Even though Black Friday is over three weeks away, some major retailers are getting in on the action early. Among them is Amazon, which has slashed prices on its own devices. One of the products you can save on at the minute is the Kindle, which is $40 off at $50. Kindle Kids, meanwhile, is on sale for $60 (usually $110).
Amazon has also discounted several Fire tablets. Even though you can often find it for $60 (a decent deal in itself), the Fire HD 8 is half off at $45. As such, the tablet is currently less expensive than the $50 Fire 7, which has a smaller screen with lower resolution. Meanwhile, Fire HD 8 Plus, which offers wireless charging and 3GB of RAM rather than 2GB, is currently $55. The tablet typically costs $100, but Amazon often drops that to $80.
Elsewhere, you can pick up a Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 at the moment. The streaming device typically costs around $35, but it can cost as much as $50. As for Echo Glow, Amazon’s nightlight, you can save $10, as it’s down to $20. The lamp doesn’t have a built-in microphone or speaker, but you can use a separate Alexa device to select the brightness and color.
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November has begun with a bang when it comes to tech deals. A whole slew of early Black Friday deals are available right now, making it a good time to cross some items off your gift list. Unsurprisingly, Amazon and Best Buy are the places to go for the best tech deals right now. Some of our favorite headphones and earbuds have hit record-low prices, and there are bunch of discounts on everything from smartwatches to OLED TVs to Instant Pots. Here are the best early Black Friday tech deals you can get right now.
Sony WH-1000XM4
Billy Steele / Engadget
Our favorite pair of Sony headphones, the WH-1000XM4, are down to a record low of $248 right now. We gave these cans a score of 94 for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.
Sony’s excellent WF-1000XM4 earbuds are down to $248 during this sale. We gave them a score of 86 for their great sound quality, powerful ANC and improved battery life.
The Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds are down to $128, or more than $70 off their usual price. We gave these buds a score of 89 for their excellent sound quality, great battery life and comprehensive companion app.
Bose’s QuietComfort earbuds are down to $199, which is a record low. These are some of the company’s best true wireless earbuds and they earned a score of 87 from us for their clear sound, powerful ANC and comfortable size.
The Instant Pot Duo Plus dropped down to its all-time-low price of $60. This multicooker has functions for pressure cooking, slow cooking, yogurt making, sous vide and more, and its six-quart capacity should make enough food for four to six people people.
Jabra’s Elite 85t earbuds are on sale for a new record-low price of $150, which is $80 off its normal price. These earbuds impressed us with their strong ANC, comfortable size and wireless charging case.
JLab’s already affordable Go Air Pop earbuds are down to only $13 right now. These colorful true wireless buds sport an eight-hour battery life, a small and comfortable design and touch controls.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is on sale for $200 right now, which is a new record low. The Watch 4 Classic is also on sale for $320. These remain the best smartwatches for Android users and we gave the Watch 4 a score of 85 for its bright screen, comprehensive health tracking and improved third-party app support.
Samsung’s Tab S7 and S7+ are down to $500 and $700, respectively, during this sale. We gave these Android tablets a score of 80 for their lovely build, striking 120Hz displays and long battery life.
Google’s Nest Audio is down to an all-time low of $60. This is one of the best smart speakers you can get, especially if you already use the Google Assistant. We gave it a score of 87 for its solid audio quality, attractive design and good performance.
The latest Nest Hub is half off, bringing it down to only $50. It earned a score of 89 from us for its speedy performance, clearer and louder audio and accurate sleep tracking sensor.
The Nest Hub Max is on sale for $180 right now. This is the biggest version of Google’s smart display and we gave it a score of 86 for its excellent sound quality, great display and handy gesture controls.
Google’s Nest WiFi system with one router and one access point is on sale for $180. We gave this mesh system a score of 84 for its lovely hardware, simple installation process and built-in smart speaker capabilities.
A 55-inch LG G1 OLED TV will set you back $1,700 if you grab it during this sale. 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 48-inch A1 model for $900. 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.
Vizio’s 55-inch OLED 4K TV is down to $1,000 right now, or $300 off its normal price. This set supports HDR and Dolby Vision, DTS Virtual X surround sound audio and AirPlay and Chromecast technology built in.
Lenovo’s Smart Clock Essential is $20 off, bringing it down to $30. We gave this compact smart alarm clock a score of 83 for its minimalistic design, built-in nightlight, tap-to-snooze feature and good smart home controls.
The new Smart Clock Gen 2 is on sale for $70, or $20 off its normal price. This model has a better processor plus a wireless charging pad that you can use to juice up your smartphone, earbuds or other devices.
Amazon’s latest Echo smart speaker has been discounted to $60, which is a new record low. We gave the orb-shaped device a score of 89 for its good audio quality, solid Alexa performance and stereo pairing option.
The previous-gen Echo Show 8 has fallen to $60 in this sale. While it doesn’t have the improved video camera that the new version does, it’s still a good option if you’re looking for a mid-sized smart display to put in your kitchen, office or elsewhere in your home.
The base Kindle is $40 off, bringing it down to a new low of $50. That’s a great deal if you don’t need the bells and whistles that come with the new Paperwhite edition. We gave the Kindle a score of 91 for its front-lit display, improved contrast panel and sleeker design.
The Eero Pro 6 mesh WiFi three-pack is just about $150 off, bringing it down to an all-time low of $449. This pack can cover 6,000 square feet, supports WiFi 6, has a speedy setup process and works with Alexa.
Facebook’s Portal smart display is on sale for $80, or $100 off its normal price. We gave it a score of 79 for its HD display, smart camera tracking, bevy of video chat features and good sound quality.
The Portal TV has been discounted by $70, bringing it down to $80. This device basically turns your TV into a giant video chat screen and we gave it a score of 78 for its smart camera tracking and immersive video chat experience.
The Fitbit Sense is back down to its record low of $200. This is the company’s most capable smartwatch and it earned a score of 82 from us for its big, sharp display and comprehensive health tracking features.
The Fitbit Inspire 2 tracker is down to a record low of $60 right now. This is one of the Fitbit bands to get if you want a device that lasts up to 10 days on a single charge while tracking daily activity, steps and sleep.
Logitech’s C922 Pro webcam has been discounted to $80, or $20 off its normal price. Recording in up to 1080p/60fps, this webcam is a good one if you want just one gadget for both Zoom calls and game streaming.
This Razer mechanical keyboard is on sale for $80, which is $60 off its normal price. It boasts programmable backlit keys, anti-ghosting with 10-key rollover and an included wrist rest.
Nanoleaf’s Hexagon pack is down to $170, or $30 off its normal price. You can hang these up in your own, unique pattern and they can shine in over 16 million colors. The companion app allows you to create scenes, set schedules and program the lights to change with music you may be playing.
Best Buy slashed $250 off the Ninebot ES2-N electric scooter, bringing it down to $400. This foldable scooter uses 700W of power to reach a max speed of 15.5mph, and its non-pneumatic tires keep you stable even on rough terrain. It also has a built-in headlight for safer riding in the evening and an LED display that shows speed and battery level.
If you’re thinking of getting a laptop or tablet as a gift, you’ve got a wealth of options. Thanks to the latest round of hardware from Intel, Apple, AMD and NVIDIA, all of our portable devices have gotten steadily faster and more efficient. Even the cheapest iPad can be a decent productivity machine, while gaming laptops now have almost all of the power of their desktop siblings. And with the arrival of Windows 11, it’s a perfect time to give someone a nifty PC upgrade, especially since very old computers won’t be able to step up.
Dell XPS 13
Dell
Not to sound like a broken record, but the XPS 13 is still the best Windows ultraportable you can buy. The design hasn’t changed much, but that’s not a huge problem: It’s still incredibly light and features extraordinarily thin screen bezels. And now you can also take advantage of Intel’s latest 11th-generation processors. The XPS 13 can also be configured with an OLED screen, an ideal gift for someone who could use a bright and color accurate display. And if you’ve got someone in mind who could use even more power, the new XPS 15 has the same sleek design, but it has more room for a bigger display and better hardware.
Apple’s MacBook Air hasn’t been upgraded since last year’s miraculous model — which gave it the winning combination of Apple’s M1 processor, a fan-less design, and incredible battery life — but it’s still one of the best laptops on the market. It’s powerful enough to handle most productivity tasks and a few games, and whoever’s lucky enough to get it won’t have to worry about any fans spinning up, since it’s completely passively cooled. You can also find the M1-equipped MacBook Air on sale occasionally, making it one of the smarter gift purchases this season.
Kudos to Apple for continually improving its entry-level iPad. Once again, it’s one of the best tablet gift options on the market. It’s faster than ever, thanks to Apple’s A13 Bionic processor, and it includes more storage. The $329 model now comes with 64GB, or you could bump up to 256GB for $479. That’s more than enough space to save every episode of Bluey and several seasons of Sesame Street to survive long car trips. Sure, the design hasn’t changed much since last year, but that doesn’t matter much — it’s still a more than capable tablet.
Amazon’s Fire tablets are basically just video-first Android slates, but they also prove you don’t have to pay a ton to buy a useful tablet for someone. This year, the Fire HD 10 is a bit faster, has 50 percent more memory and features a slightly brighter screen. And, as a bonus, there’s a Bluetooth keyboard accessory that can turn it into a cheap productivity tablet. But its core selling point is the same as always: it can tackle most tablet tasks easily, and it won’t cost too much. (There are also kid-centric Fire tablets worth considering, which come with a more durable case and two years worth of free replacements.)
You can take all of the praise we’ve given Razer’s Blade 15 over the years and apply it to the latest model. Razer’s flagship gaming notebook still has a sleek unibody aluminum case, and it packs in the latest CPUs and GPUs, including NVIDIA’s top-end RTX 3080. And thanks to improved screen choices, you can also gift models with fast 1,440p displays, which are sharper than 1080p screens, and easier to run natively than 4K displays. If portability is a greater concern, take a look at the new Razer Blade 14, a sub-four-pound notebook sporting AMD’s latest processors.
If the gamer in your life wants something more flashy and a bit lighter than the Razer Blade, consider the Zephyrus G15. With the combined power of AMD’s latest processors and NVIDIA’s latest graphics cards, it’ll handle practically any game thrown at it. And if you’re on a budget, you can find lower-end models cheaper than the equivalent Razer’s. Mostly, though, we love this laptop because it has pretty much everything we’d want in a mobile gaming rig — that includes an excellent keyboard, a speedy 165Hz 1440p screen and excellent battery life. The only downside is that there’s no webcam, but any aspiring streamer would rather have a separate external camera anyway.
The best Chromebooks are cheap, sturdy and powerful enough to handle basic school and office work. Acer’s Chromebook 512 is one of the best current options, especially if you’re looking for something for a child. It has a spill resistant keyboard, a sturdy impact-resistant case, and anchored keys that are harder for kids to pull off. Its Intel Celeron N4000 chip isn’t the fastest, but it’s enough to work on Google Docs, Sheets and Presentations without breaking too much of a sweat.
Sometimes it seems like there are just too many PC ultraportables to choose from, but Microsoft’s Surface Laptop line are always a solid option. They feature some of the best keyboards on the market, excellent displays and support for all of Microsoft’s notebook accessories, like the Surface Stylus. But mostly, we appreciate them for their design simplicity. They’re sturdy, attractive and built for productivity. The latest 15-inch model also packs in speedy AMD processors that are powerful enough to play a few rounds of Overwatch.
The original Super Mario Bros. changed the course of video games as we know it, and arguably the most influential game of all time. And what better way to celebrate that than with a Super Mario Bros light with stackable, interchangeable, light blocks? Okay, I’m sure there actually are better ways to celebrate that, but this article isn’t about those. This is about the light.
The Build-A-Light level, available from FireBox, includes a lighted base and 16 double-sided light blocks to stack as you see fit, constructing the perfect level and lighting ambiance for your gaming room. Or your bedroom. Granted my wife said there will be no Mario light in our bedroom, but she also said the same thing about food, and I keep a stash of OREOs in my bedside table.
But do you think they’ll also release a Super Mario Bros. 3 version if this one is a financial success? Because I’d buy one of those too. And a Metroid one! And The Legend of Zelda! Actually just take my wallet already, Nintendo, you win.
Global leaders (well, most of them anyway) are convening in Glasgow for a major United Nations conference. Some will travel by private or chartered plane, including countless titans of business who will show up in Glasgow to talk up their nebulous climate goals as proof that their companies are good corporate citizens.
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