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Summer can be a sleepy time for deals, but there was actually a fair amount of savings to be found on tech this week. Amazon's Prime Day is probably , but the company looked like they were getting a head start with discounts on , two , and cameras. Those prices may go lower during the event, but the savings are still good if you can't wait. Our favorite dropped back down to $348 and a few different Beats earbuds, including the saw discounts of up to 36 percent. Apple's latest laptop, the is already $100 off and last year's is currently $800 off. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today.
Pair a smart speaker with a smart plug and you have the underpinnings of a smart home setup. Right now, Amazon is selling its for just $28. That's a substantial $45 discount and cheaper than buying the Dot on its own. The new Echo Dot is is our smart speaker under $50 and is basically a more compact version of its full-sized sibling, the . Despite measuring less than four inches in diameter, the Dot can pump out decent sound that's surprisingly clear.
Alexa is a competent voice assistant who can set timers and reminders, tell you the weather and news, play your music and, of course, control your smart home devices, like smart plugs. All of the Kasa smart plugs I tested for our paired nicely with my Echo Dot. You can program the plug through the Kasa app or via the Alexa app, having it do nifty things like turning on a lamp an hour before sunset or shutting things off when you say, "Alexa, goodnight."
Sonos speakers rarely go on sale, so if you've been thinking about a new soundbar or speaker, you may want to jump over to Sonos as their ongoing ends Sunday the 18th. The sale two weeks ago and includes discounts of up to 25 percent on some of their more popular audio devices. Sonos equipment is well-regarded for its sound quality and reliable connectivity — pairing easily with existing equipment, supporting most streaming services and syncing seamlessly with other Sonos speakers.
Here are a few of the more noteworthy deals:
A few different are on sale at Amazon and directly , including the , which is our current top pick for the you can buy. They're back down to $348, which isn't the we've seen, but still about $50 less than they typically sell for. Our senior editor and audio expert Billy Steele gave them a high score of when they came out last year, praising the all-day comfort, excellent noise cancellation and a sound quality that's both immersive and clear.
The in-ear earbuds are down to $198 after a 28 percent discount. They are the top pick in our thanks to their great sound quality, solid ANC and battery life that went for seven and a half hours in our tests.
Sony's brand new budget headphones, the , are on sale for just $38 after a 37 percent discount. Billy found them lightweight, comfortable and capable of delivering surprisingly good sound quality. You'll also get around 35 hours of playback on a charge. You won't get all the features of the flagship model, and the all-plastic build feels less than premium, but for $38, they're a budget way to get high-end sound.
There are a lot of great books this summer. If you're thinking of getting an e-reader to dive into them, now might be a good time to act as Amazon is discounting a number of its Kindle devices. The is our favorite budget pick in our and is currently down to $80, which is just $5 more than the all-time low it hit back in . This is the latest model Kindle, released last October, with a screen resolution bumped up to 300ppi for sharp and crisp text. The battery lasts over a month and comes with 16GB of storage, which should be enough for many summers of reading and all the seasons between.
It's not waterproof, however, and doesn't offer a warm light option. For that, you may want to check out the . It's on sale for $110 instead of $140. The 6.8-inch screen is comfortably bigger than the standard option, boasts a warm light and can handle a dunk in water. The , which our deputy editor Nathan Ingraham , "The best e-reader. Period." is on sale for $145 instead of $190. It adds more storage, wireless charging and an automatically adjusting warm light.
Apple the long-rumored during its annual WWDC event earlier this month. Amazon offered a $50 discount on pre-orders. Now that orders are shipping, the retailer is rewarding those who waited (and potentially angering those who didn't) with a full $100 discount on the new machines, making them $1,199 instead of Apple's suggested $1,299 price. Currently, the discount applies to the base model, which ships with 256GB of storage, in either Starlight, Space Gray or Midnight. If you want it in Silver, you'll have to pay $1,234.
The model with is $100 off in Midnight only. The other three colorways are selling for $1,437, which is $62 below list price. Our deputy editor, Nathan Ingraham, got a chance to review the new computer and gave it a high . He was impressed with the difference the bigger screen makes and declared it "one of the best Apple laptops [he's] used in a long time." With the same M2 chip inside, the larger model doesn't change much over the , which isn't a bad thing. We gave that model a similarly when it came out last year.
The are currently $50 off at and Target. That matches the low we've seen a few times , though isn't quite as low as they were for the shopping holidays last November. We gave them a when they debuted in 2021. They're lightweight and small, making them comfortable for hours of continued wear. The sound is balanced and delivers plenty of punchy bass but doesn't overdo it. They have a decent active noise cancellation too.
A few other earbuds from Beats are on sale as well. None of them are hitting all-time lows, but the savings are decent, such as the for $160 instead of $250 at and . Our editor in chief and marathon coach, Dana Wollman, named them the most comfortable option in our guide to the . The are also on sale, down to $160 after a $40 discount. Our audio expert, Billy Steele, picked them as the in his guide to those devices.
Security experts say it's best to have a long, strong and unique password for every site you log-in to. That's a lot of passwords to keep track of. Which is one reason you should probably use a . is currently offering a 40 percent discount on its premium personal plan, making it $42.96 for two years of the service (which is usually $72).
The premium plan gives you no limits on the number of passwords you can have and will let you stay logged into six different devices at a time. Once you store a password, NordPass auto-fills your credentials the next time you visit the site, so the only password you'll need to remember is the master one. Our senior security reporter, Katie Malone, named NordPass the for cross-platform access, allowing you to easily get to your vault of stored passwords from any device or operating system.
Those who need to add storage space to their PC or PS5 may want to take a look at the . Discounts range up to 53 percent and include a $20 discount on the brand's drive in the 1TB size. It can deliver sequential read speeds of up to 6,600MB per second and fits in PCs with a Gen4 M.2 connection. The drive will also work with a PS5 and is in factto upgrade your capacity on that console.
A portable drive from Crucial, the , is on sale for $59 after a 46 percent discount. It can handle transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s via the USB-C port and comes in a shock and vibration-proof case.
is one of the iPhone cases we in our guide to those accessories and right now it's down to $25 at Amazon after a 44 percent discount. It usually hovers around that price, but is a decent savings over the $45 MSRP. Our senior commerce editor, Valentina Palladino, found it to be one of the most secure cases in our tests, firmly holding on to an iPhone 14. The clear case shows off the color of your phone, so if you went for that sunny hue, this case will let it shine. The case is also MagSafe compatible for charging and accessories.
A new smart TV can be expensive, but if you already have a regular set, a streaming stick can turn it smart inexpensively. Amazon's is our favorite budget pick in our streaming device and right now, it's just $22 after a 27 percent discount. The stick puts Amazon's easy-to-use Fire TV interface on your set, granting access to just about any streaming content you can think of. Just keep in mind the Lite doesn't support 4K video or offer TV controls on the remote for power or volume, so you'll need to use two clickers. If you want an all-in-one option that can stream 4K video to a 4K-enabled screen, go for the . It's $35 right now, instead of the usual $55.
The even more feature-rich is $125 or $15 off. The set-top device lets you plug in your game consoles, supports WiFi 6E and 4K video, and has the fastest processor Amazon offers in an external streaming device. It also has a built-in mic so you can talk to Alexa to control your TV and smart home without needing to hold the remote.
If you prefer Windows laptops and are looking for something portable with enough power for everyday productivity, check out Dell's sale on the XPS 15. We named another model in the XPS line, the smaller XPS 13 Plus, the you can buy. The larger after an $800 discount from Dell. Our senior editor and laptop expert Devindra Hardawar the machine in 2022 and called it the "best 15-inch Windows laptop."
It packs Intel's 12th-gen Core i7 processor with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. It comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The 15.6 inch screen has a 60Hz refresh rate and a FHD+ 1920 x 1200 resolution. While it isn't the latest XPS laptop available, it's still a great price for a solid, workhorse machine.
Our indoor pizza oven, the Breville Pizzaiolo is currently on sale for $200 off at Amazon. It's usually $1,000, but the sale brings it down to $800. Our resident pizza oven expert and senior editor Billy Steele and was impressed by the wealth of options it offered, which produced the desired results for New York, "wood fired," frozen and other presets. But he cautioned that it was really quite expensive. Now that it's $200 cheaper, it may be an easier buy for someone who really likes pizza — and doesn't want to go outside to make it.
The biggest Alexa-enabled speaker from Amazon is the . Right now a 20 percent discount brings it down to $160 instead of $200. That's the lowest it's been since Black Friday when it dropped to $155. Our audio reviewer Billy Steele "the best sounding speaker Amazon has built" in his review. It does all of the smart-home, Alexa-controlled stuff that the other Echo speakers can do, it just does it from a much bigger package. At seven inches in diameter and over seven pounds in weight, it has room for five speakers, including three mid-range ones, a tweeter and a downward-facing 5.25-inch woofer.
The OtterSpot system is more than just a wireless charger for your phone; It also accommodates a disc-shaped battery you can take with you for a recharge on the go. Right now Otterbox is selling the set for half price, making it $50 instead of the usual $100. Our reporter, Jon Fingas, named it the best overall pad in to wireless chargers because of its stable base that can handle a wide range of phone sizes, both Android and iPhone. The unit can charge your phone, plus up to three of the 5,00mAh batteries at once. Those discs can easily fit into your bag when you need a partial recharge when you're out and about — either wirelessly or via the USB-C port. Just keep in mind they can be finicky with certain non-Otterbox cases. If you want one of their cases to go with, you can check out .
Rosetta Stone can help you learn a new language — or several — and right now a is down to $179 instead of $299. A subscription gets you access to 23 languages and Rosetta Stone's immersive learning style with access via browsers or your smartphone. If you've been thinking about learning Japanese, Spanish or Korean, you may want to act now as the deal ends June 18th.
In his quest for the perfect , our editor-at-large, James Trew, declared the the best gaming mouse for everyday use. It works in either hand and weighs just 74 grams, making it easy to use for long periods of time. And the 70-hour battery life lasts longer than other mice in its category. Right now, Amazon is selling it for $80 instead of the rather steep $150 MSRP.
The Blink mini wired indoor security camera is down to $25, which is a 29 percent discount and within a dollar of its lowest price this year. It dropped lower for Black Friday, and may again for Prime Day, but if you don't want to wait, this is still a good deal on a smart home camera. We recommend the in many of our guides because it's a low-cost device that delivers most of the features you'd want, including 1080p video delivered right to your phone. Motion detection turns the camera on and you can hear, see and talk to anyone nearby. And, as an Amazon product, the Blink mini works swimmingly with Alexa — but not other voice assistants.
Follow on Twitter and for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
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Amazon Echo Dot + smart plug
Pair a smart speaker with a smart plug and you have the underpinnings of a smart home setup. Right now, Amazon is selling its for just $28. That's a substantial $45 discount and cheaper than buying the Dot on its own. The new Echo Dot is is our smart speaker under $50 and is basically a more compact version of its full-sized sibling, the . Despite measuring less than four inches in diameter, the Dot can pump out decent sound that's surprisingly clear.
Alexa is a competent voice assistant who can set timers and reminders, tell you the weather and news, play your music and, of course, control your smart home devices, like smart plugs. All of the Kasa smart plugs I tested for our paired nicely with my Echo Dot. You can program the plug through the Kasa app or via the Alexa app, having it do nifty things like turning on a lamp an hour before sunset or shutting things off when you say, "Alexa, goodnight."
Sonos Sale
Sonos speakers rarely go on sale, so if you've been thinking about a new soundbar or speaker, you may want to jump over to Sonos as their ongoing ends Sunday the 18th. The sale two weeks ago and includes discounts of up to 25 percent on some of their more popular audio devices. Sonos equipment is well-regarded for its sound quality and reliable connectivity — pairing easily with existing equipment, supporting most streaming services and syncing seamlessly with other Sonos speakers.
Here are a few of the more noteworthy deals:
The top-end soundbar is down $719, which is $180 off the list price. Read our review .
The more affordable ) is down $399, which is $100. Here's our .
The is the brand's entry-level soundbar and is currently $223 or $56 off.
The portable speaker connects to WiFi or via Bluetooth and is currently $134 instead of $179. The slightly smaller is down to $119 after a $39 discount.
One of the brand's first portable speakers, the is down to $300 after a $99 discount. Here's when that speaker first came out.
Sony WH-WH-1000XM5
A few different are on sale at Amazon and directly , including the , which is our current top pick for the you can buy. They're back down to $348, which isn't the we've seen, but still about $50 less than they typically sell for. Our senior editor and audio expert Billy Steele gave them a high score of when they came out last year, praising the all-day comfort, excellent noise cancellation and a sound quality that's both immersive and clear.
The in-ear earbuds are down to $198 after a 28 percent discount. They are the top pick in our thanks to their great sound quality, solid ANC and battery life that went for seven and a half hours in our tests.
Sony's brand new budget headphones, the , are on sale for just $38 after a 37 percent discount. Billy found them lightweight, comfortable and capable of delivering surprisingly good sound quality. You'll also get around 35 hours of playback on a charge. You won't get all the features of the flagship model, and the all-plastic build feels less than premium, but for $38, they're a budget way to get high-end sound.
Amazon Kindle
There are a lot of great books this summer. If you're thinking of getting an e-reader to dive into them, now might be a good time to act as Amazon is discounting a number of its Kindle devices. The is our favorite budget pick in our and is currently down to $80, which is just $5 more than the all-time low it hit back in . This is the latest model Kindle, released last October, with a screen resolution bumped up to 300ppi for sharp and crisp text. The battery lasts over a month and comes with 16GB of storage, which should be enough for many summers of reading and all the seasons between.
It's not waterproof, however, and doesn't offer a warm light option. For that, you may want to check out the . It's on sale for $110 instead of $140. The 6.8-inch screen is comfortably bigger than the standard option, boasts a warm light and can handle a dunk in water. The , which our deputy editor Nathan Ingraham , "The best e-reader. Period." is on sale for $145 instead of $190. It adds more storage, wireless charging and an automatically adjusting warm light.
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air M2
Apple the long-rumored during its annual WWDC event earlier this month. Amazon offered a $50 discount on pre-orders. Now that orders are shipping, the retailer is rewarding those who waited (and potentially angering those who didn't) with a full $100 discount on the new machines, making them $1,199 instead of Apple's suggested $1,299 price. Currently, the discount applies to the base model, which ships with 256GB of storage, in either Starlight, Space Gray or Midnight. If you want it in Silver, you'll have to pay $1,234.
The model with is $100 off in Midnight only. The other three colorways are selling for $1,437, which is $62 below list price. Our deputy editor, Nathan Ingraham, got a chance to review the new computer and gave it a high . He was impressed with the difference the bigger screen makes and declared it "one of the best Apple laptops [he's] used in a long time." With the same M2 chip inside, the larger model doesn't change much over the , which isn't a bad thing. We gave that model a similarly when it came out last year.
Beats Studio Buds
The are currently $50 off at and Target. That matches the low we've seen a few times , though isn't quite as low as they were for the shopping holidays last November. We gave them a when they debuted in 2021. They're lightweight and small, making them comfortable for hours of continued wear. The sound is balanced and delivers plenty of punchy bass but doesn't overdo it. They have a decent active noise cancellation too.
A few other earbuds from Beats are on sale as well. None of them are hitting all-time lows, but the savings are decent, such as the for $160 instead of $250 at and . Our editor in chief and marathon coach, Dana Wollman, named them the most comfortable option in our guide to the . The are also on sale, down to $160 after a $40 discount. Our audio expert, Billy Steele, picked them as the in his guide to those devices.
NordPass
Security experts say it's best to have a long, strong and unique password for every site you log-in to. That's a lot of passwords to keep track of. Which is one reason you should probably use a . is currently offering a 40 percent discount on its premium personal plan, making it $42.96 for two years of the service (which is usually $72).
The premium plan gives you no limits on the number of passwords you can have and will let you stay logged into six different devices at a time. Once you store a password, NordPass auto-fills your credentials the next time you visit the site, so the only password you'll need to remember is the master one. Our senior security reporter, Katie Malone, named NordPass the for cross-platform access, allowing you to easily get to your vault of stored passwords from any device or operating system.
Crucial P5 Plus 1TB Gen4 NVMe
Those who need to add storage space to their PC or PS5 may want to take a look at the . Discounts range up to 53 percent and include a $20 discount on the brand's drive in the 1TB size. It can deliver sequential read speeds of up to 6,600MB per second and fits in PCs with a Gen4 M.2 connection. The drive will also work with a PS5 and is in factto upgrade your capacity on that console.
A portable drive from Crucial, the , is on sale for $59 after a 46 percent discount. It can handle transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s via the USB-C port and comes in a shock and vibration-proof case.
Spigen Ultra Hybrid iPhone 14 case
is one of the iPhone cases we in our guide to those accessories and right now it's down to $25 at Amazon after a 44 percent discount. It usually hovers around that price, but is a decent savings over the $45 MSRP. Our senior commerce editor, Valentina Palladino, found it to be one of the most secure cases in our tests, firmly holding on to an iPhone 14. The clear case shows off the color of your phone, so if you went for that sunny hue, this case will let it shine. The case is also MagSafe compatible for charging and accessories.
Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite
A new smart TV can be expensive, but if you already have a regular set, a streaming stick can turn it smart inexpensively. Amazon's is our favorite budget pick in our streaming device and right now, it's just $22 after a 27 percent discount. The stick puts Amazon's easy-to-use Fire TV interface on your set, granting access to just about any streaming content you can think of. Just keep in mind the Lite doesn't support 4K video or offer TV controls on the remote for power or volume, so you'll need to use two clickers. If you want an all-in-one option that can stream 4K video to a 4K-enabled screen, go for the . It's $35 right now, instead of the usual $55.
The even more feature-rich is $125 or $15 off. The set-top device lets you plug in your game consoles, supports WiFi 6E and 4K video, and has the fastest processor Amazon offers in an external streaming device. It also has a built-in mic so you can talk to Alexa to control your TV and smart home without needing to hold the remote.
Dell XPS 15
If you prefer Windows laptops and are looking for something portable with enough power for everyday productivity, check out Dell's sale on the XPS 15. We named another model in the XPS line, the smaller XPS 13 Plus, the you can buy. The larger after an $800 discount from Dell. Our senior editor and laptop expert Devindra Hardawar the machine in 2022 and called it the "best 15-inch Windows laptop."
It packs Intel's 12th-gen Core i7 processor with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. It comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The 15.6 inch screen has a 60Hz refresh rate and a FHD+ 1920 x 1200 resolution. While it isn't the latest XPS laptop available, it's still a great price for a solid, workhorse machine.
Breville Smart Pizza Oven
Our indoor pizza oven, the Breville Pizzaiolo is currently on sale for $200 off at Amazon. It's usually $1,000, but the sale brings it down to $800. Our resident pizza oven expert and senior editor Billy Steele and was impressed by the wealth of options it offered, which produced the desired results for New York, "wood fired," frozen and other presets. But he cautioned that it was really quite expensive. Now that it's $200 cheaper, it may be an easier buy for someone who really likes pizza — and doesn't want to go outside to make it.
Amazon Echo Studio
The biggest Alexa-enabled speaker from Amazon is the . Right now a 20 percent discount brings it down to $160 instead of $200. That's the lowest it's been since Black Friday when it dropped to $155. Our audio reviewer Billy Steele "the best sounding speaker Amazon has built" in his review. It does all of the smart-home, Alexa-controlled stuff that the other Echo speakers can do, it just does it from a much bigger package. At seven inches in diameter and over seven pounds in weight, it has room for five speakers, including three mid-range ones, a tweeter and a downward-facing 5.25-inch woofer.
Otterbox Otterspot
The OtterSpot system is more than just a wireless charger for your phone; It also accommodates a disc-shaped battery you can take with you for a recharge on the go. Right now Otterbox is selling the set for half price, making it $50 instead of the usual $100. Our reporter, Jon Fingas, named it the best overall pad in to wireless chargers because of its stable base that can handle a wide range of phone sizes, both Android and iPhone. The unit can charge your phone, plus up to three of the 5,00mAh batteries at once. Those discs can easily fit into your bag when you need a partial recharge when you're out and about — either wirelessly or via the USB-C port. Just keep in mind they can be finicky with certain non-Otterbox cases. If you want one of their cases to go with, you can check out .
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone can help you learn a new language — or several — and right now a is down to $179 instead of $299. A subscription gets you access to 23 languages and Rosetta Stone's immersive learning style with access via browsers or your smartphone. If you've been thinking about learning Japanese, Spanish or Korean, you may want to act now as the deal ends June 18th.
Razer Viper Ultimate
In his quest for the perfect , our editor-at-large, James Trew, declared the the best gaming mouse for everyday use. It works in either hand and weighs just 74 grams, making it easy to use for long periods of time. And the 70-hour battery life lasts longer than other mice in its category. Right now, Amazon is selling it for $80 instead of the rather steep $150 MSRP.
Blink Mini
The Blink mini wired indoor security camera is down to $25, which is a 29 percent discount and within a dollar of its lowest price this year. It dropped lower for Black Friday, and may again for Prime Day, but if you don't want to wait, this is still a good deal on a smart home camera. We recommend the in many of our guides because it's a low-cost device that delivers most of the features you'd want, including 1080p video delivered right to your phone. Motion detection turns the camera on and you can hear, see and talk to anyone nearby. And, as an Amazon product, the Blink mini works swimmingly with Alexa — but not other voice assistants.
Follow on Twitter and for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
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