If you've been looking to pick up some new gaming gear ahead of the holidays, several noteworthy Razer accessories have dropped to lower-than-usual prices for Black Friday. Not all of these Black Friday gaming deals are winners, but the offers do include a couple of top picks from our guides to the best gaming mice and gaming keyboards. The Razer Basilisk V3, for one, is the chief recommendation in the former, and it's currently available for $40 at Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy. That's $10 off its typical going rate and matches the lowest price we've tracked.

The Basilisk V3 is a wired model, and it's not the lightest thing around at roughly 100 grams. But if you don't spend all of your PC gaming time in twitchy multiplayer titles, it's a superb value at this price. Its sturdy, pleasingly textured shape should be comfortable for most hand sizes and grip types — lefties excluded, sadly — and its sensor had no major issues with tracking accuracy in testing. Its scroll wheel is on the louder side, but it's also versatile: You can use it to navigate left or right and switch it to a free spin mode that lets you navigate large files faster. The whole thing comes with 11 customizable buttons, including a useful "sensitivity clutch" that lets you momentarily drop or raise the mouse's DPI in moments where you need to aim more precisely. Speaking from experience, that won't stop you from getting destroyed in Halo Infinite, but having a little bit of extra flexibility doesn't hurt.

Elsewhere, the Razer Huntsman V2 TKL keyboard is also worth shouting out at its Black Friday price of $80. That's the lowest price we've tracked for the model with Razer's Linear Optical switches, which is the runner up pick in our gaming keyboard buying guide. This tenkeyless board doesn't have the multifunctional analog switches of our top pick, the Wooting 60HE (which isn't on sale), but it offers a well-crafted design at a much lower price. The linear switches here are fast and noticeably quiet in operation, while the PBT-coated keycaps feel crisp. The keyboard connects over a detachable USB-C cable and comes with a wrist rest in the box as well, though the latter can't magnetically attach to the keyboard like some competitors. A variant with Razer's Clicky Optical switches is also on sale for a new low of $45, but we found typing on that model to be distractingly loud in testing.

Among the rest, the Razer Naga Trinity is a decent value at $66 if you want a gaming mouse for MMOs and MOBAs, while the Razer Viper Ultimate is worth a look at $70 if you want a lighter mouse that comes with a charging dock. A handful of Razer's webcams and bass-heavy gaming headsets are also on sale. If you want to look beyond Razer, we have a more general roundup of Black Friday gaming deals with additional discounts on peripherals we like.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Amazon has a hefty price cut on the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro / Air. The Black Friday deal drops the (typically $299) accessory’s price to $215, which represents a 28 percent discount. Initially launched in 2020, the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad provides an easy and seamless way to jump between tablet and laptop(-ish) modes. Attach your iPad magnetically to the accessory’s back (it appears to “float”), and Apple’s software immediately recognizes it for typing and cursor control — no Bluetooth pairing or cables required. Engadget recommended it as one of the best iPad accessories.

Its (scissor mechanism) keys feel similar to those of recent Mac keyboards, and its trackpad, although smaller than those on MacBooks, gives you desktop-like cursor control and swipe-based multitasking gestures in iPadOS. The accessory supports USB-C passthrough charging, so you can juice up your iPad while plugging an external drive or monitor into the tablet’s port. The accessory is available in black and white.

This model is only compatible with recent iPad Pro and iPad Air models. Specifically, it supports the 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation through the current 4th-gen model) and iPad Air (4th and 5th generations). If you have the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, there’s a separate Magic Keyboard model for it that’s also on sale: You can grab that one for $299 (it’s usually $349).

If you've already got a keyboard that works for your iPad setup, a few of our other favorite iPad accessories are on sale as well. The second-gen Apple Pencil has dropped to $89 for Black Friday, and Tablift's iPad holder is on sale for $32 for Amazon Prime members as well.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

If you've been thinking about checking out Paramount+, but were understandably unenthusiastic about adding another subscription bill to your life, check out this Black Friday deal. For three months, new subscribers can get the ad-supported Essential Plan for $2 per month instead of $6, saving you $12 over the course of the promotion. The ad-free tier, Paramount+ with Showtime, is also on sale, down to $4 monthly instead of $12. 

Both tiers let you watch Paramount's library of content, which includes kids stuff like the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Nickelodeon shows like Paw Patrol and SpongeBob Squarepants. You also get shows from MTV and Comedy Central, along with movies both classic and new like Beverly Hills Cop, Anchorman and the new Scream installment. 

But what likely draws a good number of our staffers and readers to pony up for the service is Paramount's ownership of all the Star Trek properties. You can watch Strange New Worlds and Picard and Lower Decks. Or go way back with the Original Star Trek or a little less way back with The Next Generation or Voyager. Wherever you point your remote, you won't run out of Trekkie fare anytime soon. The promotion ends December 3.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

If you're planning to pick up some new Apple gear in the near future, a new Amazon Black Friday deal may be of interest. If you purchase an Apple gift card totaling $100 or more from the retailer, you can get $15 in Amazon store credit for no extra cost. Just use the code APPLET5USA at checkout to see the offer. The deal applies to the digital version of the card; as of this writing, you can apply the credit to physical Apple gift cards as well, but you'll have to avoid clipping the coupon listed on those cards' product page, as that will limit you to a $10 credit instead.

Amazon's fine print says you can only apply the credit once per account, and that you'll receive the credit alongside an email confirmation within 24 hours of your purchase. From there, you'll be able to use the credit until January 17, albeit only on products that are listed as shipped and sold by Amazon.com.

As a refresher, you can use an Apple gift card for App Store credit, subscription services like Apple Music or iCloud, and/or purchases made at a physical Apple store. If you often shop at Amazon anyway, this deal effectively gives you a bit of free money, which is always hard to beat around the holidays.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

If you've been eager to upgrade your wireless buds to Apple's latest, Black Friday deals will make that a little easier to do. The AirPods Pro with USB-C charging case have dropped to a record low of $190, which is $60 off their usual price. The third-gen AirPods are also on sale for $140. While Apple made tons of improvements to the more affordable buds, the AirPods Pro earned a spot on our best wireless earbuds list instead and are worth the extra spend.

The biggest perk of the latest AirPods Pro is their USB-C charging case, upgraded from Lightning earlier this year. The case is also MagSafe compatible, so you can use either a USB-C cable or a wireless charger to power it up. As far as battery life goes, the Pros should get up to six hours of listening time and a total of 30 hours of use when employing the extra juice from the charging case.

When Apple last updated the buds themselves, the company significantly improved audio quality and noise cancelation. Transparency Mode is a standout as well, which is the most natural sounding out of the many buds we've tested and reviewed. The AirPods Pro are, unsurprisingly, our top pick wireless earbuds for iOS users precisely because of how well they integrate with iPhones and iPads. You get quick pairing and switching with these buds, hands-free Siri access and spatial audio as well.

Apple's third-gen AirPods are a decent option as well, but you won't get many of the advanced features found on the Pros. There's no active noise cancelation, nor USB-C charging (you're stuck with Lightning), but you do get an IPX4-rated design, spatial audio, solid sound quality and all of the same iOS conveniences thanks to the H1 chip inside.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

If you’ve been looking to grab a new pair of AirPods ahead of the holidays, we have good news: The entirety of Apple’s wireless headphone lineup is on sale for Black Friday. We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday AirPods deals we could find below, with discounts on the base AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. If you don’t need a new pair today, note that recent reports say Apple may refresh its AirPods lineup later in 2024. But if you don’t want to wait until then, the deals below are still offer good value.

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple’s AirPods Pro are on sale for $190 at Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy. That's $60 less than buying from Apple directly and ties an all-time low. This is the “best for iOS” pick in our wireless earbuds guide thanks to its suite of helpful Apple-specific features, including hands-free access to Siri, quick pairing with iPhones and device tracking through Apple’s Find My network. Effective (if not class-leading) ANC, a superb transparency mode and a pleasantly warm sound also stand out. That said, the Pro’s six-hour battery life is just average and, as with any set of AirPods, you pretty much have to be a dedicated Apple fan to get the most out of it.

This deal applies to the latest iteration of the earphones, which come with a USB-C charging case. If you don’t mind using a Lightning charging case, Walmart has the previous version on sale for a new low of $169. Either way, we gave the AirPods Pro a review score of 88 last year.

Apple AirPods (2nd Gen)

The second-gen AirPods are down to $80 at Amazon and Target, which isn’t an all-time low but comes in roughly $20 below the pair’s usual street price in recent months. These are Apple’s entry-level wireless earbuds, having launched way back in 2019. They’re a bit tougher to recommend these days, as their one-size-fits-all design won’t fit everyone and you can get better sound quality even at this discounted rate. But if you prefer an open design that doesn’t completely seal off your ear canal, or just want the typical AirPods conveniences for as cheap as possible, this is at least a more acceptable price for these buds.

Apple AirPods (3rd Gen)

The third-gen AirPods are available for $140 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and others. Typically, these wireless earbuds have retailed between $10 and $20 higher in recent months, but steeper discounts have been uncommon. We gave this pair a review score of 88 back in 2021: There are certainly better-sounding options for the money, but the third-gen AirPods sound noticeably richer than their predecessor, and their haptic touch controls are altogether more convenient. This is another open design, though, so there still isn’t much in the way of deep bass or noise cancellation. Not everyone will find the wider earpieces comfortable either.

Apple AirPods Max

Apple’s top-of-the-line headphones, the AirPods Max, are discounted to $450 at Amazon and Best Buy. That’s $20 more than the lowest price we’ve seen but about $30 below the pair’s usual street price. Apple itself sells the headphones for $550. The AirPods Max are still overpriced for most even with this discount, but they remain undeniably premium, with top-tier ANC, a superbly balanced sound profile, a high-quality aluminum design, reliable controls and all the usual AirPods features. They’re hefty, though, and their included “case” is bafflingly flimsy. We gave the AirPods Max a review score of 84 in late 2020.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

With Black Friday deals popping up all over the place for the last week or so, perhaps you've already treated yourself or a loved one to a new iPad. It may be that you (or the recipient) is someone who would like to sketch or take notes on the tablet. As such, you may be looking to pick up an Apple Pencil. There's some good news in that case — all three Apple Pencil models are on sale on Amazon for Black Friday.

Of the trio, the second-gen Apple Pencil has the widest array of features. That model has dropped to a new record low price of $82, which is $47 off. The previous best price we've seen was $85.

The second-gen Apple Pencil is one of the best iPad accessories around. Apple designed it (and the other two models) specifically to work with the iPad, and it's the best stylus you can snap up for the company's tablets.

The second-gen model has a double-tap feature that you can customize to switch between preferred tools and it offers low latency. Other features include tilt sensitivity, pressure sensitivity and what Apple claims is "pixel-perfect precision."

One big advantage that the second-gen Apple Pencil has over its two siblings is wireless charging. It attaches magnetically to the side of a compatible iPad while it recharges. This Apple Pencil works with iPad Pro 12.9-inch (third-gen and later), all iPad Pro 11-inch models, iPad Air (fourth and fifth generation) and the sixth-gen iPad mini.

The other two Apple Pencils are on sale too. The USB-C model, which Apple only started selling this month, has fallen from $79 to $71.10. It works with every iPad that has a USB-C charging port. It has some, but not all of the capabilities of the second-gen Apple Pencil, such as support for a hover feature on M2-powered iPads. This lets you sneak a peek at any mark you plan to make before it's applied to your sketch, annotation or notes. You can also magnetically attach the USB-C Apple Pencil to the side of supported iPads, but it won't charge wirelessly.

If you happen to have an older iPad that isn't supported by those styluses, you can opt for the original Apple Pencil, which is on sale for $72.88. That's 26 percent off the usual price of $99. It supports low latency, tilt sensitivity and pressure sensitivity.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Broadcom's mega $61 billion VMware acquisition has closed following considerable scrutiny by regulators, the company announced in a press release. With China recently granting approval for the acquisition with added restrictions, the network chip manufacturer had secured all the required approvals. 

"Broadcom has received legal merger clearance in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and foreign investment control clearance in all necessary jurisdictions," the company said. "We are excited to welcome VMware to Broadcom and bring together our engineering-first, innovation-centric teams."

The Broadcom/VMware deal lacked the glamour of tech's other mega acquisition involving Microsoft and Activision. However, San Jose-based Broadcom's products form the structure of much of the internet, as they're widely used for data centers, cloud providers and network infrastructure. VMware, meanwhile, makes virtualization and cloud computing software that allows corporations to safely link local networks with public cloud access. 

That made VMware a logical target for Broadcom, but it also placed the acquisition in the crosshairs of regulators in multiple regions. The European Commission, for one, was concerned that Broadcom could harm competition by limiting interoperability between rival hardware and VMware's server virtualization software. It also worried the company could either prevent or degrade access to VMware's software, or bundle VMware with its own hardware products.

Broadcom gained EU approval for the deal in the summer though, mainly by providing IP access and source code for key network fiber optic components to its main rival, Marvell. The EU also concluded that fears of VMware bundling were unfounded and that Broadcom would still face competition in the storage adapter and NIC markets. 

There were also concerns that tensions between China and the US could scuttle the deal, after the Biden administration announced new rules in October making it harder to export high-end chips to China. However, approval in that market was announced yesterday, with conditions imposed by China on how Broadcom sells products locally. Namely, it had to ensure that VMware's server software was interoperable with rival hardware, China's regulator said in a statement. 

Amazon has a hefty price cut on the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro / Air. The Black Friday sale drops the (typically $299) accessory’s price to $199. That’s the lowest we’ve seen on the accessory that transforms the tablet into a pseudo-laptop with keys and a trackpad.

Initially launched in 2020, the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad provides an easy and seamless way to jump between tablet and laptop(-ish) modes. Attach your iPad magnetically to the accessory’s back (it appears to “float”), and Apple’s software immediately recognizes it for typing and cursor control — no Bluetooth pairing or cables required. Engadget recommended it as one of the best iPad accessories.

Its (scissor mechanism) keys feel similar to those of recent Mac keyboards, and its trackpad, although smaller than those on MacBooks, gives you desktop-like cursor control and swipe-based multitasking gestures in iPadOS. The accessory supports USB-C passthrough charging, so you can juice up your iPad while plugging an external drive or monitor into the tablet’s port. The accessory is available in black and white.

This model is only compatible with recent iPad Pro and iPad Air models. Specifically, it supports the 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation through the current 4th-gen model) and iPad Air (4th and 5th generations). If you have the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, there’s a separate Magic Keyboard model for it that’s also on sale: You can grab that one for $299 (it’s usually $349).

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Folks who are still sticking with Windows 10 (or who can’t install Windows 11 on their machine) may now be able to check out one of the most buzzed about features in years on their machine. Just a few days after Microsoft confirmed it would bring Copilot to Windows 10, users with eligible devices can install a Release Preview build that includes access to the generative AI-powered assistant.

You’ll need to be enrolled in the Windows Insider tester program to install the preview build and potentially try out Copilot on Windows 10 Home or Pro. There’s no guarantee you’ll get access to the chatbot immediately either. Microsoft says “It may take time for your device to be confirmed as eligible for Copilot on Windows so it may not show up right away.” To get swift access to Copilot when it's confirmed your machine is eligible, Microsoft suggests turning on the ”Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

To run Copilot, your system will need at least 4GB of RAM and a display adapter that supports a resolution of at least 720p. Microsoft notes that the preview of the chatbot is only available in select markets (i.e. North America, and some areas of Asia and South America) for now, so you may be locked out on a geographical basis.

Microsoft

There are some other quirks that may preclude you from checking out Copilot on Windows 10. It won’t work if you position your taskbar on the left or right of your display. You’ll need to have the taskbar in a horizontal orientation. Copilot isn’t fully compatible with multi-monitor setups either. You’ll only see the icon on your primary display. In addition, Copilot won’t be available on Windows 10 Pro machines that are managed by an organization for the time being.

To fire up Copilot when it’s available on your device, click the icon that appears on the right side of the taskbar. Through the chatbot, you can ask questions, manage Windows features and interact with documents. As The Verge notes, Copilot works slightly differently on Windows 10, if only because some Windows 11 features aren’t available. Several key apps in the newer OS have their own generative AI-based features baked in.

It's not exactly a major mystery as to why Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Windows 10. According to some estimates, Windows 10 still powers some 69 percent of Windows-based desktops, compared with the 26 percent or so that run Windows 11. That means hundreds of millions of PCs are still running Windows 10. If Microsoft can say Copilot is available on more than a billion computers (compared with the 400 million that are estimated to be running Windows 11), that could be more appealing to the company's investors.