixel, full-frame sensor; it just happens to drop the color filter. It even dropped the Leica red dot logo to stay in the realm of monochrome. It's otherwise a twin of the color Q2. And a must for black-and-white enthusiasts.

For Those Requiring True Noise Cancellation

Bose has long been the leader in active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones and the 2021 edition of the QuietComfort line is no different. These true-wireless, Bluetooth 5.1-capable, stereo, over-the-ear headphones still dominate over Apple and Sony's attempts. But the $329 QuietComfort 45 are, simply put, the best on the market. Others might be slightly better for sound quality, but for true ANC this is it—and the sound quality is still pretty great. Get them in black or off-white.

For the Best Smart Workout At Home

After a problematic year for its treadmills, Peloton bounced back with this compact unit called the Tread, measuring 68 by 33 by 62 inches (LWH)—smaller than most sofas—and weighing only 290 pounds. It comes with a $3,065 price tag (that's for delivery and setup) plus $39 per month for classes to get the most out of it. That's still $1,800 less (and 160 pounds less) than the recalled Tread+, with a similar workout experience via the immersive touch screen you watch as you run, jog, or walk. It's sturdy, comfy, and each class comes with safety warnings now to make you feel even more secure as you hit the max speed of 12.5 miles per hour.

Hubble would probably argue that telescope technology has come a long way, but the scopes you can usually put on your deck to check the stars don't seem much different than from Galileo's day. But Vaonis has kicked us into smart telescope territory (or "smart exploration station" as they call it). The company's original scope, called the Stellina(Opens in a new window) , puts a telescope that is part digital camera (with a Sony image sensor) on top of a stable tripod, all in a unit weighing under 25 pounds and measuring 19 by 15 by 4.7 inches. Connect it to a smartphone or tablet and use it to control the view and record or share 6.4-megapixel images of the planets. Multiple users, up to 10, can connect to the Stellina at once. Get it now for a measly $3,999.

For more ideas on what to buy your friends and family, in any price range, keep tabs on PCMag's full holiday gift guide.

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I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally for 30 years, more than half of that time with PCMag. I run several special projects including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. I work from my home, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

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