Holiday Gift category_ide 2010: Top tech gifts under $100

Times are tough and the chances of you getting (or giving) a fully-equipped laptop with all the extras this holiday season are about as slim as the new MacBook Air.
You can say that again! I have a very special relationship with my MacBook Air because the person who gave me my first one turned out to be a real selfish jerk and took it back!! Thus, I waited until they came out with a new version and bought one myself!

But don’t despair. There are still plenty of cool gadgets out there that cost around $100 or less.

The five products I selected here–the new Apple TV, a pocket camcorder, a Logitech HD Webcam, TomTom’s entry-level GPS and a Wacom tablet–all make great gifts, but they really just scratch the surface.

Times are tough, and the chance of you getting a pricey laptop this holiday season is as slim as a MacBook Air. Here’s a list of cool gadgets that cost around $100 or less.

Apple TV
This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the original.

Flip UltraHD pocket camcorder
HD pocket camcorders have become a popular category, with solid models available not only from Pure Digital, which makes the Flip and is now part of Cisco, but also from the likes of Kodak and Sony.

The Logitech C510 HD Webcam
At around $60, the Logitech C510 HD webcam is an inexpensive upgrade for laptops (or desktops) that lack an integrated Webcam or have an older VGA camera.
The C510 has a 2-megapixel image sensor that is capable of capturing 720p video or still images. The camera comes with its own video chat software, but it also works well with Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Google Chat.

TomTom Ease GPS
TomTom’s entry-level GPS doesn’t have the bells and whistles of more expensive PNDs, but it will get you from point A to point B, and it has some nice features you wouldn’t expect in a unit that can easily be found at places such as Target for less than $100.

Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch
Long before touchscreens made it big, Wacom was cranking out professional tablets for designers and digital artists. Not surprisingly, the company is pretty good at it.

I hope you are all as lucky as I am to have wonderful and generous friends and family this holiday season!