You're probably hoping to cross off a few big items from your holiday shopping list during Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale. But don't forget about the little things, either. Sale events like this are a good opportunity to pick up affordable gadgets that make great stocking stuffers or gifts for people who are hard to shop for. Plus, you may be able to find things like charging cables, accessories and other tech items on discount that you've been meaning to buy for yourself. To make things easier for you, we've collected all of the best gadgets that you can get for under $50 for this October Prime Day right here.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD card

Samsung's Pro Plus microSD card in 128GB is nearly half off and down to only $18 for Prime Day. It also comes with an adapter, so you can use it with more types of devices. You'll get read/write speeds of up to 160MB/s and 120MB/s, respectively, and a card that's temperature, magnet- and drop-resistant.

Anker charging accessories

Anker

Anker is having a huge sale on charging gadgets for Prime Day, and while not all of them are under $50, many of them are. Now's the time to grab an extra cable or two, a multiport adapter, a lightweight portable battery pack and other things that you'll want to take with you wherever you go.

Razer Seiren Mini

Razer's Seiren Mini microphone is $10 off and down to $40, which is only $5 more than its record low. It's an ultra-compact, USB mic can come with you anywhere to amplify your voice on video calls and game streams.

SteelSeries Arctis 3 Console

The console version of the SteelSeries Arctis 3 wired headset is on sale for only $34. It works with the PS5, Xbox Series X and S, the Nintendo Switch and other gaming devices, plus it has a clear cast microphone built in and a comfortable yet durable design.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

The latest Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale for $27, or $23 less than normal. It builds upon the technology in the Streaming Stick+, supporting 4K HDR10+ content, Dolby Vision, long-range WiFi, voice search and TV controls with the included remote.

Roku Express

Roku's Express streaming dongle is on sale for $18, which is $12 off its usual rate. Like Amazon's own budget streaming devices, the Express doesn't have a ton of fancy features, but it does support HD content and it comes with a high-speed HDMI cable. The Express 4K+ streamer is also on sale for $25.

Jabra Elite 3

Jabra's excellent Elite 3 earbuds have dropped to $50, or $30 off their normal rate. These already affordable buds earned a score of 88 from us for their impressive sound quality, good battery life, reliable touch controls and comfortable fit.

Echo Show 5

The Echo Show 5 is on sale for $35, or a whopping 59 percent off its usual price. If you want a smart alarm clock, this is the smart display to get. We like its sharp 5-inch display, ambient light sensor, smart home controls and tap-to-snooze feature.

Fire 7 (2022)

The 2022 Fire 7 tablet is on sale for $45, or 25 percent off its usual price. If you're looking for a cheap tablet to bring with you everywhere or to give your kid without worry, this is a good option. While it doesn't have the Google Play Store, you can still use it to check email, watch videos, play music and more.

Fire HD 8

The Fire HD 8 tablet is half off and down to $45. We gave it a score of 81 for its decent performance, good battery life, wireless charging capabilities and USB-C port.

Fire TV Stick

The standard Fire TV Stick is on sale for $20. It supports 1080p streaming with Dolby Atmos and it comes with an Alexa Voice Remote that has power and volume buttons on it.

Fire TV Stick 4K

The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $25 for October Prime Day, which is half off its normal price. This one supports 4K streaming with Dolby Vision along with Dolby Atmos audio and Amazon's Fire TV OS.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

The higher-end Fire TV Stick 4K Max has dropped to $35, which is $20 less than usual and a record low. On top of all of the features in the standard Fire TV Stick 4K, the Max version also supports WiFi 6 and live picture-in-picture viewing.

Blink Mini

You can get two Blink Mini wired security cameras for only $30 for this October Prime Day. This camera needs to be plugged in, but we like its compact design, 1080p recording, motion alerts and two-way audio.

Amazon Smart Plug

Amazon's smart plug is 48 percent off and down to only $13. You can plug almost any "dumb" appliance into this accessory to make it a smart one that can be controlled via a companion app and with Alexa voice commands.

Kasa Smart Plug Mini (4 pack)

TP-Link

A four pack of Kasa's mini smart plugs is on sale for only $24. These tiny accessories let you turn almost any appliance into a smart one, allowing you to turn them on and off remotely set usage schedules and more.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

You'll eventually have another way to access Xbox Cloud Gaming titles beyond consoles, PCs, tablets and phones. Microsoft is working with Meta to bring the service to the Meta Quest Store, which means it will be available on Meta Quest 2 headsets and perhaps even Meta Quest Pro.

A Game Pass Ultimate subscription is required to use Xbox Cloud Gaming. On Meta Quest 2, you'll be able to play console games from the service on a giant virtual 2D screen, so you won't actually be playing VR versions of them. What's more, you won't need to use the Quest 2 controllers either. You'll have the option to connect an Xbox controller to your Quest 2.  

Microsoft and Meta haven't said exactly when Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available on the headset. However, they hope to share more details soon.

Meta is making a big push to sell its new Quest Pro to office workers. At Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg showed off upcoming integrations with Zoom and Microsoft teams, along with a slew of other features meant to make the headset more appealing to businesses.

The updates are the clearest sign yet that Meta is keen to position the $1500 Quest Pro as a business and productivity tool, and that it sees offices as a key part of its vision for the metaverse. And Horizon Workrooms, the VR meeting software launched in beta last year, is central to that pitch.

Among the updates: new integrations with Zoom and Microsoft Teams so people can call into meetings happening in VR. With the change, people will be able to join colleagues meeting in VR Horizon Workrooms from their non-VR devices. In a blog post, Meta said the Zoom integration, expected “early in 2023” will give “more options on how you choose to show up.”

Likewise, the integration with Microsoft’s Teams will enable participants to join more “immersive” meetings in Teams from Horizon Workrooms. The company hasn’t said when the tie-in with Teams could be available, but the feature is part of a broader partnership with Microsoft to bring its productivity apps to Quest.

Meta

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined Zuckerberg to announce that the company was also working Windows 365 for the Quest Pro and Quest 2, and that content from Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook would be viewable from the headsets. Meta’s newly improved avatars will also be available in Teams.

Meta also showed off improvements to existing Workrooms features, like the ability to add sticky notes to VR whiteboards, and the ability to collaboratively view 3D models. The company is also riffing on a popular Zoom feature with the ability to form smaller breakout groups within larger meetings. And for solo office tasks, workers will be able to work from up to three virtual screens in Workrooms and add up to four customizable “personal environments.”

Meta

Zuckerberg also teased a new feature called “magic rooms” that will allow teams to work together in mixed reality, rather than solely in VR workspaces. He said the feature will be suited to hybrid teams, where there are people working remotely with groups of people who are in the same physical space. "Everyone is present and has the same tools, whether they're in full VR or in mixed reality," he explained. Ina. blog post, Meta said magic rooms are currently being tested internally, and could launch more widely sometime in 2023.

Also coming in 2023 will be a new “Quest for Business” subscription bundle that comes with device management controls and security features so businesses’ can manage Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets the way they would with company-issued laptops or mobile phones. The bundle will also include access to “premium support” features.

Following the demise of smartphone-based headsets like Samsung's Gear VR and Google’s Daydream, virtual reality headsets have generally fallen into two camps: lightweight standalone systems like the Quest 2 and more sophisticated PC-based systems like the Vive Pro 2 and Valve Index.

But with the new Quest Pro, Meta is trying to combine the best things about both types of headsets into a powerful, but still very comfortable, self-contained unit. In fact, Meta believes so strongly in its next headset that prior to a demo session for press, Meta Product Management Lead Rupa Rao described the Quest Pro as “the beginning of an evolution in VR. It’s going to be our first multi-functional immersive computing platform that will enable the metaverse.” And after getting the chance to try it out myself, I can definitely see where that confidence is coming from.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Compared to the Quest 2, the Quest Pro is packing some major hardware upgrades including an all-new design, 10 sensors (both inward and outward facing) and completely revamped optics. The Quest Pro is also the first device to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ chip along with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a 90Hz refresh rate, which Meta says delivers 50 percent better performance than the Quest 2.

But to me, one of the best things about the Quest 2 is how comfortable it is. Due to its increased horsepower, it needs a way bigger battery. But instead of cramming a big power pack up front and making the whole headset unbalanced, Meta used a curved cell that’s integrated into the Quest Pro’s headband. Putting on the headset is also dead simple, as it sits on your head more like a visor and less like a helmet. This design allows you to peek at meatspace using your peripheral vision, which was an intentional choice by Meta: One of the company’s goals was to create something that lets you interact in both VR and IRL simultaneously. That said, if you want total immersion, there are side-mounted blinders that come in the box, in addition to optional full light blockers (though you’ll have to pay an extra $50 for those).

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Adjusting the fit is also super straightforward. There’s a dial in back to tighten the headband. And for IPD interpupillary distance), you can move each eyecup left or right individually as needed. When it comes to optics, while the Quest Pro isn’t quite as light as the Quest 2, Meta switched to new pancake optics that are 40-percent thinner than traditional fresnel lenses to reduce the thickness of the headset.

Meanwhile, with a per-eye resolution of 1800 x 1920, the Quest Pro has a higher pixel density than the Valve Index (1440 x 1600 per eye) and the Quest 2, though it still can’t match stuff like the Vive Pro 2 (2448 × 2448 per eye). But even without a super high pixels per inch figure, visuals look great. Meta has managed to almost completely eliminate the screen door effect on a headset that doesn’t need to be tethered to a PC. It’s a great balance of resolution and high-fidelity graphics, with a battery that lasts between 60 and 90 minutes on a charge. And for those who want even longer VR sessions, you can also power the Quest Pro using the headset’s included charging cable.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Quest Pro’s 10 sensors are split between five exterior cams and five inward facing ones. The outward-facing sensors serve two main purposes: they support full-color passthrough (the beta version of this on the Quest 2 is only black-and-white) so you can easily see the world around you from inside the headset. This makes it easier to switch between VR and meatspace without getting disorientated. And because Meta’s passthrough looks pretty sharp, it’s easy to see relatively small objects like keys on a keyboard (though not necessarily the letters printed on them).

But more importantly, the exterior cameras support what Meta calls scene understanding, which is part of the company’s presence platform. Scene understanding allows the Quest Pro’s exterior sensors to detect objects in the real world like walls, desks, tables, etc. While it might seem simple, this has a huge impact. For example, after I used the Painting VR app to create my very own Bob Ross, I was able to hang the painting on a wall in the room, so that anyone else who visited the space could see it too.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But it’s not just paintings either, because scene understanding allows the headset to do stuff like place a whiteboard on a wall for virtual work collaboration and even recognize stuff like a keyboard, so you can have multiple virtual screens set up in Meta’s Horizon Workrooms office app while still being able to bang away on physical keys. Really, scene understanding feels like a critical piece of Meta’s attempt to integrate VR with the real world, and because it's built into the company’s presence platform, developers can also easily use related APIs to support the tech in their apps.

Meanwhile, the Quest Pro’s inward-facing sensors are there to track your eye and facial movements. This supports stuff like foveated rendering, which allows the headset to provide sharp visuals where you're looking, while dialing down performance on graphics in your peripheral vision, which helps reduce the overall processing load. But honestly, while I know it might sound creepy, the eye and facial tracking make such a big impact when interacting with people in VR.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

During my first demo of the Quest Pro in Horizon Workrooms, I had another representative from Meta showing various features, and one of the first things I noticed was that being able to read facial expressions and accurate head and eye movements just made conversation feel a lot more natural. Instead of having to remember to respond to every question with a verbal “Yes,” I could simply nod my head, and the other person would know to move on. This removes a lot of the awkwardness of interacting with people in a virtual space, which is often cited as a big barrier to VR adoption.

The Quest Pro’s face and eye-tracking goes further than that too though, because in addition to making avatars look more lifelike, it can also be used in games for stuff like motion capture or animating alien creatures using your own movements. Developers can even adjust some basic sliders to create more exaggerated effects. And once again, because eye and face tracking is built into Meta’s presence platform, the development tools are easy to access.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Aside from the headset, Meta also completely redesigned the Quest Pro’s controllers, which as a nice bonus will be backward compatible with the Quest 2. The new controllers have sensors built in, rather than relying on headset cameras to track their movements, which means you don’t need the big loops used on the Quest 2’s joysticks. But once again, those sensors also support much more precise hand and finger tracking. And it kind of just works. Using the Quest Pro’s controllers to paint and grab virtual objects felt incredibly intuitive. There was even a demo that let me play games like Jenga and Operation. And because the controllers felt so responsive, the tension was very palpable when I tried to remove blocks without knocking the whole tower down.

Over the course of about two hours of demos in seven or eight different apps, I came away thoroughly impressed. The Quest Pro might be the most comfortable VR headset I’ve ever used, particularly on a self-contained system with graphics this good. Getting in and out of the headset wasn’t that much more difficult than putting on a hat and putting my hands through the safety straps on the controllers, just like you would with a Wiimote or Nintendo Switch Joy-Con. And it’s important to remember that all of this is coming from a standalone headset, which means you don’t need to worry about wires or tethering it to a nearby and (probably expensive) PC with a discrete GPU.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, I still have a couple of small quibbles with the Quest Pro. I think its controllers really need better hand straps like those attached to the Valve Index’s joysticks, so you can more easily switch between using buttons and finger gestures without worrying about dropping them. And then there’s its price: $1,500. Given all the tech inside, I don’t think that cost is unjustified. But at the same time, that’s five times the price of a Quest 2, so it’s going to take a lot more justification to pony up that much money for a headset that’s still sort of in search of a purpose, at least for the general consumer. And let’s not forget, Meta remains very much in the process of building out a cohesive virtual world that people will want to visit. Especially in light of recent reports that even many of the company’s employees have been avoiding using Horizon Worlds due to bugs and issues with quality control.

But it really feels like Meta has addressed all the big hardware concerns. Face and eye-tracking unlock more natural conversations in VR. More precise hand and finger tracking make it easier to interact with virtual objects. And with a lightweight and very comfortable standalone headset that delivers better visuals than most of the tethered alternatives out there (aside from super expensive enterprise options like Varjo’s VR-3 and the like), the whole kit is super easy to use. The headset even comes with a wireless charging dock, which despite being a bit fiddly, makes it easy to store and have the headset ready to use whenever you need it.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

After using the Quest Pro, I feel like this is the headset Meta really needs to provide a high-quality VR experience for building out apps and environments. Now I still don’t know if this is enough to convince people to work and live in VR, but when it comes to enabling the Metaverse, the Quest Pro seems like the big building block for making that happen

Pre-orders for the Quest Pro go live today, with official sales beginning on October 25th.

Maybe you have someone in your life who's an avid gamer or game streamer and you want to get them something to take their hobby to the next level. You're in luck — Amazon's October Prime Day has proven to be a boon for gaming deals, discounting everything from gaming laptops to keyboards to controllers and more. A bunch of brands are included, too, like Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries and more, so you may be able to find exactly what they've been asking for at a more affordable price. Here are the best gaming deals we found for the Prime Day Early Access Sale.

Elgato Stream Deck

Elgato

Elgato's Stream Deck is down to $90 for October Prime Day, or $50 off its normal price. This is a handy accessory to have for game streamer because you can customize its 15 LCD keys to do things like open apps, switch scenes, adjust audio and more.

Razer Blade 14

The Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage is $800 off and down to $2,000. The Blade is one of our favorite gaming laptops thanks to its sleek design and strong performance, and this model has a 14-inch QHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate. It's part of a larger sale on Amazon where you'll find a number of gaming laptops at discounted prices.

SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless

SteelSeries

A number of SteelSeries headsets have been discounted in this sale, with one of the best being the wireless SteelSeries Arctis 1 for only $70. It supports ultra-low latency connectivity, a detachable microphone and a USB-C adapter for use with the Nintendo Switch and Android phones.

Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld

Logitech

Logitech's new G Cloud gaming handheld device hasn't even officially come out yet, but you can get it for $50 less than its starting price right now. It supports mobile gaming at 1080p, 60fps, along with haptic feedback, gyroscope controls and remappable buttons.

Logitech Blue Yeti

Logitech's Blue Yeti mic is on sale for $90 right now — not an all-time low, but close to it. It's a solid choice for game streamers, aspiring podcasters or anyone who just wants to sound better on video conference calls. It supports four pickup patterns, onboard controls and a plug-and-play design.

Logitech Blue Yeti Nano

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

Logitech's Blue Yeti Nano mic is on sale for $70 right now. This has been a long-time favorite of ours tanks to its compact design, cardioid and omni pickup patterns and its onboard controls.

Razer Seiren Mini

Razer

Razer's Seiren Mini microphone is $10 off and down to $40, which is only $5 more than its record low. It's an ultra-compact, USB mic can come with you anywhere to amplify your voice on video calls and game streams.

Razer Viper Ultimate

Razer

Razer's Viper Ultimate gaming mouse is down to $60 for this sale. We like is ambidextrous design that makes it good for both right- and left-handed gamers, plus its light weight, low latency and eight programmable buttons.

Razer BlackWidow V3

Razer

Razer's BlackWidow V3 mechanical keyboard has dropped to $95 for this sale. It comes with doubleshot ABS keycaps, customizable Razer Chroma lighting and an ergonomic wrist rest.

SteelSeries Arctis 3 Console

SteelSeries

The console version of the SteelSeries Arctis 3 wired headset is on sale for only $34. It works with the PS5, Xbox Series X and S, the Nintendo Switch and other gaming devices, plus it has a clear cast microphone built in and a comfortable yet durable design.

49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9 gaming monitor

Samsung

Samsung's massive Odyssey G9 curved monitor has dropped to $1,000, which is $400 off its usual price. It's a QLED panel and it supports both NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, plus a 240Hz refresh rate.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

During the first Prime Day this year back in July, we saw a bunch of our favorite microSD cards, portable drives, internal SSDs and other storage devices drop to record-low prices. Now for Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale, many of those same items have been deeply discounted again. It's a good opportunity to pick up a new microSD card for your Nintendo Switch, a speedy drive for that PS5 you finally got your hands on or a pocket-sized SSD for that person in your life who wants to take all of their digital files with them when they're on the go. Here are the best storage deals we found for Amazon's October Prime Day.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD card

Samsung

Samsung's Pro Plus microSD card in 128GB is nearly half off and down to only $18 for Prime Day. It also comes with an adapter, so you can use it with more types of devices. You'll get read/write speeds of up to 160MB/s and 120MB/s, respectively, and a card that's temperature, magnet- and drop-resistant.

Crucial MX500 SSD

Crucial's MX500 in 1TB is on sale for $76, or 24 percent off its usual price. It’s a good option if you need a standard 2.5-inch drive that works with both laptops and desktops. It also has AES-256 bit hardware encryption and integrated power loss immunity to protect your data.

Samsung T7 Shield

Samsung's new T7 Shield portable SSD is down to $110 for this sale. Samsung just came out with these drives back in April, and they're designed to be more durable versions of the standard T7 series with extra drop protection and an IP65-rated design. The other T7 models are also on sale: you can pick up the 500GB T7 Touch for $70 and the 1TB T7 drive for $95.

Samsung 980 Pro SSD

Samsung's 980 Pro is one of the best internal SSDs you can get right now and it's 44 percent off and down to $129 right now. You're getting the drive and a heatsink, which means it'll be ready to use in your new PS5 almost out of the box. It has sequential read speeds up to 7,000MB/s and it'll work with the PS5 as long as you have a heatsink attached.

Crucial X6 SSD

Crucial's compact X6 portable drive in 1TB has been discounted to $80. It supports 800 MB/s read speeds, plus it works with all kinds of machines include Windows, Mac, Android and iPad devices, and even game consoles if you have the right connecting cable.

Crucial P5 Plus SSD

Crucial's P5 Plus SSD in 2TB is a whopping 47 percent off and down to $170. It's one of our favorite drives for the PS5 thanks to its 6,600 MB/s sequential read speeds, plus its relatively budget-friendly starting price.

SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD

SanDisk's Extreme Pro SSD in 1TB is down to $170 right now, or 45 percent off its usual rate. We like its compact, durable design that's IP55 water- and dust-resistant, plus its support for up to 2,000 MB/s read and write speeds.

Western Digital Red Plus NAS internal HDD

Western Digital

WD's 8TB Red Plus internal drive is nearly 50 percent off and down to only $130. If you're ok with adding an HDD rather than an SSD to your system, this is a good way to get a huge amount of storage without spending too much money.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Google has announced a string of updates for Workspace, including one that may be especially useful for those tasked with recording meeting minutes. Users can already save Google Meet calls as video files and they'll soon get an automatic transcription of their meetings too. You'll be able to receive a transcript in a Google Doc. This feature will be available in English starting this week. Support for French, German, Spanish and Portuguese is coming next year. This follows an expansion of live translated captions for those languages.

Later this month, Google will roll out a Meet feature that will automatically center meeting participants in the frame of their video tile before they join a call. You'll be able to reframe yourself manually at any time.

Google

Looking further ahead, Google revealed two other useful Meet features that will arrive in early 2023. One called "meeting room check-in" will let everyone see a list of all participants, which seems like an overdue update. It will also show the names of multiple people who are joining a call from the same physical conference room.

Meanwhile, the second-screen Companion Mode feature is moving beyond the web, Nest Hub Max and Meet-dedicated hardware to mobile. You'll be able to virtually raise your hand, chat and ask questions from your phone while you're on a call on your computer or tablet.

Elsewhere, Google will support inline threaded conversations in Google Chat starting later this month. It will try to take on the likes of Slack on another front by offering custom emoji later this year.

It's always a good idea to check out the laptops and tablets on sale during Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale. We saw a bunch of great deals for the first shopping event this year back in July, and now for October Prime Day, another swath of discounts has pop up. While buying a laptop from Amazon isn't as flexible as it is when you're buying one directly from the manufacturer, it's still a good way to get your hands on a new machine. You're mostly limited by the number of configurations Amazon has available at the time. So if you want to spec out your new machine to a tee, we recommend going directly to Dell, Razer, Lenovo and other OEMs to do so — but if you're fine with a pre-made model, Amazon can be a good place to get a laptop for less. Here are the best deals on laptops and tablets we found for this October Prime Day.

MacBook Air M1

The previous-generation MacBook Air with the M1 chipset is on sale for a new low of $799. Although the latest model is outfitted with the M2 chip, this version remains a solid, speedy laptop. We gave it a score of 94 for its impressive performance, excellent keyboard and trackpad and fanless design.

iPad

The 10.2-inch iPad is down to $269. We gave it a score of 86 for its improved performance, excellent battery life, better front-facing camera and increased base storage.

iPad Air M1

Apple's latest iPad Air with the M1 chipset is on sale for $519. We gave it a score of 90 for its extremely fast performance, improved front camera and excellent battery life.

iPad mini

Apple's latest iPad mini is $100 off and down to $399 right now. We consider it to be the best small tablet you can get, and it earned a score of 89 from us for its refined design, Center Stage cameras, solid performance and good battery life.

iPad Pros

Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M1 chipset is cheaper than ever with a starting price of $899. This version earned a score of 87 from us for its excellent performance, gorgeous screen and new Center Stage cameras.

Razer Blade 14

Engadget

The Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage is $800 off and down to $2,000. The Blade is one of our favorite gaming laptops thanks to its sleek design and strong performance, and this model has a 14-inch QHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Microsoft's 13-inch Surface Laptop 4 is on sale for $899 right now, and you're getting an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for that price. That's a fairly powerful configuration, so the fact that you can get it for less than $1,000 makes it a great deal. We gave the 15-inch model a score of 87 for its speedy performance, great keyboard and excellent battery life.

Acer Aspire 5

Acer

Acer's Aspire 5 laptop has been discounted by $120, bringing it down to $260. The Aspire 5 series is a solid option for those looking for an affordable Windows laptop. This model on sale includes an 11th-gen Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Lenovo's 2-in-1 Chromebook is $150 off and down to $280, which is a record-low price. This model earned a spot on our list of favorite Chromebooks thanks to its bright touchscreen, backlit keyboard and its combination of USB-C and USB-A ports. The model on sale includes an 11th-gen Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

ASUS Chromebook Flip C434

ASUS

ASUS's convertible Chromebook is on sale for $350, which is $190 off its usual price and a record low. This particular version has a 14-inch FHD touchscreen, a Core M3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Amazon's Prime Early Access sale may represent an ideal opportunity to snag a high-performance portable. The company is selling Razer's late 2021 Blade 14 gaming laptop for $2,000, or a whopping $800 off. That gets you an eight-core Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, a smooth 165Hz 1440p display, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and, crucially, GeForce RTX 3080 graphics. This is an easy-to-carry machine that can readily handle the latest games.

This Blade 14 configuration isn't using one of the latest Ryzen chips, but it's still a beast that competes well against other gaming laptops, including larger 15- and 16-inch systems. You'll have plenty of ports, and the display is a treat whether or not you're engrossed in the latest action title. Combine this with a 3.9-pound weight and Razer's system might be ideal if you want a do-anything computer that can follow you most anywhere.

There are a few sacrifices. As you might guess, a Ryzen 9 and an RTX 3080 generate a lot of heat in this form factor. The keyboard is a bit cramped, and you'll be stuck with the included RAM. You'll want to look elsewhere if you either game directly on your lap or see yourself requiring 32GB of memory in the future. With this kind of discount, though, you're getting a lot for the money.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

If you're ready to upgrade your living room setup before the cold, winter months arrive, Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale has a bunch of deals you should consider. It's not often that most people upgrade their TVs, but this sales event has a number of good discounts on TV sets of all sizes from brands including LG, Samsung, Sony and others. For those that are already happy with their tube, Amazon has also discounted a bunch of home theater gadgets include streaming devices, soundbars and more, so you can upgrade your setup in a different way. Here are the best TV and home entertainment deals we found for this October Prime Day.

Apple TV 4K

The latest Apple TV 4K has dropped to $109. While on the expensive side, it's a set-top box that Apple lovers will appreciate. We gave it a score of 90 for its speedy performance, Dolby Vision and Atmos support and much improved Siri remote.

Fire TV Cube (previous-gen)

Amazon's previous-generation Fire TV Cube is on sale for $60, or half off its regular price. It supports 4K streaming, Dolby Vision and Atmos, plus hands-free Alexa controls.

Fire TV Stick

The standard Fire TV Stick is on sale for $20. It supports 1080p streaming with Dolby Atmos and it comes with an Alexa Voice Remote that has power and volume buttons on it.

Fire TV Stick 4K

The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $25 for October Prime Day, which is half off its normal price. This one supports 4K streaming with Dolby Vision along with Dolby Atmos audio and Amazon's Fire TV OS.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

The higher-end Fire TV Stick 4K Max has dropped to $35, which is $20 less than usual and a record low. On top of all of the features in the standard Fire TV Stick 4K, the Max version also supports WiFi 6 and live picture-in-picture viewing.

Roku Express

Roku's Express streaming dongle is on sale for $18, which is $12 off its usual rate. Like Amazon's own budget streaming devices, the Express doesn't have a ton of fancy features, but it does support HD content and it comes with a high-speed HDMI cable. The Express 4K+ streamer is also on sale for $25.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

The latest Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale for $27, or $23 less than normal. It builds upon the technology in the Streaming Stick+, supporting 4K HDR10+ content, Dolby Vision, long-range WiFi, voice search and TV controls with the included remote.

Sony OLED TVs

Sony

A bunch of Sony OLED TVs sets have been discounted for October Prime Day, key among them being the 55-inch Sony A90J Bravia XR OLED smart TV for $1,798, which is 28 percent off and a record low. This model includes Sony's Cognitive Processor XR, Motion Clarity with a 120Hz refresh rate plus support for Google Assistant and Alexa voice commands.

LG OLED TVs

A number of LG OLED TVs are on sale for Prime Day, with one of the best deals being the 48-inch A1 OLED smart TV for only $645. This is one of the company's more affordable OLED sets and it runs on LG's a7 Gen 4 AI Processor 4K and supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, Game Optimizer and voice controls with Alexa and the Google Assistant.

Samsung TVs

Samsung

Plenty of Samsung TVs are on sale for Prime Day, including a 32-inch The Frame model that's coming in at less than $400. The Frame is a good series to consider if you don't want your TV to look like your typical black box when not in use since you can set it to show artwork while it's idle.

Hisense TVs

Hisense

Hisense has also discounted a bunch of its TVs, and you can pick up a number of solid models for less than $1,000. For example, this 50-inch ULED U6 Series Quantum Dot TV is on sale for $445, while this 65-inch ULED Premium 65U8G QLED TV is down to $800 for this sale.

Vizio Elevate soundbar

Vizio

Vizio's Elevate soundbar is on sale for $700, or $400 off its normal price. It has multiple speakers inside the main portion that rotate upward whenever you're playing Dolby Atmos or DTS:X content. Plus, the whole system has 18 speakers, including a wireless subwoofer and two satellite surround speakers that you can position anywhere in the room.

Samsung Premiere projector

Samsung

Samsung's Premiere ultra-short-throw projector is a whopping $1,000 off and down to $2,498, which is close to its record-low price. This model supports 4K picture, 2,200 lumens of brightness and a built-in smart TV interface that makes it easy to access services like Prime Video and others.

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