Amber's favorite tech of 2025 isn't flashy or futuristic — it's the gear that quietly works so well that you could almost forget it exists.
Season's greetings, folks. I suppose it's my turn to share my favorite bits of tech that I've been using for the past year.
I think my top tech products of 2025 are a pretty good reflection of who I am as a person. At my core, I will always prize utility over flashiness or bonus features.
I would rather own a dumb device that did its job well 100% of the time than a feature-packed smart device that only worked 80% of the time. I don't want to troubleshoot a lightbulb — I just want to see in the dark.
So, without any further ado, here's my list of top tech picks for 2025.
Apple TV — the hardware, not the service
If you had asked me what I was thankful for this year at Thanksgiving, there's a non-zero chance I would have said "my Apple TV." No, I'm not joking.
As I do every major holiday, I spent time at my parents' house. Predictably, this came with a certain level of fixing tech that had broken since my last visit.
My mother purchased a new smart TV at some point. It's a Vizio, but that doesn't matter, really.
What matters is how awful smart TVs are. Her previous smart TV, an Insignia, was nearly as bad as this one.
The constant crashes, the lag, the inability to balance audio so you get blown through the wall of your living room the second it goes to commercial. Everything is a struggle.
Every time you open an app, there's a chance it will crash. If you leave an app running for too long, the TV will run out of some resource and kill the app — sometimes it will reboot itself.
This is a brand-new, made in 2025 television. Mom paid money for this device, and it is, functionally, broken out of the box.
This isn't my Apple TV, mine is wedged awkwardly on a tote under a bed frame
I don't watch TV. I own an Apple TV, but if you asked, I couldn't even tell you which Apple TV I have.
I use it pretty regularly to play podcasts or throw a long-form YouTube video up while I clean my house. It's certainly one of my most used devices, but I forget how much I use it because it works without issue pretty much every time.
Going to my parents' house over the holidays is a reminder that Apple has a solid piece of hardware that is capable of working so well that you forget about it entirely. And that's what all the best technology does.
That's why Apple TV earned a place on this list. It's also why my parents are getting one for Christmas.
Atlas 6 Dual-Band mesh router system
This is a somewhat brief one, but worth mentioning just the same.
Earlier this year, my cable modem-router combo started to go. If you've ever had this happen, you know how frustrating it is.
I have Spectrum as an ISP, and I'd rather not pay the additional $5 per month to lease a Spectrum-provided Wi-Fi router. This meant I could either buy another router-modem combo — of which very few actually work with Spectrum — or I could use a Spectrum-provided modem and purchase a separate router.
I hated both ideas, really. But then I remembered that I had — and actively use — the Atlas 6 Dual-Band mesh router system that I got in 2022.
Atlas 6 Dual-Band mesh
Somehow, I'd completely forgotten that this has been part of my home networking setup. I wasn't using it because it was a router, though; I was using it because it worked as a Wi-Fi extender.
Spectrum sent over a new modem, and I hooked the Atlas 6 system to it. My internet speeds jumped back up, and the random drops completely stopped — all was well once more.
It's another case of "technology that works so well you forget about it." But, as I said before, this is what some of the best technology is.
Anova Immersion Circulator
For the better part of a decade, Mike's been telling me that I should get an immersion circulator. And, for the better part of a decade, I told him I'd eventually get around to it.
2025 was the year that I finally did.
In April, Walmart had a sale on the Anova Precision Cooker Mini. It initially retailed for $49.99, but that week it dropped down to $19.99.
I did a little research on it, saw it was well reviewed, and decided to buy it. I figured I wasn't going to get much cheaper than that.
I've never had an immersion circulator — or as some people call them, a "sous vide stick" — before. So I can't really tell you if this is a really good one or not.
Anova Precision Cooker Mini | Image credit: Anova Culinary
But I can tell you that it is a nice little workhorse on days when I just "don't wanna." I always have vacuum-sealed, pre-seasoned chicken breast in my freezer, which means I'm always 4 hours away from a completely hands-off protein.
I haven't gotten into any sort of crazy sous vide recipes yet, mostly because I don't always have the time to screw around in the kitchen. But it's definitely paid for itself at least ten times over in preventing me from ordering in out of time-crunch or exhaustion.
Weirdly enough, the only drawback to it is the fact that it is a smart device. It needs to connect to Wi-Fi and the companion app on your phone.
There aren't any physical buttons — save for a Bluetooth pairing button on the very top. I don't love that, because if the app quits working one day in the future, my immersion circulator is useless.
But it was a $20 investment, and it's worked perfectly in the eight months that I've owned it. Even if it broke tomorrow, I'd still say that I'd gotten my money's worth.
2021 24-inch M1 iMac
Where would I be without my iMac? Probably in the same place, but working on a much worse computer, I'd guess.
Even though I own a MacBook Air that is newer, I don't think anything is going to top my iMac. It is, by far, my favorite computer I've ever owned.
Behold, the pinnacle of computing — at least according to me
The screen is ideal for doing research while I write an article, gaming, or watching movies. The all-in-one form factor cuts down cord clutter.
It runs like the day I got it, and I've never had any issues with it. It is probably the first and only computer I could say that I've actually loved.
One day, it will get too long in the tooth to continue being my main computer, and I'll be dragged, kicking and screaming, towards another device. When that day comes, I'm not entirely sure where I'll turn.
Probably to a Mac mini with an external monitor, if I'm being honest. However, I can't say that I wouldn't at least consider getting myself another iMac.
Ride1Up Roadster V2
This is my ride or die. My main squeeze. My top tech device of the year — maybe even every year.
The Ride1Up Roadster V2 is an incredible bike. In 2023, I rode just under 1,100 miles.
In 2024, I rode a little over 1,500 miles. In 2025, I've managed to clock in a bit over 1,700 miles, which I assume will be my bike-season average.
I don't own a car, so my bike is the primary way I run errands. It's also how I get to and from the gym, the library, and the various coffee shops and bakeries I inhabit on my days off.
It's also how I clear my head on days when everything feels too much. I'm fortunate enough to live in a surprisingly bikeable city, with some truly gorgeous neighborhoods and districts to bike through.
And, there's a good chance that this bike is responsible for kicking off a domino effect of positive choices I've made in the past few years.
In 2022, my mental and physical health were, frankly, pretty terrible. Like everyone else, 2020-2021 was more or less a blur.
Then, 2022 brought more stress and chaos to my life than I've ever experienced previously. By the end of 2022, I was downright miserable.
Ride1Up's Roadster V2 - Gravel Edition
When I got the bike in 2023, it was the first time I'd ridden a bike in more than fifteen years. My first week of owning it, I swerved to avoid hitting a cat, hit a curb, and vaulted over my handlebars.
I walked out of the situation relatively unscathed, aside from a bit of road rash on my leg where I'd eaten pavement. I feel like a normal person would have taken that as a sign that maybe riding a bike isn't for them.
For me, it was a hilarious story. I didn't even take a day off — I was back out, riding more or less the same route, the very next day.
My physical and mental health improved steadily over 2023. I found myself biking pretty much every day.
I started out doing shorter rides, six or seven miles in a day. However, by the end of 2023, I was doing 20-mile rides with challenging hill climbs every week.
During bike season, I ride fifteen miles a day at least five times a week. Once a week, I'll push it closer to 30 miles.
While I initially started out using the pedal assist feature pretty liberally, the longer I rode, the less I needed it. Now, I generally only kick it on when I have to ride some of the busier streets in my city, or if I have to tackle a particularly challenging hill.
I've reviewed a few bikes since then, and while they've been good bikes, none have topped the Roadster. I think a big part of it is that it's a "stealthie" — an e-bike that doesn't look like an e-bike.
Instead of having a removable battery, a smaller battery is tucked up into the frame of the bike itself.
Aesthetically, I prefer this, sure. But from a practical point of view, it only weighs 35 pounds, meaning I can easily lug it up and down my stairs.
It's also got a carbon belt, rather than a chain. It is a fixie — a single-speed bike — but I barely have any maintenance, and I never worry about my belt popping off due to tension issues.
So, aside from the fact that I desperately need to change the brakes before the 2026 bike season begins, my Roadster is still in fantastic shape. I'm sure the battery doesn't last as long as it used to, but I don't use it enough for it to run out, either.
I don't know if there's ever going to be a piece of tech in my life that will top a well-built bike. In previous years, maybe I would have cited my iMac or my iPad as taking the top slot, but it now seems silly to rank anything even close to my Roadster.
