yeah! external drives NEED USB or Firewire, I actualy bought a PCI USB2 port card for PC number 2, on it`s motherboards USB1.1 it was painfully slow (USB2 is 40 times faster-tech tip
)
as for what you could get for Xmas, how about a trackball, they take a hour or two to get used to, but after that you expect all PC`s to have em (all mine do), or maybe a graphics tablet, or a 256mb USB key drive?
Mentor.
PC1: P4 3ghz, 1gig mem, 3x160gig hd`s, Radeon 9800pro w cooler (3rd gfx card), 6 way speakers.
PC2: AMD 2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra, 16 bit SB.
Mini ATX cases suck.