This week's best deals: Amazon Fire tablets, Apple MacBook Pro and more
Plus a free Echo Show 5 when you buy an Echo Studio speaker.
A bunch of the newest laptops, tablets and other gadgets are discounted this week. Amazon slashed the prices of its latest Fire tablets to all-time lows and you can still grab a few of Apple’s latest MacBook Pros while they’re hundreds of dollars off. You can also get a free Echo Show 5 and Philips Hue light bulb from Best Buy when you buy Amazon’s Echo Studio smart speaker. Here are the best deals from the week that you can still buy today.
Amazon Fire tablets
Amazon’s newest Fire tablets are back down to their lowest prices ever. The Fire HD 8 (81) is now $60, which is $30 off its normal price, and the Fire HD 8 Plus (79) is down to $80, or $20 off its normal price. These tablets just came out a few months ago and they’re designed to be affordable slabs for watching movies, reading books and comics, web browsing and doing other things that you’d want a larger screen to do. The Fire HD 10, which is on sale for $100, gives you a bit more screen real estate with its 10-inch, 1080p display, but it should run similarly to the Fire HD 8 since they share the same processor. The key thing to remember about Fire tablets is that they don’t run Android in the traditional sense, so you won’t get The Play Store or any Google apps on these tablets out of the box.
Buy the Fire HD 8 tablet at Amazon - $60
Buy the Fire HD 8 Plus tablet at Amazon - $80
Buy the Fire HD 10 tablet at Amazon - $100
Echo Studio + Echo Show 5 bundle
Best Buy’s solid deal that includes a free Echo Show 5 and a Philips Hue smart light bulb when you buy an Echo Studio is ongoing. The $199 Echo Studio is the best sounding smart speaker in Amazon’s Echo lineup and it earned a score of 88 from us. The Echo Show 5 makes a great smart alarm clock and is one of the most compact smart displays you can get right now. Best Buy’s website doesn’t make it easy to see the offer, but all you need to do is add the Echo Studio to your cart and the two free items will appear there before you checkout.
Buy Echo Studio + Echo Show 5 bundle at Best Buy - $200
16-inch MacBook Pro
Now’s a good time to grab a new MacBook Pro if you need one for the upcoming school semester. Amazon has the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro on sale starting at $2,099. This laptop is truly for power users thanks to its powerful Intel CPU/AMD GPU combination. It earned a score of 90 from us thanks to that as well as its lovely 16-inch Retina display, stellar speaker and mic combo and comfortable Magic Keyboard.
Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro (512GB) at Amazon - $2,099
Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro (1TB) at Amazon - $2,449
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
You can still get the 13-inch Surface Laptop 3 starting at $800 at Amazon. The base model, which has a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, will suffice for some, but we generally recommend the next tier up in specs if you want to use the device as your daily driver. That machine is on sale for $1,299 and has a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. We gave the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 a score of 80 for its minimalist design, comfortable keyboard and lovely display.
Buy Surface Laptop 3 (Core i5) at Amazon - $800
Buy Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7, 256GB) at Amazon - $1,299
Buy Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7, 512GB) at Amazon - $1,690
Jabra Elite 75t
Jabra’s excellent Elite 75t true wireless earbuds remain discounted to $150 at Amazon and Best Buy. That’s $30 less than their normal price and the lowest we’ve seen them. The Elite 75ts (87) are smaller and more comfortable to wear than their predecessors, and they can better withstand sweat while you’re working out thanks to their IP55 rating. They don’t have active noise-cancellation, but they do have solid sound quality, a good battery life and a handy mobile app in which you can customize some audio preferences.
Buy Jabra Elite 75t at Amazon - $150
Buy Jabra Elite 75t at Best Buy - $150
New deal additions
Philips Hue White + Ambiance starter kit
One of the easiest ways to start building a smart home is with smart light bulbs and Best Buy has a complete Philips Hue starter pack for $130, which is $60 off its normal price. This pack includes three white + color smart bulbs, one bridge to connect them all and one dimmer switch. Once set up, you can control all of the lights with the Philips Hue mobile app, doing things like turning them on and off, changing light colors, setting routines and more.
Buy Philips Hue starter kit at Best Buy - $130
Apple Magic Keyboard (11-inch iPad Pro)
iPad Pro users can snag the new Magic Keyboard for slightly less right now at Amazon. The keyboard case is down to $280, which is $20 off its launch price and the lowest it’s been since it came out. We gave the Magic Keyboard a score of 84 for its excellent typing experience (thanks mostly to Apple’s new scissor-switch keys), solid glass trackpad and USB-C port for charging. It’s quite an expensive iPad accessory even at this sale price, but it’s certainly the most luxurious typing experience you’ll get with an iPad if you’re willing to spend the money.
Buy Magic Keyboard at Amazon - $279
Google Home Mini
Walmart has a two-pack of Google Home Mini speakers for $40, which is roughly 50 percent off the normal price. Yes, these are Google Home Minis not Nest Minis, so they are older models of Google’s most compact smart speaker. That said, the Home Mini and the Nest Mini have a lot in common — the exterior design is mostly the same and they both house the Google Assistant. The Nest Mini has an improved sound system and additional mounting options, but if you primarily want a decent, compact smart speaker for cheap, this bundle fits the bill.
Buy Google Home Mini (2-pack) at Walmart - $40
Plugable Thunderbolt 3 dock
Amazon dropped the price of Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 dock to $199, which is $30 less than its normal price. This docking station gives you nine ports, including five USB-A ports, an Ethernet port and a DisplayPort, with which to connect displays, accessories and other peripherals to your laptop. It also charges your host laptop when it’s connected with up to 60W of power. We also like its sleek metal design and that it comes with a rubberized base that you can use to stand the dock up vertically on your desk.
Buy Plugable Thunderbolt 3 dock at Amazon - $199
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