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In terms of which you should buy, I’ll leave that up to you. Personally, I’m drawn more to tools that can be used to make dinner than the ones for home improvement. Therefore, any attempt by me to explain the difference between the DX11 and the DX12 would be, at best, rudimentary and at worst, actively wrong.

So why don’t you all sound off in the comments.

Meanwhile, I’ll tackle a different question. Should you buy one of these as a gift, or should you buy it for gifts?

We’ll start with the as a gift angle: it works.

It’s big. It’s serious. It’s cool-looking. And for a certain type of person, it would be exciting to unwrap on Christmas morning.

A little tangent: it’s fun to consider where this line is, in terms of what tools are gift-able. Because, in some ways, power tools and kitchen appliances are the gift-giver saying to the recipient: “I can’t wait for you to use this thing to my benefit!” And yet, the recipient receives the item happily. A nice iron, on the other hand, even if it would be used mostly by the recipient, would be a bit of a bummer. A fancy vacuum might be better, but even this, something that would probably improve the recipient’s life far more than a drill or an air fryer, would likely also earn some side eye. Perhaps it’s because tools or kitchen appliances can be put towards practical uses and also personal passion projects. Is that it?

Really, it doesn’t matter. Point is, in terms of being a gift, the drill checks out.

The problem is, if the drill is wrapped up under the tree, what are you using to assemble all those some-assembly-required presents you got for other members of your family? The new entertainment center, for example, that looks like it’s made of no more than six boards but somehow involves sixty-seven screws. Or the foosball table that arrived at your house in what can only be described as an alarmingly flat box.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the drill for those items before the holidays?

The answer: it was a trick question. The drill can be both a gift and something used to assemble other gifts. In fact, your best course of action would be to give the drill to one member of your family and the unassembled gifts to the other members of your family. Thus, everyone gets an excuse to “play with their new toys” while you sip mulled wine and watch Lifetime Christmas movies.

That’s what we call a win-win-win.