gdgt's best deals for August 7: Best Buy gift cards with Xbox 360, Wii U purchases
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our sister site gdgt tracks price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long.
Today's hottest deals both come from Best Buy, which is offering big-ticket gift cards to those who purchase the latest Xbox 360 iteration or a Wii U. There's also an appealing offer out there for those who crave DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket Max app. Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list. Every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
Microsoft Xbox 360 E 250GB with $60 Best Buy Gift Card
Price: $299.99. Free shipping.
Buy: Best Buy
Microsoft's latest refresh of its 2005 console has hit shelves, and Best Buy is helping it hop off those shelves with a gift card worth enough to cover a fresh new game. Naysayers may warn against buying a console that's soon to be outmoded by the Xbox One in November, but bear in mind that you'll need a current-gen console to play the ballyhooed Grand Theft Auto V, which comes out September 17. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 lack backwards compatibility, and GTA V is only coming out on current systems.
Nintendo Wii U Deluxe with $50 Best Buy Gift Card
Price: $349.99. Free shipping.
Buy: Best Buy
Those skittish about buying an Xbox 360 in the wake of its coming replacement can go a little more future-proof with Nintendo's 2012 console. The drawback of the Wii U, though, is that the software lineup is distressingly thin, and third parties aren't doing much to thicken it up. At least the long-awaited Pikmin 3 is out now, and reinforcements are on the way. Most Wii U games (but not Pikmin 3) are $50 or less, so the gift card should help you kickstart your library. It's also worth noting that the console comes with Nintendo Land.
Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro
Price: $799.99 for 64GB model (Previously $899.99), $899.99 for 128GB model (Previously $999.99). Free shipping.
Buy: Microsoft Store
After cutting the price of its Surface RT tabs last month, Microsoft has given its high-end Windows 8 models a similar goosing. As the product's gdgt Score of 75 indicates, reviews were generally positive but somewhat mixed. Tech writers praised the Pro's 1080p touch screen and ability to handle the sizable slate of Windows apps, functioning well as a laptop with the purchase of its keyboard cover. They questioned its value proposition, but those concerns should be mitigated by the price cut.
D-Link DIR-850 L Wireless Router
Price: $71 (Regularly $97). Free shipping. Use code EMCXMXV58.
Buy: Newegg
It's tough to find an 802.11ac wireless router at this price. D-Link's oddly-shaped AC1200, which we likened to a Thermos container, has drawn strong reviews from the discerning Newegg crowd, earning an average of 4 stars (out of 5). The router offers blazing speeds, cloud management software and compatibility with older devices.
Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition with NFL Sunday Ticket Max (Xbox 360, PS3)
Price: $99.99 preorder (NFL Sunday Ticket Max value is $300). Free shipping/Prime. Game releases Aug. 27.
Buy: Amazon
If you're ravenous enough a football fan to cough up $300 for a subscription to DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket Max service, which lets non-DirecTV customers watch Sunday afternoon games on computers or mobile devices, this is a no-brainer buy. Even if the game means nothing to you, the voucher will save you $200 on Sunday Ticket Max. The code is only in the Amazon-exclusive Anniversary Edition, which also includes Madden Ultimate Team DLC.
Bond 50 (Blu-ray)
Price: $109.99 (Regularly $245). Free shipping/Prime.
Buy: Amazon
This set rounds up the first 22 mainline movies in the 007 franchise, which go from Dr. No (1962) to Quantum of Solace (2008). Just about every Bond movie is here. But missing are the 1967 Casino Royale spoof, Never Say Never Again (1987), and Skyfall (2012). HD disc versions of 22 generally awesome spy flicks at $5 a pop is a sweet deal, although it would have been easier to recommend the set had it included digital copy vouchers for the films.
