The Olympian

As the holiday season gets underway, people are beginning to go Christmas shopping.
While the malls are crowding with people rushing to buy all the gifts their loved
ones asked for it is inevitable that some people won’t know what to buy.
When asked, many Olympic College students tried to alleviate this problem by telling
their friends and family what they wanted most for Christmas. Items like laptops, digital
cameras, Guitar Hero III, the iPod Touch and snowboards were highly coveted. Below
are the results, in no particular order.

DIGITAL CAMERA

Digital cameras are another hot item for the average college student’s wish
list.
Alex Ballard, an OC student of photography, said he wants a digital camera
so he can take better pictures.
“I like photography,” said Ballard, “The camera I have now isn’t very
nice.”
The Circuit City and Best Buy Web sites have a variety of digital cameras
for consumers to pick from. Most cameras range from approximately $200 to
$500, depending on their features.
Both sites have a user rating system where consumers can rate the quality
of each product by giving it from one to five stars with one star represents the
worst and five stars representing the best.
Circuit City and Best Buy both have cameras for sale that consumers have
given a five-star-rating. One such camera, featured at Circuit City, is the stainless
steel Nikon CoolPix S700 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera.
The Nikon camera costs $400 and has a variety the features. It has a quick
response with a shutter delay of only 5 milliseconds, making it harder to miss
a shot. In addition, it has a zoom feature, an optical image stabilizer, a red-eye
remover and many other capabilities.
A Best Buy five-star rated cameras is the black Canon PowerShot 12.1MP
Digital Camera at $500.
The Canon’s features include the capability of capturing high-resolution
images up to 4000 x 3000 pixels, a zoom function, a scratch resistant PureColor
LCD II monitor, and more.

LAPTOP

Convenience has led OC students to put laptops at the top of their Christmas wish
lists.
“(Laptops) are more convenient than going to a normal computer,” said student
Travis Alatalo. “Your can take it where you want. Plus, it can be used in class.”
OC Student Amanda Watland wants a laptop for her future educational goals.
“I am going to be transferring to a university,” Watland said. “I will want to use a
laptop to do my homework on the ferry.”
The Best Buy Web site has four different categories of laptops: the basic, thin and
light, entertainment and business laptops.
The basic laptops function for basic computing needs. They often come with
Windows Vista and cost from approximately $430 to $800.
The thin and light laptops are made to be easily transported and cost anywhere
between $400 and $2,500.
The entertainment laptops have an array of different features designed for recreation.
Some have high definition widescreen video playing capabilities while others
have the option of playing Blu-Ray discs. With Windows Vista and a large amount
of memory installed on most systems for gaming needs, these computers cost anywhere
between $700 and $2,800. The business laptops are designed for professional
use. This category of Best Buy’s selection could be very useful for students and cost
from approximately $750 to $2,000.
According to the Apple Web site, the MacBook has a starting price of $1,099.

IPOD TOUCH

OC student Dylan Nordstrom likes all of the features that the iPod Touch
has and wants one for Christmas.
“It is cooler than the regular iPod and with the touch screen, it is easier to
use,” Nordstrom said. “I really like how it is wireless and you can download
directly onto it.”
Steve Boyde, also an OC student, said he would love to put all his music,
videos and anything else he could on one.
The Apple Web site advertises that with the iPod Touch, one can get “music,
videos, photos and Web sites in 8GB and 16GB models starting at $299.”
As Nordstrom said, a touch screen controls the iPod Touch and its wireless
capabilities enable a user to access the iTunes store with a Wi-Fi connection.
The iTunes store is not the only thing on the web that users can access with
the Wi-Fi. The entire Internet is available with Safari as a browser.
The Apple Web site also has a display of the 3.5 inch widescreen video
capabilities of the iPod Touch. Users can watch movies, music videos and
cover flows in this fashion.
With the Internet capabilities and widescreen video display, YouTube videos
can be watched on this “first-ever Wi-Fi iPod.”

SNOWBOARD

Some OC students want Christmas presents that can help then get away and have
fun during the break.
For example, Lanen Partlow would like a snowboard.
“I need (a snowboard) for my Christmas vacation,” Partlow said. “We are going to
Sun Peaks in Canada.”
Partlow isn’t the only one that wants a snowboard. Fellow OC student Jason Andrakin
wants one simply because he “can’t go snowboarding without one.”
The Zumiez Web site has a variety of snowboards advertised from approximately
$150 to $500 with brands like Burton and Artec.
There are boots and bindings for sale as well. Brands for these are most prominently
Burton and DC. The average cost of boots is around $150 while the average price of
bindings is approximately $200.
The Big 5 Sporting Goods Web site offers a different selection than Zumiez. For example,
a World Industries snowboard at Big 5 is priced at $179.99 and the World Industries
boots and bindings are $69.99 each.

GUITAR HERO III

OC students aren’t just interested in studying - Cameron Ufland said he wanted the new Guitar Hero III for
Christmas.
“Guitar Hero is really enjoyable,” Ufland said, adding that after playing the second one in the series, the third
had to be just as good and maybe better.
Guitar Hero III isn’t played with a controller. In the tradition of the dance pad from Dance Dance Revolution,
the game is played with a nearly life-sized electric guitar controller. In this manner, gamers can play some of the
most popular rock songs in history.
According to Amazon.com, the game features 70 rock anthems to play, newly added multiplayer modes,
challenges with rock and roll legends, online capabilities and “all-new tricked out venues taking you to hell
and back.”
Guitar Hero III is available on the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 gaming consoles.
The game itself is approximately $60 on most systems.
There are also many different bundles that can be bought with the game. For example, the guitar controller
needed to play the game can be purchased separately from the game, or in a bundle with it.
On the Wal-Mart Web site, there are user rated bundles that include special guitar controllers and the game.
Users gave many of these bundles five of five stars. The bundle cost anywhere between $80 and $170.

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