Although most tech deals this week were limited-time sales, there remain a few good ones to consider as we head into the weekend. Apple's Mac Mini M1 is down to $600, or $100 off its normal price, and Best Buy has the original Google Nest Hub for only $40. Solo Stove is having a sale on its Bonfire fire pit and some of our favorite Sennheiser wireless earbuds are still $100 off. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Mac Mini M1
Apple
Apple's Mac Mini M1 is down to its all-time-low price of $600 thanks to a sale and an automatically applied coupon. You're getting all of the performance boosts provided by the M1 chipset in a compact desktop package. This is a good machine to get if you have an older desktop that needs replacing, but you don't want to spend a ton of money.
Google's original Nest Hub is down to $40 at Best Buy, or $50 off its normal price. While it doesn't have the motion sensor and the improved audio of the latest Nest Hub, we still like it for its lovely 7-inch display, minimalist design and solid performance.
Amazon and Sennheiser have the excellent Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds for $200, or $100 off their normal price. We gave these buds a score of 85 for their stellar audio quality, good ANC, smaller size and handy companion app.
Solo Stove's Bonfire is $100 off right now, bringing it down to $250. This is one of the company's best-selling fire pits and it's made it into some of our outdoor-focused gift guides in the past. It's a good device to get if you like gathering around a fire pit in the backyard but you don't like the smoke or cleanup that typically comes with it.
Through October 6, GOG.com has more than 120 games on sale, with some up to 90 percent off. Included this time around are Blood Omen, Elvira, Baldur's Gate, Dishonored, Wolfenstein, Cuphead and more.
Fitbit's Luxe tracker is down to $100 on QVC, or $50 off its normal price. We gave this slim band a score of 82 for its delicate design, solid activity tracking and good battery life.
Through December 8, you can enter to win four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2022. Along with the passes, you'll get access to a special preview night, reserved seating in Hall H, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the "Night at the Comic-Con Museum" event. It's free to enter, but funds from this sweepstakes will go to the San Diego Comic Convention.
Woot is having a big sale on 2019 and 2020 iPad Pros, knocking some 12.9-inch models down to $769. Apple's most powerful iPad hasn't changed much in look over the past few years, but the 2021 models got a big upgrade in performance with the M1 processor. If you're comfortable skipping that and a number of other, smaller updates, you could save a bunch and still get a powerful iPad. Just make sure to review Woot's return policy before you buy.
75-inch Hisense U6G Series Quantum Dot 4K Android TV
This massive Hisense 4K smart TV is $255 off, bringing it down to $995. It has local dimming zones for better brightness, Quantum Dot technology for rich colors and it supports Dolby Vision and Atmos. It also has auto low latency mode for better gaming, and Android TV gives you access to a plethora of streaming services including Netflix and Prime Video.
Through October 7, Satechi has knocked 20 percent off of its 100W USB-C PD wall charger, bringing it down to $56, when you use the code GAN100 at checkout. This brick uses gallium nitride technology to prevent overheating and provide a faster, more efficient charge. Not only can it power up smartphones and tablets, but it can juice up a 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speed as well.
NordVPN, one of our favorite VPNs, is running a sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up and pay $99 for two years, plus you'll get an extra three months free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
If Amazon opens mini department stores as rumored, they could include high-tech dressing rooms and the retailer's own private-label clothing brands, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The aim is apparently to address some of the normal irritants of clothes shopping, increase its own brand recognition and make the stores as efficient as possible.
One idea is that customers would use a smartphone app to scan QR codes of items they want to try on. Associates would then gather the items and place them in fitting rooms, and the process could eventually become more automated with the use of robots.
Once inside, you'd be able to ask for more clothes using a touchscreen, which could also recommend items you might like based on what you've chosen so far. Those could again be brought by associates and slid through a sliding door that would maintain your privacy.
In the past, Amazon has showcased other high-tech shopping experiences, like AR that would show how your hair would look with different hair dyes. It has also patented a mirror for trying on virtual clothes, but there's no sign yet that it would use such technology in department stores. It also sold the Echo Look camera, a standalone device that gave owners fashion advice using artificial intelligence and machine learning (below), though it was discontinued last year.
Amazon will also reportedly sell its own private label brands, along with a selection of clothing from third-party manufacturers. On top of its own Amazon Essentials line, its online store currently carries products from designers like Oscar de la Renta, Altuzarra and La Perla. However, many luxury and high-end brands — which have the highest profitability — have resisted listing goods online with Amazon.
Reports of Amazon department stores started popping up last month, with sites tipped to be around a third the size of regular department stores. At 30,000 square feet, however, they'd still be larger than Amazon's other physical locations other than Whole Foods.
Even as some physical retailers including JC Penney and Niemen Marcus filed for bankruptcy, Amazon saw sales explode during the pandemic as users shopped online from home. However, customers surveyed recently by Wells Fargo said they preferred the physical department store experience and didn't want to pay for shipping if they weren't Prime members, the WSJ noted. On top of clothing, Amazon's department stores would reportedly allow it to showcase electronics like Fire TVs, readers, Echo speakers and more.
All of this is still a rumor which hasn't been confirmed by Amazon, so take it with some skepticism. Considering how quickly the company is expanding into brick-and-mortar retail right now, though, it does make sense.
Labor Day weekend may be over, but some of the sales that came with it are still ongoing. A number of Apple products have been discounted ahead of the company's event next week, including the iPad Air and the MacBook Air M1. Amazon has a bunch of deals onFire tablets, knocking the Fire HD 10 tablet down to $100 and the Fire HD 8 down to $60. Plus, you can still save a ton on things like Samsung portable drives, eero 6 WiFi systems, Pixel smartphones and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
iPad Air
Dana Wollman/Engadget
Apple's iPad Air is $100 off right now, bringing it down to $500. All five colors are on sale at Amazon. thanks to automatically applied coupons, although with various shipping times. We gave the Air a score of 90 for its speedy performance and WiFi, healthy battery life and support for the second-gen Apple Pencil.
The Apple Watch SE is on sale for $240 right now on Amazon thanks to a few automatically applied coupons for certain color options. We gave the Watch SE a score of 88 for its comfortable, familiar design, solid performance and comprehensive feature set for the price.
Apple's MacBook Air M1 is back down to an all-time low of $850 thanks to an automatically applied coupon. It earned a score of 94 from us for its stellar performance, attractive, fanless design and its comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
Apple's Mac Mini M1 returned to its all-time-low price of $600 thanks to a sale and an automatically applied coupon. You're getting all of the performance boosts provided by the M1 chipset in a compact desktop package. This is a good machine to get if you have an older desktop that needs replacing, but you don't want to spend a ton of money.
Eufy's SpaceView baby monitor with one camera is down to $125 thanks to a clippable coupon and the code eufybbm20 that you can use at checkout. The camera can pan 330 degrees and tilt 110 degrees to give you a full view of your baby's room, and you can expand the field of view up to 110 degrees thanks to the included extra lens. It also uses a FHSS connection instead of WiFi, which lets you check out your kids' activities in real time in a more secure way.
Amazon's Labor Day sale on eero 6 systems is still ongoing so you can pick up a pack with one router and two extenders for $195, or $84 off its normal price. A pack of three routers is also down to $244. These gadgets support a peak bandwidth of 900Mbps and they include a built-in Zigbee smart home hub, so you can connect things like smart lights directly to it.
A number of Fire tablets are still on sale after the Labor Day holiday. The top-tier Fire HD 10 is $50 off, bringing it down to $100, while you can grab the Fire HD 8 for $60 or the Fire 7 for only $40. These devices make good starter tablets for kids as well as good couch devices for email-checking, web-surfing, online shopping and more.
Both the first- and second-generation Echo Show 5s are on sale right now — the original is down to $45 while the updated version is only $10 more. These stand out as excellent smart alarm clocks thanks to their compact size, sunrise alarm feature and tap-to-snooze function. The main difference between the two is the improved, 2MP camera on the second-gen version, which will make for slightly better video calls.
Google's Pixel 4 smartphone is down to a new low of $379 at B&H Photo. We believe the launch of the Pixel 6 to be right around the corner, so you may want to wait if you want the latest phone from Google. However, the Pixel 4 remains a solid handset — we liked its speedy performance, lovely display and stellar camera experience.
Samsung's T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is down to $170, or $10 off its normal price. It has dropped to $160 in the past, but this is the best price we've seen in a number of months. In addition to read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, this tiny SSD has a shock-resistant body and a built-in fingerprint reader for an extra layer of security.
Google's Nest WiFi pack with one router and one access point is down to $199 right now at Best Buy. That's $70 off its normal price and a great deal on one of our favorite mesh systems. We gave it a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation and built-in smart speaker.
Samsung's Premiere Projector is $1,000 cheaper both at Amazon and Samsung's own site. The 4.2.2 sound channel model is down to $5,498, which is still quite expensive, but much better than its normal $6,500 price. We included this in our best projectors guide for its separate red, green and blue lasers that cover the full Rec.2020 color range, maximum 2,800 lumens of brightness and 4K resolution.
Through September 18, Omaze is giving away another $20,000 to build your ultimate gaming PC. This sweepstakes is free to enter, but funds donated with purchased entries will benefit Schools on Wheels, an organization that provides free tutoring and mentoring services to children experiencing homelessness across Southern California.
Through December 8, you can enter to win four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2022. Along with the passes, you'll get access to a special preview night, reserved seating in Hall H, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the "Night at the Comic-Con Museum" event. It's free to enter, but funds from this sweepstakes will go to the San Diego Comic Convention.
A few Dyson cordless vacuums are still on sale even after the Labor Day holiday. Of note are the Dyson Outsize for $700, or $100 off its normal price, and the Dyson V8 Animal for $350, which is $50 off. Although both models are a few years old at this point, they remains solid cordless vacuums made even better by these sale prices.
Weber knocked hundreds off its high-end SmokeFire grills — both the EX6 and EX4 are $200 off, bringing them down to $999 and $799, respectively. These WiFi-connected grills are some of our favorites because they're relatively easy for even grilling novices to use and their companion mobile app gives you a number of convenient features like remote temperature adjustment and SmokeBoost activation.
The new Galaxy Buds 2 are on sale for $125 at Woot, which is $25 off their normal price. These buds earned a score of 84 from us for their improved sound quality, small and comfortable design and wireless charging capabilities. A note: Woot's return policy is not the same as Amazon's, despite being owned by the retail giant, so check it out before you make a purchase.
Woot also has a one-day sale on the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, knocking it down to $270. This is a great deal considering this Chromebook is usually prices between $375 and $500. You're getting a lightweight 2-in-1 design here with an Intel Celeron 3965Y processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 12.2-inch FHD display and a built-in stylus. A note: Woot's return policy is not the same as Amazon's, despite being owned by the retail giant, so check it out before you make a purchase.
Wellbots is having a sale on a bunch of Garmin smartwatches — you can get $100 off the Fenix 6 series using the code GARMIN100 at checkout, $75 off the Garmin Venu with the code GARMIN75 at checkout and $50 off the Garmin Lily with the code GARMIN50. These are some of Garmin's latest wearables and they serve most types of people — the Fenix 6 will be best for the most outdoorsy among us, while the Venu and the Lily are good options for those that want an alternative to an Apple Watch or a Wear OS device.
One of our recommended VPNs is running a decent sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up for NordVPN for $99 for the first two years, which comes out to $49.50 per year, and get three additional months of access for free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
For a few years now, gaming laptops have been some of the most intriguing PCs around. They’ve gotten thinner and lighter, naturally — but they’ve also become vastly more powerful and efficient, making them suitable for both work and play. They’ve adopted some bold innovations, like rotating hinges and near desktop-like customizability. Gaming laptops are where PC makers can get adventurous.
If you’re a professional in the market for a beefy new computer, and you like to play a few rounds of Apex Legends on occasion, it may make more sense to go for a gaming notebook instead of a MacBook Pro-like workstation. You’ll still get plenty of power for video encoding and 3D rendering, plus you may end up paying less than you would for some comparable workstations.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
What's your budget?
Your laptop buying journey starts and ends with the amount of money you're willing to spend. No surprise there. The good news: There are plenty of options for gamers of every budget. In particular, we're seeing some great choices under $1,000, like Dell's G15, which currently starts at $930. PCs in this price range will definitely feel a bit lower quality than pricier models, and they'll likely skimp on RAM, storage and overall power. But they should be able to handle most games in 1080p at 60 frames per second, which is the bare minimum you'd want from any system.
Stepping up to mid-range options beyond $1,000 is where things get interesting. At that point, you'll start finding PCs like the ASUS Zephyrus ROG G14, one of our favorite gaming notebooks of the last few years. In general, you can look forward to far better build quality than budget laptops (metal cases!), improved graphics power and enough RAM and storage space to handle the most demanding games. These are the notebooks we'd recommend for most people, as they'll keep you gaming and working for years before you need to worry about an upgrade.
If you're willing to spend around $1,800 or more, you can start considering more premium options like Razer's Blade. Expect impeccably polished cases, the fastest hardware on the market, and ridiculously thin designs. The sky's the limit here: Alienware's uber customizable Area 51m is an enormous beast that can cost up to $4,700. Few people need a machine that pricey, but if you're a gamer with extra cash to burn, it may be worth taking a close look at some of these pricier systems.
What kind of CPU and GPU do you want?
The answer to this question used to be relatively simple: Just get an Intel chip with an NVIDIA GPU. But over the last two years, AMD came out swinging with its Ryzen 4000 and 5000-series notebook processors, which are better suited for juggling multiple tasks at once (like streaming to Twitch while blasting fools in Fortnite). In general, you’ll still be safe getting one of Intel’s latest 10th or 11th-gen H-series chips. But it’s nice to have decent AMD alternatives available for budget and mid-range laptops, especially when they’re often cheaper than comparable Intel models.
When it comes to video cards, though, AMD is still catching up. Its new Radeon RX 6000M GPU has been a fantastic performer in notebooks like ASUS’s ROG Strix G15, but it still lags behind NVIDIA when it comes to newer features like ray tracing. I’ll admit, it’s nice to see a Radeon-powered notebook that can approach the general gaming performance of NVIDIA’s RTX 3070 and 3080 GPU.
If you want to future-proof your purchase, or you’re just eager to see how ray tracing could make your games look better, you’re probably better off with an NVIDIA video card. They’re in far more systems, and it’s clear that NVIDIA has had more time to optimize its ray tracing technology. RTX GPUs also feature the company’s DLSS feature, which uses AI to upscale games to higher resolutions. That’ll let you play a game like Destiny 2 in 4K with faster frame rates. That’s useful if you’re trying to take advantage of a high refresh rate monitor.
NVIDIA’s RTX 3050 is a decent entry point, but we think you’d be better off with at least an RTX 3060 for solid 1080p and 1440p performance. The RTX 3070, meanwhile, is the best balance of price and performance. It’ll be able to run many games in 4K with the help of DLSS, and it can even tackle demanding titles like Control. NVIDIA’s RTX 3080 is the king of the hill; you’ll pay a premium for any machine that includes it.
It’s worth noting that NVIDIA’s mobile GPUs aren’t directly comparable to its more powerful desktop hardware. PC makers can also tweak a GPU’s voltage to make it perform better in a thinner case. Basically, don’t be surprised if you see notebooks that perform very differently, even if they’re all equipped with the same RTX model.
What kind of screen do you want?
Screen size is a good place to start when judging gaming notebooks. In general, 15-inch laptops will be the best balance of immersion and portability, while larger 17-inch models are heftier, but naturally give you more screen real estate. There are some 13-inch gaming notebooks, like the Razer Blade Stealth, but paradoxically you'll often end up paying more for those than slightly larger 15-inch options. We’re also seeing more 14-inch options, like the Zephyrus G14 and Blade 14, which are generally more powerful than 13-inch laptops while still being relatively portable.
But these days, there are plenty more features to consider than screen size alone. Consider refresh rates: Most monitors refresh their screens vertically 60 times per second, or 60Hz. That's a standard in use since black and white NTSC TVs. But over the past few years, displays have evolved considerably. Now, 120Hz 1080p screens are the bare minimum you'd want in any gaming notebook — and there are faster 144Hz, 240Hz and even 360Hz panels. All of those ever-increasing numbers are in the service of one thing: making everything on your display look as smooth as possible.
For games, higher refresh rates also help eliminate screen tearing and other artifacts that could get in the way of your frag fest. And for everything else, it just leads to a better viewing experience. Even scrolling a web page on a 120Hz or faster monitor is starkly different from a 60Hz screen. Instead of seeing a jittery wall of text and pictures, everything moves seamlessly together, as if you're unwinding a glossy paper magazine. Going beyond 120Hz makes gameplay look even more responsive, which to some players gives them a slight advantage.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Not to make things more complicated, but you should also keep an eye out for NVIDIA's G-SYNC and AMD's FreeSync. They're both adaptive sync technologies that can match your screen's refresh rate with the framerate of your game. That also helps to reduce screen tearing and make gameplay smoother. Consider them nice bonuses on top of a high refresh rate monitor; they're not necessary, but they can still offer a slight visual improvement.
One more thing: Most of these suggestions are related to LCD screens, not OLEDs. While OLED makes a phenomenal choice for TVs, it's a bit more complicated when it comes to gaming laptops. They're limited to 60Hz, so you won't get the smoother performance you'd find on a high refresh rate screen. And they're typically 4K panels; you'll need a ton of GPU power to run games natively at that resolution. OLED laptops still look incredible, with the best black levels and contrast on the market, but we think most shoppers would be better off with an LCD gaming laptop.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
A few other takeaways:
Get at least 16GB of RAM. And if you're planning to do a ton of multitasking while streaming, 32GB is worth considering.
Storage is still a huge concern. These days, I'd recommend aiming for a 1TB M.2 SSD, which should be enough space to juggle a few large titles like Destiny 2. Some laptops also have room for standard SATA drives, which are far cheaper than M.2's and can hold more data.
Normally we'd recommend getting your hands on a system before you buy, but that's tough as we're in the midst of a pandemic. I'd recommend snagging your preferred system from a retailer with a simple return policy, like Amazon or Best Buy. If you don't like it, you can always ship it back easily.
If you can't tell by now, we really like the Zephyrus G14. It's compact, at just 3.5 pounds, and features AMD's new Ryzen 5000-series chips paired together with NVIDIA's latest graphics. It's a shockingly compact machine, and while its 14-inch screen is a bit smaller than our other recommendations, it looks great and features a fast 144Hz refresh rate. We also like its retro-future design (some configurations have tiny LEDs on its rear panel for extra flair). While the G14 has jumped in price since last year, it’s still one of the best gaming notebooks around. The only downside: It doesn't have a webcam, which can be inconvenient in the era of never-ending Zoom calls. Still, it's not that tough to attach an external camera. (If you want something bigger, consider the Zephyrus G15.)
We've been fans of Dell's G5 line ever since it first appeared a few years ago. Now dubbed the G15, it starts at just over $1,000 and features all of the latest hardware, like Intel's 11th-generation CPUs and NVIDIA's RTX 30-series cards. (You can also find AMD's Ryzen chips in some models.) It's a bit heavy, weighing over five pounds, but it's a solid notebook otherwise. And you can even bring it into mid-range gaming territory if you spec up to the RTX 3060.
Razer continues to do a stellar job of delivering the latest hardware in a sleek package that would make Mac users jealous. The Blade 15 has just about everything you'd want, including NVIDIA's fastest mobile GPU, the RTX 3080, as well as Intel's 11th-gen octa-core CPUs and speedy quad-HD screens. You can easily save some cash by going for a cheaper notebook, but they won't feel nearly as polished as the Blade.
While we've seen some wilder concepts from Acer, like its 360-degree hinge-equipped Triton 900, the Triton 500 is a more affordable bread and butter option that doesn't break the bank. This year, it’s bumped up to a 16-inch display, giving you more of an immersive gaming experience. It’s relatively thin, weighs just over five pounds , and it can be equipped with Intel's 11th-gen CPUs and NVIDIA's RTX 30-series GPUs. Acer's build quality is as sturdy as ever, and it has most of the standard features you’d need in a gaming notebook.
Take everything we loved about the Razer Blade 15, scale it up to a larger 17-inch screen, and you’re pretty much in gamer paradise. If you can live with its six-pound weight, the Blade 17 will deliver the most desktop-like gaming experience that you can find in a notebook. It’s relatively slim, and it’s perfect for binging Netflix in bed. The Blade 17 is also a smart choice if you’re editing media, as its larger screen space makes it perfect for diving into larger timelines. It’s not for everyone, but sometimes you just want to go big or go home, right?
Labor Day is another good time of the year to pick up a new TV. While not as rife with sales as Black Friday or even the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, this holiday weekend still has TV deals worth considering. Plenty of 4K smart TVs have been discounted across Amazon, Best Buy and other sites, but those who are looking for an OLED set will find a number of new models discounted by hundreds. Here are all of the best Labor Day TV sales we could find.
55-inch Sony Bravia XR A80J OLED 4K TV
One of Sony's premium OLED TVs, the 55-inch Bravia XR A80J set, is down to $1,700 at Amazon and Best Buy, or $600 off its normal price. It packs most of Sony's best TV technology into one set, including the Cognitive Processor XR, HDMI 2.1 support, 4K upscaling, XR Motion Clarity and improved sound with Acoustic Surface Audio+ and built-in subwoofers. It also runs the Google TV operating system, so you can call upon the Assistant for all your entertainment needs.
Amazon and Best Buy knocked $500 off Sony's 48-inch Bravia A9S OLED TV, bringing it down to $1,300. It runs on the company's Processor X1 Ultimate and supports HDR and Dolby Vision, Acoustic Surface Audio, X-Motion Clarity technology, AirPlay 2 and more.
A 55-inch LG G1 OLED TV will set you back $1,900 if you grab it this weekend, saving you $300 off its normal price. It's part of the "gallery" series and it uses OLED evo panel technology, which provides better brightness and clearer whites than standard OLED displays. It also runs on LG's a9 Gen4 AI Processor 4K and supports features like G-SYNC, FreeSync, OLED Motion Pro and voice commands via Alexa and the Google Assistant.
The latest LG OLED lineup just became available a few months ago and now you can grab the 55-inch A1 model for $1,300. The A1 series is the most affordable of the bunch, making these sets good options for anyone looking to upgrade to OLED while on a tight budget.
If you're looking for a basic upgrade for your living room tube, this 55-inch TCL Roku TV could do the trick. It's on sale right now for $430 and it includes 4K HDR support, 4K upscaling, four HDMI inputs and voice control with Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant.
Samsung's 50-inch Frame 4K smart TV is down to $1,148 right now, or roughly $150 off its normal price. This is the TV to get if you'd prefer to look at something more interesting than a black box when not actually watching a TV show or movie. Its art mode lets you select images to display on the screen whenever you want, and it also supports 4K AI upscaling and truer colors using Quantum Dot technology.
Best Buy knocked $150 off the price of this 55-inch Samsung QN90A Neo 4K TV, bringing it down to $1,550. This set uses mini LEDs for improved contrast, and it supports Quantum HDR 32X for vibrant colors. It also includes 4K AI upscaling, a 120Hz refresh rate, technology to minimize motion blur and more.
This week brought more and more gadget deals as Labor Day weekend inched closer. Many of this week's deals are still available right now, including Amazon's discount on the first- and second-generation Echo Show 5 smart displays and a $20 discount on Google's Nest Audio speaker. Plus, a bunch of new sales are running now through the holiday, including those on Dyson vacuums, OLED smart TVs, wireless earbuds and more. Here are the best Labor Day tech sales we could find.
MacBook Air M1
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Apple's MacBook Air M1 is back down to an all-time low of $850 thanks to an automatically applied coupon. It earned a score of 94 from us for its stellar performance, attractive, fanless design and its comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
Apple's AirPods Pro are down to $190 right now, or $60 off their normal price. These are the best sounding earbuds you can get from Apple, and we gave them a score of 87 for their better, more secure fit, IPX4 water resistance and solid audio quality.
Apple's Mac Mini M1 returned to its all-time-low price of $600 this week thanks to a sale and an automatically applied coupon. You're getting all of the performance boosts provided by the M1 chipset in a compact desktop package. This is a good machine to get if you have an older desktop that needs replacing, but you don't want to spend a ton of money.
Both the first- and second-generation Echo Show 5s are on sale right now — the original is down to $45 while the updated version is only $10 more. These stand out as excellent smart alarm clocks thanks to their compact size, sunrise alarm feature and tap-to-snooze function. The main difference between the two is the improved, 2MP camera on the second-gen version, which will make for slightly better video calls.
Google's Nest Audio smart speaker remains on sale for $80, or $20 off its normal price. This is one of the best mid-range smart speakers you can get right now and it's especially useful for those already relying on the Google Assistant. We gave it a score of 87 for its solid audio quality, stereo mode with two paired together and attractive design.
Amazon's updated Echo Buds are on sale for $90, or $30 off their normal price. You could pick up the model with a wireless charging case instead and you'd only spend $105. Amazon improved these true wireless earbuds in nearly every way — we gave them a score of 80 for their better sound quality, ANC and small, comfortable design.
Samsung's Premiere Projector is $1,000 cheaper both at Amazon and Samsung's own site. The 4.2.2 sound channel model is down to $5,498, which is still quite expensive, but much better than its normal $6,500 price. We included this in our best projectors guide for its separate red, green and blue lasers that cover the full Rec.2020 color range, maximum 2,800 lumens of brightness and 4K resolution.
Google's Pixel 4 smartphone is down to a new low of $379 at B&H Photo. We believe the launch of the Pixel 6 to be right around the corner, so you may want to wait if you want the latest phone from Google. However, the Pixel 4 remains a solid handset — we liked its speedy performance, lovely display and stellar camera experience.
Samsung's T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is down to $170, or $10 off its normal price. It has dropped to $160 in the past, but this is the best price we've seen in a number of months. In addition to read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, this tiny SSD has a shock-resistant body and a built-in fingerprint reader for an extra layer of security.
One of Sony's premium OLED TVs, the 55-inch Bravia XR A80J set, is down to $1,700 at Amazon and Best Buy, or $600 off its normal price. It packs most of Sony's best TV technology into one set, including the Cognitive Processor XR, HDMI 2.1 support, 4K upscaling, XR Motion Clarity and improved sound with Acoustic Surface Audio+ and built-in subwoofers. It also runs the Google TV operating system, so you can call upon the Assistant for all your entertainment needs.
Google's Nest WiFi pack with one router and one access point is down to $200 right now at Best Buy. That's $70 off its normal price and a great deal on one of our favorite mesh systems. We gave it a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation and built-in smart speaker.
Through September 18, Omaze is giving away another $20,000 to build your ultimate gaming PC. This sweepstakes is free to enter, but funds donated with purchased entries will benefit Schools on Wheels, an organization that provides free tutoring and mentoring services to children experiencing homelessness across Southern California.
Through December 8, you can enter to win four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2022. Along with the passes, you'll get access to a special preview night, reserved seating in Hall H, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the "Night at the Comic-Con Museum" event. It's free to enter, but funds from this sweepstakes will go to the San Diego Comic Convention.
Pricing and availability is subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.See official rules on Omaze.
New Labor Day tech sales
Dyson Labor Day sale
Dyson knocked up to $150 off a number of its vacuums and air purifiers for Labor Day. Of note are the Dyson V7 Absolute for $250 and the Dyson V8 Animal for $350. Although both models are a few years old at this point, they remains solid cordless vacuums made even better by these sale prices.
Weber knocked hundreds off its high-end SmokeFire grills — both the EX6 and EX4 are $200 off, bringing them down to $999 and $799, respectively. These WiFi-connected grills are some of our favorites because they're relatively easy for even grilling novices to use and their companion mobile app gives you a number of convenient features like remote temperature adjustment and SmokeBoost activation.
Optoma's CinemaX P2 ultra-short throw projector is $300 off this weekend, bringing it down to a record low of $3,000. This made it onto our list of best projectors because it improves on the P1 while costing less. It can reach up to 3,000 lumens of brightness and it has an improved contrast ration and 80 percent DCI-P3 coverage. You'll get close to a 4K image with this machine, and it looks pretty nice too, so you can leave it out in your living room without drawing too much attention.
Roborock's S6 robot vacuum is down to a record low of $380 thanks to a $102 discount along with a clippable coupon for an extra $168 off. In addition to 2000Pa of suction, this vacuum supports multi-floor mapping, integrated mopping and app and voice control.
You can get up to 35 percent off AeroGarden gadgets when using the code LABORDAY at checkout through September 7. We've long been fans of the Harvest series, which lets you grow multiple herbs and plants indoors without any hassle.
Nanoleaf's Labor Day sale knocks $20 off its triangle LED light kit, bringing it down to $180. It's a cool way to spice up your home office or living room with funky lights and shapes, especially since you can arrange the pieces in any way and control the lights via a mobile app.
BioLite's Labor Day sale has begun and it knocks 20 percent off everything on the company's website. BioLite's gadgets, like the Headlamp 200, has made it into many of our guides in the past, and it's a good place to go when you need new gear for your backyard or for your next camping trip.
One of our recommended VPNs is running a decent sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up for NordVPN for $99 for the first two years, which comes out to $49.50 per year, and get three additional months of access for free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
You can get 15 percent off site-wide at Satechi using the code LDW15 this weekend. We like the company's Bluetooth keyboards and mice, and it also has a wide array of other accessories including USB-C dongles, charging stations, phone and tablet stands and more.
Vantrue's 3-channel dash cam is down to $210 when you clip the on-page coupon and use the code DVVZGJWE at checkout. This is a high-end dash cam that includes a dual camera that records the road ahead as well as the interior of the car, and a separate rear camera for recording what's happening behind you. While that much coverage might be overkill for most, it ensures you'll capture footage at all angles if you're ever in an accident.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, Google plans to surface the shipping and return policies of stores that list items on its platforms to help consumers quickly find out if they can get free delivery and returns on their purchases. You’ll see the labels appear across both free and paid listings. “Free delivery by Friday, December 24th,” says one of the example annotations the company shared. Merchants will need to meet a list of requirements before they can add the labels to their listings, so you won’t see them on every product.
Shipping and return annotations won’t dramatically change your shopping experience, but they make you decide to jump on a product you would have otherwise glossed over. Google has spent much of the last year adding these types of features to its shopping hubs. At I/O 2021, for example, it showed off a feature inside of Chrome that displayed shopping carts you abandoned before completing a purchase in a new tab.
Amazon is ushering in the weekend with a one-day-only sale on a bunch of Razer laptops and gaming accessories. Everything from headsets to mice to microphones has been discounted, but the biggest savings you'll find are on some of the 2020 Razer Blade 15 laptops. Of note is the Raze Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop with a 10th-gen Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which is down to a record-low of $1,700.
Those looking for slightly better graphics and more storage have another option. The Blade 15 Advanced with the same specs as listed above but with NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics and 1TB of storage has dropped down to $2,200, or $285 off its normal price. The 2020 Blade 17 Pro is also on sale: a model with a 10th-gen Core i7 processor, RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $950 off, bringing it down to $2,250. If you're just looking to get your foot in the door with one of these gaming laptops, you can snag the Razer Blade 15 base with a Core i7 processor, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $1,048 (although we did it about $50 less on Prime Day back in June).
The Blade has been one of our favorite gaming notebooks for a while. It's on the pricier side, but it's worth it if you want a slick-looking laptop with a bunch of customization options when it comes to specs. And since it is on the higher end of the price spectrum, it's always better to wait for a sale like this so you can get the model you want while saving a bit of cash. Just keep in mind that these discounted models aren't the latest from Razer. The 2021 laptops came out recently, decked out with 11th-gen Intel processors, NVIDIA RTX 30-series graphics and QHD displays — along with steep price tags to match.
If you already have a solid gaming machine, there are a bunch of Razer peripherals on sale, too. The BlackWidow V3 mechanical keyboard is down to an all-time low of $90, and it has yellow switches, a a digital roller and media key, Chroma RGB lighting and an included wrist rest. Also discounted are the Kraken headset, which is down to $50, and the DeathAdder Essential wired mouse, which you can grab for only $20.
Those looking to snag a new laptop from Apple ahead of the upcoming semester can do so for less if they go through Amazon. The online retailer has the MacBook Pro M1 with 256GB of storage for $200 off right now, bringing it down to $1,099. The sale price is $1,199, but an automatically applied coupon will knock the final cost down to $1,099. If extra storage means a lot to you, the 512GB model has also on sale: it's on sale for $1,299 thanks to a discount plus another automatically applied coupon.
Most people would probably be best served by the MacBook Air M1, but the Pro M1 is a good option for those that want extra graphics power and better cooling. Notably, the Pro M1 has a built-in fan, something that Air M1 lacks, and it helps the laptop handle tough work like 3D rendering and laborious video encoding. In our testing, the MacBook Pro M1 performed similarly to the Air M1 — Apple's SoC allows it to be incredibly fast and efficient, and it'll last all day with its 16.5-hour battery life.
But there are a few limitations to the Pro M1 that are worth considering before buying. Namely, the laptop only supports one external display and there's no external GPU support at all. While the latter is a bit of a niche concern, it's a bummer for those that rely on external cards to boost performance. If you can live with those tradeoffs, the MacBook Pro M1 should make a good workhorse.
If you're looking to move away from traditional laptops all together, Amazon also has some of the highest-powered iPad Pros on sale right now, too. The latest 11-inch iPad Pro with 1TB of storage is $100 off, bringing it down to $1,399. The WiFi + Cellular model has also been discounted by $100, dropping it down to $1,599. These both run on M1 chipsets, so they could easily replace your aging laptop, especially when paired with an accessory like the Magic Keyboard.
Now might be a good time to shop if you're looking for a do-it-all media player. Amazon has dropped the price of the Fire TV Cube to $100 (down $20) as part of a larger sale, making it a tempting option if you'd rather not spring for a separate Alexa device. This isn't the lowest price we've ever seen, but it's still a steep discount for the multi-talented box.
You'll also find significant deals on Amazon's no-frills streamers. The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $38 (normally $50), while the Fire TV Stick Lite has dipped to $25 (usually $30).
The Fire TV Cube has been around for a while, but still holds up as a well-rounded product. It boasts 4K HDR output, a wide range of streaming apps and brisk performance. Alexa, of course, is the real selling point — you can control media playback or your smart home without needing a separate remote or speaker. That might save you money if you'd rather not buy an Echo just to dim the lights for movie night.
There are some quirks. The Cube may prefer some apps for tasks over others, and voice search isn't always guaranteed to work for your service of choice. If you can live with those limitations, though, Amazon's gadget might fit the bill for a long time to come.
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