Solo Stove firepits are up to 40 percent off, plus the rest of this week’s best tech deals
Labor Day weekend doesn’t hit until next week, but we’re already seeing a few pre-holiday sales. Solo Stove fire pits are up to 40 percent off and if you order this weekend, your new pit should arrive in time for the holiday. Microsoft has discounted its Xbox wireless controllers and some gaming laptops from Acer and Razer are also getting 40 percent discounts. Bundles that include a Sony Bravia XR TV and a PS5 console are between $450 and $1,050 off and the three-quart Instant Pot Duo is down to $60. For your audio needs, the new Beats Studio Pro headphones are $100 off while Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139. And if you’ve got your eye on Apples’s new 15-inch MacBook Air, this might be a good time to buy as it has dropped back down to $1,099. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Solo Stove Labor Day sale
Solo Stove is having a Labor Day sale from now through the holiday weekend that will take up to 40 percent off single items and 50 percent off of some bundles. The sale includes the company’s most popular fire pit, the Bonfire 2.0, which also happens to be one of our favorite pieces of outdoor equipment for fall. It’s down to $240 which is a 40 percent discount. The Bonfire falls in the middle of Solo Stove’s range, measuring around 19-inches across and weighing 23 pounds. The real selling point for these backyard buddies is the recirculating design that re-burns the smoke so less of it gets in your eyes. The Backyard Bonfire Bundle 2.0, which adds extras like a carrying case, lid and shield, is usually $840 but down to $425 during the sale. The smaller Ranger and ultra big Yukon are also discounted, by $100 and $310, respectively.
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air M2
Different configurations of Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air are $200 off at Amazon, B&H Photo and Best Buy. That makes the 8GB RAM/256GB SSD model $1,099 and the 8GB/512GB model $1,299. Note that the discount applies to only the Midnight colorway at Best Buy and B&H, but all colors appear to be on sale at Amazon. A version with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $100 off at B&H Photo.
The new Air impressed Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham during his review. It’s still super thin and portable, but the extra screen real estate is able to make the most of the M2 chip’s processing power. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and the battery life lasted even longer than the promised 18 hours in Nate’s rundown tests.
Xbox Wireless Controller
The standard Xbox Wireless Controller is down to $44 at Amazon and Walmart right now. That’s the lowest price its gone for since last year’s Black Friday sales, when it was $39. The discount applies to the controller in white, black or red. Other colorways are discounted too, but cost $5 more. The gamepads are compatible with the Series X and S consoles and offer a Bluetooth connection for PCs or mobile Android devices — you can also use it wired if you prefer. One hitch is its reliance on AA batteries, forcing you to buy a battery pack for $25 for the convenience of recharging.
The Elite Series 2 controller is also on sale. It includes myriad ways to customize the controls including adjustable-tension, swappable thumbsticks, extra paddles and D-pads, wraparound rubberized grips and a charging dock. It’s down to $140 at Amazon or straight from Microsoft after a 22 percent discount, which is just a few dollars more than its all-time low.
Razer, MSI and Acer gaming laptops
A bunch of Intel-powered gaming laptops are on sale right now at Amazon, including a few of our top picks from Acer and Razer. One call-out is the Acer Nitro 5, which is down to $640 instead of $800 and the steepest discount we’ve seen on one of our top budget gaming laptops. This configuration has a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card and 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It supports WiFi 6 and has a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate.
The Razer Blade 15, which is our favorite premium gaming laptop, is also on sale. A 33 percent discount brings the rather spendy $3,000 machine down to a more palatable $2,000. This version comes with a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, it has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Best of all it weighs just 4.4 pounds which is pretty lightweight for a high-powered gaming laptop.
Google Pixel Buds Pro
Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 at Amazon, which matches the Prime Day price they hit back in July. We named these the best wireless earbuds for Android users in our guide because they deliver deep punchy bass, great active noise cancelation and have responsive touch controls. The case gives you wireless charging abilities and the buds themselves are rated IPX4, which means they can handle a splash of water or a sweaty workout and keep churning out the music.
Apple iPad (10th generation)
Apple’s standard iPad with WiFi connectivity and 64GB of storage is back down to $399 at Amazon and Best Buy, which is a $50 discount and the lowest price it’s sold for yet. All four colors are available from Best Buy, but Amazon currently only has it in pink. We’ve seen this sale come and go a few times now, so you my want to grab it before it pops back up to full price.
We gave the tablet a score of 85 in our review thanks to the sleek modern design with thinner bezels and flatter edges. It now has a USB-C port, unlike the previous gen iPad, and Apple wisely gave it a landscape-oriented front camera. It uses the A14 Bionic chip, which isn’t Apple’s latest M-series, in-house silicon, but was powerful enough to handle a moderate workload of word processing, email, messaging apps and photo editing. The battery is also impressive, lasting for 11 hours and 45 minutes in our video run-down test.
Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar
Sony’s HT-A700 is down to $998 at Amazon, which is nearly a 30 percent discount off its $1,400 MSRP, though it often dips down to $1,198. This is the best premium pick in our guide because it’s a robust soundbar with Dolby Atmos and immersive 7.1.2 audio. You can use Chromecast, Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay 2 to send music to the A700 and dual HDMI eARC ports let you connect gaming consoles or streaming boxes, which can pass along 8K and 4K at 120Hz video to your screen. While it doesn’t have a separate subwoofer, it does have one built in. And should you decide you’d like the fullness of separate speakers, Sony sells plenty of options that connect seamlessly.
Sony 65-inch 4K X90L Series with PS5
Amazon is offering a bundle of a 65-inch Sony X90L 4K TV plus a PlayStation 5 console for $1,548. The TV by itself usually goes for $1,500 (though is currently discounted to $1,198) and the PS5 has a list price of $500. In total, the savings amount to $450 off the list price, which is sort of like getting the console for $50 — but only if you were already in the market for a new TV. The larger sizes are also discounted, including the massive 85-inch screen plus console going for 27 percent off, a savings of $1,050.
The X90L is part of the 2023 Bravia XR TV lineup and is the more affordable option of the bunch. It has a full-array LED panel, a built-in smart TV with Google TV, and a few PlayStation-specific features such as Auto HDR Tone Mapping and an Auto Genre Picture Mode. The PlayStation 5 is the all-digital version without a disc drive, which shouldn’t make much difference in your life if you typically download your games from the PlayStation store.
Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro
The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the best tablet you can get for a kid, according to our latest buyer’s guide on the topic. Right now, Amazon is selling it for 30 percent off the list price, although that’s $20 more than it sold for during Prime Day in July. The company just confirmed there will indeed be another such sale in October, and Fire devices are likely to get deep discounts again. Still, if you can’t wait to get your kid a new and reliable screen, you’ll save $60 right now.
The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the fastest kid-focused tablet Amazon makes and grants parental controls via a dashboard on your phone. It comes with a free year of Amazon Kids+, which has games, audio books, shows and more that are all suitable for young ones. A protective case doubles as a stand and the device comes with a two-year warranty against breakage.
Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system
If you’re a Prime member and in the market for a new mesh WiFi system, you may want to check out Amazon’s deal on their Eero 6+ routers. The four-pack usually sells for $440 but the deal brings it down to $285. These operate on the new WiFi 6 standard which brings efficiency upgrades and typically improves connection speeds and these claim to support speeds up to a Gigabit. The set should cover a house up to 6,000 square feet and the routers can also function as smart home hubs for certain connected devices.
Keep in mind that these don’t operate on the WiFi 6E standard, which opens up access to the 6Ghz band, which can make your connections better in densely populated areas. The Eero routers that support 6E aren’t currently on sale, but a three-pack of the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 routers, which happen to be the best 6E routers according to our testing, are down to $396 after a clickable $40 coupon. That deal comes as part of a larger TP-Link router sale.
Beats Studio Pro headphones
The Beats Studio Pro headphones debuted this July and are getting a first discount at Amazon, Target and Walmart, bringing the price down from $350 to $250, a sizable 29 percent discount. Engadget’s Billy Steele gave the set an 81 in his review, appreciating the updated design, useful transparency mode and solid voice pickup. The sound quality improved over the previous generation, with the addition of new 40mm drivers that can push out loud volume with little distortion. But even more impressive is the improvements to the overall balance, with ample, but not heavy-handed, bass and immersive clarity. They aren’t the most comfortable cans you can wear and the lack of an auto-pause feature when you take them off is a little disappointing.
Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones
If you’re looking for a recently released pair of headphones from a reputable brand for under $40, this is your chance to buy. Sony’s WH-CH520 are currently $38 after a 37 percent discount. This set debuted at the same time as the mid-range WH-CH720N and we mentioned them as a budget alternative in our review of those headphones. The WH-CH520s don’t have ANC, but they do have an impressive 50-hour battery life and include DSEE and multipoint connection.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max has dropped down to $27, which is a 51 percent discount and just $2 more than it sold for during the company’s Prime Day sale in July. This is the speediest of the Fire TV dongles and supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos audio. The remote has Alexa built in, so you can use your voice to find your next show. The Fire TV interface is simple enough to use, though we notice it tends to favor Prime Video and related content. Our favorite streaming device and interface, however, happens to be Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K, which is $10 off right now, both at Amazon and directly from Roku.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 + $50 Amazon gift card
Amazon is continuing the deal it offered during pre-orders of Samsung’s latest wearable, giving you a $50 gift card when you order the now-available Galaxy Watch 6. The watch on its own goes for $300, which is the same price as the bundle. Provided you plan to buy more stuff from Amazon, you could compare this to a $50 discount. The retailer is also throwing in a fabric watch band. Our video review dives into the improved health and fitness features of the watch, which are impressive, even if the Galaxy Watch 6 is a modest upgrade over its predecessor.
Blink sale
Blink devices are currently on sale at Amazon, with up to 40 percent off video doorbells, cameras and other security devices. The Blink Video Doorbell is down to $39 from its original $60. You can also save on a bundle that includes the doorbell and an indoor Blink Mini camera. The camera acts as a doorbell chime inside your house and supports two-way audio with whoever is at your door. The set is currently $64 instead of $95. If you only want the Blink Mini, you can grab one for just $25 after a 29 percent discount or go for a set of three for $64 instead of $100. The Blink Wired Floodlight is $60 which is 40 percent off its regular $100. It packs a 2600 lumen, motion-activated LED light and also shoots 1080p video and supports two-way audio and a siren feature.
If you’d prefer to use Amazon’s other security brand for your porch-observation needs, the company is also hosting a sale on Ring devices, including 30 percent off the Ring Video Doorbell and 42 percent off the Ring Indoor Cam.
Instant Pot Duo (3-quart)
The 3-quart Instant Pot Duo is on sale for $60, or $20 below its typical price at both Amazon and directly from the Instant Brands website. It’s not the lowest price the multi-cooker has sold for, but it’s is the best price we’ve seen this year. This is what we recommend in our Instant Pot buying guide for people who do a lot of cooking for one or simply have a smaller kitchen. The larger, 6-quart version is our overall pick, but that’s seeing a slimmer, 12 percent discount, making it $88, which is about average for its street price this year.
Anker 622 Magnetic Battery
The Anker 622 Magnetic Battery is back on sale for $40 at Amazon. That’s not its lowest price ever, but still about $10 less than its average price lately and a full $30 less than its list price. Just be sure to click the on-page coupon to get the full deal. The 5,000mAh charger snaps onto the back of a MagSafe iPhone and has a built-in kickstand to prop it up for viewing while you charge. The battery should give you about a 50 percent charge, depending on the size and age of your phone.
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