Best Deals on Tech Products Right Now
CR's shopping experts help you find the best bargains on TVs, laptops, speakers, and more
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If you need a new pair of headphones or it’s time to replace a laptop that’s past its prime, you may not have to pay full price to get something that will suit your needs.
No matter what you’re shopping for, I take extra care in determining how much you’re really saving now vs. what the product costs. Because I keep an eye on the prices of everything we test, I can account for an item’s actual cost over time rather than its original price, as well as how often it goes on sale. I’m also weighing previous sale prices against current offers so I can provide context for the prices you’re seeing now.
And I don’t just look at the price tag—I also consider how well the item stood up to the rigorous testing in our labs. Especially when consumers are more concerned than ever about making every dollar count, you want to feel confident that the products you buy are going to work well and last. So I make sure to only recommend deals on quality items that would be worth your money even at full price.
For discounts on other products you may want and need, check out Consumer Reports’ Deals hub.
Headphones
While Apple claims the AirPods 4 are improved over the AirPods 3, our testers were less impressed. They’re still solid headphones if you prefer not to have eartips stuck in your ear. The fit, despite Apple’s tweaks, is pretty much the same, as is the sound. We’ve seen them for as low as $85 during major sales, but this is still a nice price if you want AirPods and don’t want to wait.
This wireless Bluetooth iPod/iPad/cellphone-centric headphone from JBL is a solid pick, especially now that the sale price is $10 less than it has been recently. The JBL Tune 660NC delivers very good sound quality and excellent active noise reduction. These headphones have a closed design, so they will provide some muffling of external noises and also reduce the amount of sound that escapes from the headphones.
These sleek true wireless earbuds may be a bit expensive, but their stellar sound quality makes them more than worth it if you care about music. Plus, this is the best price we’ve seen this year. They are sleek successors to the company’s stellar WF1000XM4s, and they deliver so much musical detail that you simply hear your favorite songs in a different way. The noise-canceling performance of the XM5s is top-notch as well, and Sonys have a very effective ambient mode that pipes in outside noise for safety or convenience.
If you want a pair of noise-canceling earbuds at a budget price, check out the Soundcore Space A40s, which are now $5 less than their previous sale price. The bass packs some wallop, and the overall sound is warm, which makes the A40s pleasant to listen to over a long period of time. The noise cancellation earns top marks from CR’s testers, too—there’s even a transparency mode that allows you to monitor your surroundings when you’re out running or walking down a busy street.
For more discounts: Best Headphone Deals
Smartwatches & Fitness Trackers
If you decide to invest in a full-featured smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 11 is unlikely to disappoint. It’s thin and light, with an always-on OLED display (available in 42-mm and 46-mm sizes) that proves to be durable and scratch-resistant in our testing. You get access to all of Apple’s health-tracking and safety features. Impressively, the battery lasts about three days on a single charge, according to our testing.
For those motivated to get more movement in the new year, we think the new Apple Watch SE 3 is the most capable version yet of Apple’s budget smartwatch. It offers nearly all the health and fitness features of the pricier Series version. And you can count on impressive battery life and a bright, durable display, too.
The Versa 4 is a great fit for fans of Fitbit who want a sleeker-looking smartwatch. You get a good-sized display and all the basics from GPS-enabled workout tracking to heart rate monitoring, plus a generous six days of claimed battery life.
This rugged-looking (and high-performing) Samsung smartwatch is aimed at outdoors enthusiasts—and anyone who wants the latest premium health- and fitness-tracking features. Just note that Galaxy Watches work only with Android devices.
TVs
The LG 65QNED70AUA, now back to its Black Friday low price, is from LG’s mid-tier QNED models, positioned above the more basic LED models. This set delivers satisfying picture quality, but lacks the peak brightness to deliver a compelling HDR experience. It also lacks some features, including local dimming or Mini LED backlights, found in pricier step-up models.
The 77-inch OLED77C5PUA is LG’s midtier OLED TV for 2025, and it’s among the best sets you can buy, with great picture quality, high dynamic range, and sound. It features numerous gaming capabilities, including a 144Hz refresh rate. It’s $100 less than it has been in months, but still $100 more than it was for the last big sale. Plus, the typical price is $2,700, not $3,700 as retailers claim, so you’re really only saving $500.
The Samsung QN65S84FA is a 2025 OLED TV that appears to be exclusive to Best Buy. It’s back to the same price we saw right before the Super Bowl, likely because March Madness is fast approaching. It’s well-priced for its performance, with excellent overall picture quality and very good HDR performance. It also has very good sound. It comes with most of Samsung’s TV features, including support for object-tracking sound and Dolby Atmos immersive audio.
Streaming Devices
The Amazon Fire TV Cube is at the best price we’ve ever seen. It’s a mashup of an Amazon Echo and a 4K Fire TV streamer. Its universal remote control capabilities let you control a host of other compatible A/V gear, including TVs, soundbars, receivers, and even some cable and satellite boxes. New features include HDMI 2.1 connections—one input and one output—for controlling other devices using your voice. (One cool trick is that the Cube will also upscale any content from a source connected to its HDMI input.) Other features include support for WiFi 6E, support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR, and an Off button that disconnects the microphones if you don’t want the device in an always-listening mode.
The second-gen Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is now back to its best price, is basically an updated version of the previous model, with a slightly faster processor, more storage (16GB instead of 8GB), and support for a newer wireless protocol, WiFi6e. It also has a new feature, called the Fire TV Ambient Experience, which has only been available on Amazon’s Omni-series QLED TVs until now. Basically, it lets you see information such as calendars and reminders, control smart devices, and view artwork or photos on the screen when you’re not watching TV.
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K, which is now $15 more than its best price, shares most of the same features as the more expensive Roku Streaming Stick 4K+, including improved WiFi, support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR, and compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Apple AirPlay, and Google Assistant. However, it utilizes the older WiFi 5 standard to connect to home networks and includes a standard Roku remote.
The Roku Ultra is the company’s most powerful 4K streaming player. It has a new, faster quad-core processor, quicker app launches, support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR formats, and WiFi 6 wireless. Other features include an HDMI 2.1 connection to your TV, an Ethernet port for a wired connection, a lost-remote finder feature, and a wireless headphone mode that lets you pair with Bluetooth headphones. It also has the ability to integrate with Roku Smart Home devices, allowing you to view Roku doorbell or camera feeds on your TV. The new Ultra comes with Roku’s best remote control, the Voice Remote Pro (2nd Edition). The new remote is recharged via a USB-C connection and features a backlit display.
Speakers
We think Edifier S1000W stereo speakers are a bargain even at their regular price. At $100 off, this deal is a no-brainer for a music lover looking for truly impressive sound. In terms of convenience, the S1000W adds multiroom capability as well as the option of using a more robust WiFi connection to stream your music.
The Soundlink Max is a modestly sized portable that delivers. The sound quality is satisfying with deep impactful bass, though our testers found that the sound can become harsh at high volumes. Bose speakers go on sale less frequently than other brands’ products. We have seen it for $50 less than it is now, but that price only comes during major sales like Black Friday and Prime Day.
The JBL Xtreme 4 delivers deep bass and adequate volume even in large rooms. It also features an internal power bank that can charge other devices, and the manufacturer says the speaker is dust-resistant and water resistant to 1 meter, claims that CR didn’t test. Note that the Xtreme 4 is quite massive by portable speaker standards, at almost 12 inches long and almost 5 pounds in weight.
If you’ve got a Sonos multiroom system, the Roam 2 can be a useful addition to your musical life. It allows you to add Bluetooth capability to a speaker system that works with WiFi only. This makes it a reliable choice for a small Bluetooth speaker. The Roam 2 is a bit on the expensive side, even at the sale price, so if you don’t own a Sonos system there are likely better, cheaper options.
Soundbars
This all-in-one Dolby Atmos soundbar from Bose delivers good overall sound. It has many features, including TrueSpace, which creates multi-channel sound from non-Atmos sources, and a dialogue mode that uses AI to improve vocal quality. One very unusual feature is a personal surround mode that lets you pair the soundbar with a set of Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and use them together for a surround-sound experience.
This compact all-in-one smart soundbar typically retails for $400, so you’re really only saving $30, but it’s not on sale that often. It delivers very good overall sound quality, so it should appeal to even more critical listeners for music and movie soundtrack playback. It supports Dolby Atmos audio, though it doesn’t have up-firing drivers; instead, it uses signal processing and phased speaker arrays to create Atmos effects. It also has built-in Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant digital assistants.
Is it a streaming player that’s also a speaker, or a soundbar that also streams? It doesn’t really matter, but the Roku Streambar SE is a combo streamer/soundbar that can save space while reducing gear clutter. This soundbar includes a built-in 4K Roku streaming player and includes a Bluetooth headphone mode for private listening. Given its small footprint, it probably works best for smaller TVs, rather than the jumbo-sized set you’ve been eyeing.
Laptops & Chromebooks
The Lenovo Yoga 7i is sorta like the Swiss Army Knife of laptops. It has a 360-degree hinge that lets you flip the screen around to use the device as a tablet or prop it up like a tent for watching movies (great for cramped airplane trays). The model we tested has premium specs: an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive. This one’s a bit more mainstream: an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 512-gigabyte solid-state drive. But, unlike many sub-$700 laptops that cut corners with dim screens or plastic bodies, it has a premium all-metal finish and a bright, colorful display. It’s perfect for students or professionals who need a machine that looks and feels expensive but costs less than a standard MacBook.
Tech Accessories
Apple Pencil USB-C
The Apple Pencil USB-C doesn’t offer quite as many features as the Apple Pencil Pro, but it’s still a great add-on for your iPad if you plan to sketch or take notes. The USB-C model doesn’t support pressure sensitivity, meaning the thickness of your lines won’t vary based on how hard you press down, but it writes smoothly and accurately and can attach to the side of your iPad for easy storage. This model is compatible with the latest generation iPad A16 and the newest iPad Pro and Air models.
Printers
The main thing that the Canon PIXMA TS7720, an all-in-one inkjet, has going for it is its price. It’s been selling for $99 for a long time, but now it’s discounted significantly, making it a great time to buy (it was recently $20 less, but this is still a nice discount). The real street price is closer to $100 than the original $150, but you’re still getting nice savings here. Our estimate of ink cost is $68 a year, pretty typical for a cartridge printer. The lab results it turns in are decent, not extraordinary.
If you print in color frequently enough to justify buying an inkjet printer, consider a model that will save you money in the long run, especially when it’s on sale. The Epson ET-2800 tank printer has a reservoir you can refill with low-cost bottled ink instead of expensive ink cartridges. It uses only about $5 worth of ink a year, according to our estimates, instead of the $70 or more you might have to pay for a cartridge model. Those ongoing savings make the Epson’s purchase price far more palatable and give it a two-year cost of ownership that’s at the top of its class.
The ET-2800’s overall performance isn’t strong enough to earn a CR recommendation. But the text quality and speed are decent and should be fine for home use. The model doesn’t excel at printing photos, charts, or graphics; it does those jobs about as well as any ink-stingy inkjet.
Smart Home
Google’s newest smart thermostat, the Nest Learning Thermostat 4th gen, comes with a remote temperature sensor that you can place in another room to balance heating and cooling. It’s one of just a few Matter-compatible smart thermostats on the market, meaning it works with any major smart home system, including Apple Home.
SimpliSafe Home Security System
In our survey-based owner satisfaction ratings of home security systems, SimpliSafe scores well both as a professionally monitored system and a self-monitored system. Our members report that SimpliSafe provides good value for the money, transparent prices, and great tech support. It’s now $30 less than we’ve seen recently.
WiFi Routers
Mesh systems are the best way to banish WiFi dead zones forever, and the Deco XE75 Pro is a fine example of just such a system. This 2-pack system uses the newer WiFi 6E standard, which opens up a “fast lane” for compatible devices, reducing interference from your neighbors’ networks. With coverage up to 5,500 square feet, it can blanket a large home in a reliable signal. Getting a high-performance 6E mesh system for under $160 is a rare find, making this one of the standout networking deals of the week, especially as it’s now $20 less than it has been for weeks.
TP-Link Archer AXE75
We haven’t reviewed this exact model, but TP-Link routers generally perform very well in our ratings. And it’s rare to find a tri-band router, specifically one that supports WiFi 6E or newer, for less than $150. Unlike older routers that fight for space on crowded channels, this one opens up the 6GHz band. Think of this as a brand-new, empty express lane on the highway that only cutting-edge devices (like the latest phones and laptops) can use. If you live in an apartment building or a dense neighborhood where your neighbors’ WiFi slows yours down, this is the most cost-effective way to bypass the congestion.
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