Appletell

How can you really show your mom that you love her this Mother’s Day?  With an Apple product, of course!  So if you’re wondering what you can get for the rapidly approaching May 11th, look no more, you can find it all here!

1) Mom’s love photos and memories, so get her an Apple photo book! You know how the saying goes, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Gather up all those old memories from this year and put them together in a nice, high quality book that your mother can cherish forever.  Plus, Apple is making it even easier with 20% of photo books just by using the promo code “LoveMom.” Just make sure you order in time so the books makes it for Mother’s Day.

2) Introduce them to the tech world with an iPod Shuffle! Only $49 and coming in five separate colors, an iPod Shuffle is the perfect way to show your mom you love her.  You can load it with all of her favorites songs before you give it to her and really make her smile, too!  Not only that, but they are extremely portable, light weight, and make for good fashion statements.

3) Keep in touch with a new Mac!:  If money isn’t a factor, go ahead and get her a new computer.  With the iSight camera and Leopard, it is easier than ever to have a great time video chatting.  She will thinks it’s awesome and you’ll have fun doing it, what more could you ask for on Mother’s Day?

4) If home made is more your style, use iLife! All Macs come with great pre-installed editing software.  If you want to give your mom something truly from the heart, make her a movie or slideshow with her favorites pictures and clips.  They love to see that you took the time to create something wonderful for them.

5) If your mom already has all the above, give her the gift of Apple with a gift card!:  Whether it be for iTunes or the store, everyone loves have the freedom to spend their money one what they want.  Get your mother a gift card and allow her to choose something for herself.  You can always find something at the Apple Store to spend some money on.

It’s a little late for Hanukkah, but for those of you who celebrate Christmas or have a winter birthday, or know someone who does, here are my top picks for gifts from Apple. Of course, any of their computers would be a great gift, but that goes without saying. So this guide focuses on accessories, and smaller gifts you can get the existing Mac user on your list.

Top Pick: The Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. This keyboard is SO awesome. When they first came out with this keyboard, I did not like the idea of no number pad at all. But then I went into the Apple Store, and then and there my mind was change. This thing is so thin, so sleek, so small, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to want one. The only person who will not want it is anyone who relies on their number pad.I learned fairly quickly to go without it, but there are some who may not be able to (though they might want the wired version, which retails for $49 and has the number pad.) The keyboard runs $79 at Apple’s Online Store, and barely cheaper elsewhere.  Paired with Pick No. 2, the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse, it will make an excellently neat desktop.

Pick Two: Apple Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. By itself, it is nothing remarkable. Just a Mighty Mouse with no tail. But if you are going to get your loved one a Wireless Keyboard, get them the Wireless Mighty Mouse too. They make an excellent couple. Priced a $69 at the Apple Store (and $59 for a refurbished version), you might be able to pick one up for a bit cheaper on eBay.

Pick Three: Got an aspiring, or maybe an already aspired editor around? Give them Final Cut Express HD. It’s a great value for the price (only $199, cut down impressively from last version’s price of $399), and it sports most elements of a pro video application, but takes out the extra advanced features that consumers would likely never touch. If you know someone who is constrained by iMovie, and wants to go higher, Final Cut Express is the gift for them.

Pick Four: An external hard drive. Prices on these just go lower an lower. Though you can buy from Apple, you can get them much cheaper elsewhere, especially newegg.com. Buy an external hard drive for someone who has Leopard but no drive to use Time machine with. Or perhaps get one as a companion to Mac OS X Leopard. Generally, you should get a hard drive larger than twice the size of their computer’s internal hard drive. So if they have a 160 GB hard drive, get a 320 GB. 500 GB really seems to be the sweet spot in terms of the amount of storage for the least amount of money. Go for one of them if you can.

Pick Five: Altec Lansing FX6021 - 2.1 Speakers Though pricey, these things sound crazy good. And they look crazy good. And they go with pretty much any Mac setup. Did I mention they look crazy good? Price, as I said, is hefty, at $249. But I think if you give it to the Mac Enthusiast among you, they’ll be darn happy.

Runners-Up: iLife ‘08, iWork ‘08, Microsoft Office for Mac (they have a sweet deal going on right now), iPod Dock, and of course, the all knowing Apple Gift Card.