Great Holiday Gifts for Mobile Professionals

On the road, at the beach, at the cabin, and in the air, mobile professionals need tools of their trade to create excellence. Without these tools, mobile professionals get frustrated and cannot produce what they make money producing! Holidays are a great time to give the gift of confidence in their professional abilities. Here I talk about the absolute best gifts for the mobile professional in your life.

1. Laptop Computer with Great Screen (Monitor) - Currently, I have a HP Pavilion, with all kinds of bells and whistles, some I haven't even figured out their function yet. The basics are good size screen with great color. I recommend an LCD Widescreen for long lasting functionality and ease of use, not to mention reduced eyestrain. I prefer the 17" LCD monitor to the new Dell 19" widescreen. Seems to me that a screen that wide is meant to be on a desk, and not on your lap. I researched three different models:

Toshiba Satellite A105-S4344 - Promoted as a laptop for the tech savvy, budget minded professional on the go! It has the new processor, the Intel Core™2 Duo, T5500, 1.66GHz, Windows® XP Media Center 2005, Windows Vista™ Premium Ready, and 2048MB. I liked this model, and at $1400 or so, it was not the most expensive comparable model.

The Dell M1210 - This Dell has most of the things that the Toshiba Satellite has, but I really liked the add-on package Dell offers for just $99, with Integrated Mobile Webcam and Mobile Broadband Antenna. Place a computer call to your husband and kids, and chat with them about their day, while you are relaxing with a nice cold margarita on the beach at Acapulco (after your busy day full of business meetings, of course!) Not a bad price, with the whole shebang, at around $1700.

And my choice, the HP Pavilion zv5000 - If I could, I would marry my laptop, I love it so much! Widescreen LCD screen, integrated wireless that works a good distance from the base (at least 120 feet, because I often sit on the bridge over the pond to work), Athlon AMD processor that supposedly lasts longer and doesn't burn out easily, perfect size and structure of the keyboard, and gosh, great graphic capabilities and speed for my photography work! At $1900 including case, accessories and a digital camera (ok, I admit I bought the digital camera separately just because it was sitting next to the laptop on the display and was very cute), the HP Pavilion zv5000 is an awesome workhorse, on the road and at home.

2. Next on my list of great gifts for the mobile professional is something to put that great laptop into, for safety and portability. The Targus TCG717, Rolling Travel Notebook Case is the one! I can not only safely tuck my widescreen laptop and its assorted accessories, including portable printer and file folders in the 717; I can even throw a couple of changes of clothes in! This great laptop case has polyurethane wheels for a smooth and quiet trip, a wonderful three-tiered, telescoping, aluminum locking handle (no more Hunchback of Notre Dame for me!), and a few great, removable accessory pouches (cell phone, CDs/DVDs, and a sizable one for cords, and cameras, or for your user manuals). The thickly padded notebook sleeve in this model fits up to a 17" Widescreen Laptop. The front flap of the case is a zip-down workstation, has mobile accessory storage, business card holder, key clip and pen loops, and offers easy access to your most important files.

Accessory Kits - Power Adapters and Cable/Connection Kits, for the mobile professional, staying connected is important and with a few inexpensive inclusions in their luggage, they can stay connected and stay in touch.

Power Adapter Kit - Power Adapters are inexpensive at around $4 a piece, or you can buy one of the inclusive travel adapter kits for anywhere from $15 to $85. I recommend Brookstone's Universal Travel Power Adapter. This unit has what they call an all-in-one design so your mobile professional doesn't have to carry multiple country-specific travel adapters. The built-in 110V/220V indicator light lets you know any outlet's voltage. It is small and very easy to tuck in the corner of your rolling laptop case, and can be used throughout Europe, Australia, Asia and both North and South America! The cost is just around $25 and I bought the Universal Power Adapter from Brookstone, just to keep my life and luggage lighter, at http://www.brookstone.com.

Cable/Connection Kit - The Ultra-Cord retractable cable kit by Ultra is definitely the best retractable cord kit for any mobile professional. It includes everything you need in a slim line lightweight package-RJ45, RJ11, USB and Firewire cables plus adapters to fit any connection. Each cable has a neat and tidy retractable cord that gets rid of messy tangles and unsightly cable mess. It comes in a nice slim case so your travel professional can slip it into an outside pocket on their laptop case and costs just around $25, for all 13 pieces and case.

For small gifts such as stocking stuffers, consider: a USB Thumb Drive, available almost anywhere, for around $10; a pen and small notepad ($3); an extra memory card for their digital camera ($15); or a small travel pillow for those long flights (or lazy lounging by the pool) for around $9.

Your mobile professional will have many chances to use their new gear, and you will be giving a useful gift!