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Our favorite microSD card drops to $11, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals
Including discounts on the Apple iPad Air, Sony WH-1000XM5 and a few highly-rated TVs.
The Super Bowl is set, and we're already seeing a handful of deals on well-reviewed TVs in advance of the big game. Sonos has rolled out a sale on some of its home theater equipment as well. If you're not looking for a living room upgrade, the top recommendation in our microSD card buying guide, the Samsung Pro Plus, is down to a low of $11 for a 128GB model. And for those in search of new headphones, Anker's Soundcore Space A40 is top pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds, and it's now $20 off at $59. A few Apple gadgets are also down to all-time lows, including the iPad Air, Apple Watch SE and 15-inch MacBook Air. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Samsung Pro Plus (128GB)
$11$26Save $15Anker Soundcore Space A40
$59$80Save $21Sony WH-1000XM5
$328$398Save $70Apple Watch SE (2nd gen, 40mm)
$179$249Save $70Hisense U6K LED TV (55-inch)
$348$620Save $272TCL Q6 LED TV (55-inch)
$320$450Save $130Samsung The Frame TV LED TV (65-inch)
$1,398$1,998Save $600Apple iPad Air (64GB)
$450$599Save $149Apple MacBook Air (M2, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
$1,399$1,699Save $300Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus
$369$499Save $130Sonos Arc
$719$899Save $180
The 128GB version of Samsung's Pro Plus microSD card is on sale for $11 at Amazon and Adorama, which matches the lowest price we've tracked. In recent months, its average street price has sat around $14. The Pro Plus is the top overall pick in our guide to the best microSD cards: It offers a good chunk of storage at a relatively low cost, and it's plenty fast enough for storing and playing Steam Deck games, recording 4K video or serving as storage for a Raspberry Pi. It also comes with a 10-year warranty.
The Anker Soundcore Space A40 is down to $59 at Amazon and Anker's online store; for the latter, use the code WS7DYZRZ5Q at checkout. That's $4 more than the wireless earphones' all-time low but still $20 less than their typical going rate. The Space A40 tops our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds thanks to its comfortable fit, effective active noise cancellation (ANC), wireless charging support and ability to connect with two devices at once. Battery life checks in at a solid eight hours, with another 40 hours available through a compact case, while an IPX4 water-resistance rating lets it survive most workouts. By default, it has a warm sound profile, with a bump in the upper-bass range. It loses some detail in the treble compared to higher-end pairs, but it's pleasant, and you can tweak the EQ curve through Anker's companion app. The built-in mic is mediocre for phone calls, though, and you'll have to manually pause your music whenever you want to remove an earbud.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones are back on sale for $328 at Amazon, Adorama and B&H. Several other retailers have the pair for a couple bucks more. This isn't the best price we've seen — the headphones briefly fell as low as $250 in December — but it ties the deal we saw for most of the holiday season and marks a $70 drop from Sony's list price.
The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones and earned a score of 95 in our review. They offer a comfy design, one of the stronger ANC features we've tested and a host of useful bonus features, including Speak to Chat (which automatically pauses music when you start talking) and multi-device pairing. Sony's bass-heavy sound profile may not suit audiophiles, but it's fun for most popular music, and you can adjust the EQ curve more to your liking through Sony's app. The included mic is crisp and clear for phone calls, too, though the design can't fold up.
The latest Apple Watch SE is available for $179 at Walmart, which matches the smartwatch's all-time low and falls about $20 below its usual street price. We gave the SE a review score of 89 and currently highlight it in our guide to the best smartwatches as a great option for first-time buyers. It has a slightly smaller and less bright display than the flagship Apple Watch Series 9, and the screen isn't always-on, so you'll have to manually tap it or raise your wrist to activate it. It also lacks a few of the Series 9's more advanced abilities, including its temperature sensor, ECG feature or hands-free "double tap" controls. That said, it still provides more of the core features you'd expect from an Apple Watch, including push notifications, heart rate monitoring, activity tracking, fall detection and emergency SOS. It's still fast, and its battery life and water resistance are about the same as the Series 9 as well. If you're on a tighter budget or just want a smartwatch to use more casually, it's worth a look at this price.
The 55-inch Hisense U6K TV is on sale for $348 at Amazon and Walmart. Best Buy has it for $2 more. That matches the all-time low we saw closer to the holidays, and it's about $50 less than the set's average street price over the last few months. The 75-inch version is also down to a low of $648. The U6K has received positive reviews around the web for offering better contrast and color performance than most budget-level TVs. It also runs on the easy-to-use Google TV OS. Much of that is due to it being one of the few TVs in its price range to utilize a mini-LED backlight, full-array local dimming and quantum dots. It still won't get as bright as most pricier sets, and it's not ideal for gaming, as it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports. But if you don't want to spend too much, it should be a good value.
The 55-inch TCL Q6 is on sale for $320 at Amazon and Best Buy, which is $20 more than its lowest-ever price but still about $80 below its average street price in recent months. The 65-inch model is down to $500, which is the second-best price we've seen outside of a drop to $480 during Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale last October. The 75-inch version, meanwhile, is on sale for $650, matching the low we last saw in December.
The Q6 is an value-oriented alternative to the Hisense U6K that may appeal to gamers in particular. It can't match the Hisense set in terms of contrast or colors, according to other reviewers we trust, but it's noteworthy for supporting a faster 120Hz refresh rate when set to a 1080p or 1440p resolution. For budget-conscious buyers who are willing to trade picture quality for a faster and more responsive image, it might be worthwhile.
Amazon subsidiary Woot has discounted several versions of Samsung's The Frame TV. The 65-inch model, for instance, is down to $1,398, which is about $600 below its average selling price in recent months and $200 less than its sale price on Black Friday. The 43-, 50-, 75- and 85-inch models are also on sale for lows of $728, $868, $1,968 and $2,698, respectively. Be aware that the two smallest versions have a 60Hz refresh rate, though, while the other models support a faster 120Hz rate.
The Frame TV doesn't offer the most vibrant image for a TV in its price range, as it lacks a mini-LED backlight or a local dimming feature. It's also limited to one HDMI 2.1 port. But its QLED panel can get decently bright, and its design stands out for looking like a mountable piece of wall art, one that can display various works and photos when you aren't watching something. A few pieces come included with the TV, while Samsung makes others available through a subscription. It's all worth considering if you think of your TV as a piece of home decor; just note that Samsung will release a refreshed model at some point later in 2024. You can read Engadget Commerce Writer Amy Skorheim's write-up for more on what the Frame TV is like. And if you're looking for more TV discounts ahead of the Super Bowl, check out our wider roundup from earlier in the week.
The iPad Air is on sale for $450 at Best Buy and Amazon, which is an all-time low and $50 below the tablet's usual sale price over the last several months. Apple itself sells the device for $599. We gave the Air a review score of 90 when it arrived in March 2022, and we generally consider it the best iPad for most people. Its storage is limited, but it has a similar design as the higher-end iPad Pros, with a better display and more futureproof chipset than Apple's lower-cost tablets. It also supports Apple's best iPad accessories, such as the Magic Keyboard and second-gen Pencil stylus.
Be warned, though: According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple plans to unveil two new iPad Air models early this year, potentially as soon as March. That would likely explain the steeper-than-usual price drop here. The current Air is still a fine value when it's discounted to this extent but, unless you need a new tablet right away, it may make sense to wait a few more weeks and see what Apple has in store.
The 15-inch MacBook Air is also on sale. A configuration with an Apple M2 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,399 at Best Buy, while the entry-level model with half the memory and storage is down to $999. Both deals take $300 off Apple's list price and match the largest discounts we've tracked. The M2 Air is the top pick in our laptop buying guide, and we gave the 15-inch model a review score of 96 last June. It continues to offer all the things we look for in a mainstream notebook: a crisp and bright display, a comfortable keyboard and trackpad, good speakers, a long-lasting battery and excellent performance for everyday tasks.
Again, though, Bloomberg reports that Apple may roll out updated MacBook Airs as soon as next month. The refresh isn't expected to be a massive overhaul, so the deals above are worth considering if you have to upgrade your laptop today, but it should utilize Apple's new M3 chip.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is down to $369 at Best Buy for a configuration with an Intel Core i3-1315U chip, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of eMMC storage and a 14-inch 1,920 x 1,200 display. While this is $20 more than the lowest price we've seen, it's $10 less than the deal we saw on Black Friday and $130 off Lenovo's MSRP. We called the Flex 5i Plus the best Chromebook for most people last fall: Its IPS touchscreen is impressive for the money, and it's quick enough for the kind of light work and web browsing you'd do with Chrome OS. Both its keyboard and trackpad are comfortable, plus it has a decent 1080p webcam. Its 3.6-pound frame could be lighter, though, and its roughly seven-hour battery life is just OK. Still, if you just want cheap notebook for the basics, it should do the job.
Sonos has kicked off a new sale on its home theater devices ahead of the Super Bowl, which includes the high-end Sonos Arc soundbar down to $719. That ties the discount we saw around Black Friday and takes $180 off the device's list price. The latest Sonos Sub subwoofer is also on sale for $639, which isn't an all-time low but marks a $160 drop. A handful of soundbar, smart speaker and subwoofer bundles are discounted as well.
We gave the Arc a score of 85 in our review back in 2020. It still delivers a clean design and impressively wide sound aided by its two upward-firing drivers and Dolby Atmos support. It isn't the absolute best value in terms of audio quality, even with this discount, but it stands out for offering the perks of any Sonos speaker: easy pairing with other Sonos devices, a simple setup and an app that gives quick access to numerous streaming services. It supports Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol, so you can beam audio to it from an iPhone, plus it works with Alexa and the Google Assistant. The device had been plagued with odd popping sounds when playing Atmos content, but Sonos issued a fix for that late last year. The main downside is that the device only has one HDMI port, which itself lacks HDMI passthrough, so you'll want to make sure your TV has an eARC port to send Atmos signals over one cable. The Sub, meanwhile, adds an impressive amount of bass, though it doesn't come cheap.
All that said, these are two more devices that could be updated later this year. A Bloomberg report from November said that Sonos plans to release several new devices in 2024, including a refreshed Arc and subwoofer in addition to the company's first foray into headphones.
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