It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another roundup of good deals on recommended gadgets and gear. The highlights this week include a new low on Sony’s God of War Ragnarök PlayStation 5 bundle; at $500, it essentially pairs the console with one of our favorite PS5 games for no extra cost. Several other PS5 and PS4 games are also on sale, while annual PlayStation Plus subscriptions are 25 percent off. Outside of video games, Sonos is still running a Father’s Day sale on various speakers and soundbars, while Samsung’s fast 980 Pro SSD is down to new low of $66. And while the big Apple news of the week was the unveiling of the Vision Pro headset, several of the company’s existing devices are discounted, including the second-gen Pencil, third-gen AirPods, AirTag and M2 MacBook Air. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today.
PlayStation 5 + God of War Ragnarök bundle
After its first couple of years on the market were plagued by stock shortages, the PlayStation 5 has become much easier to buy in recent months. If you’re still looking to grab one, though, a bundle that pairs the console with a digital version of the acclaimed action game God of War Ragnarök is down to $500 at several retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, GameStop, Best Buy and PlayStation Direct.
Besides a couple of in-store only deals, that marks a new all-time low. This bundle originally cost $559, though we saw it temporarily drop to $509 earlier this year. The standard PS5 goes for $500 on its own, so this deal essentially nets you one of our favorite games of 2022 for no extra cost. Sony’s listing says the offer will run until August 1. If you can live without a disc drive, meanwhile, a bundle that pairs the game with the PS5 Digital Edition has been available for $459 for much of the year.
PlayStation Days of Play sale
If you already own a PS5 or PS4, Sony has also discounted a range of PlayStation games, services and accessories as part of its latest “Days of Play” sale. Annual PlayStation Plus subscriptions are 25 percent off across the board, for one, bringing the standard Essential tier down to $45, the Extra tier down to $75 and the Premium tier down to $90. As a refresher, a Plus membership is required to play many PlayStation games online and access cloud saves. It also doles out a few “free” games each month. PlayStation Plus Extra adds an Xbox Game Pass-style game catalog, while PlayStation Plus Premium throws in a collection of classic games and cloud streaming support. The Essential tier should be enough for most, but if you’re really hurting for things to play, the higher tiers may be worth it.
Several high-profile games are also on sale at both third-party retailers and the PlayStation Store, including a handful of entries from our list of the best PlayStation 5 games. The aforementioned God of War Ragnarök, for instance, is $20 off at $49 (or $39 for a PS4 copy), while Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is back at an all-time low of $20. The haunting roguelike Returnal is at a new low of $27, the racing sim Gran Turismo 7 is available for $40 and the gorgeous remake of the PS3 classic Demon’s Souls is within $5 of all-time low at $30. The open-world adventure Horizon Forbidden West is down to $30 as well; that price applies to the PS4 copy, but you can upgrade to the PS5 version for no extra cost.
Beyond that, Sony is taking $10 off a handful of alternate cover plates for the PS5, bringing the pink, purple and light blue versions down to $45. The sale as a whole will run through June 12.
If you’re more of an Xbox person, we’ll also note that Microsoft is holding its own game sale this week. Some standout deals there include the rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush for $24, the narrative-rich RPG Pentiment for $13 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection for $10. All of those represent all-time lows. For PC players, the Halo deal is also available on Steam.
Sonos speaker sale
Sonos is running a Father’s Day sale with discounts on several of the company’s well-regarded speakers and soundbars. Here’s a rundown of the most notable offers:
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The top-end Sonos Arc soundbar is down to $719, which is a $180 discount and matches its lowest price to date.
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The midrange Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is down to $399, which is $40 more than the best price we’ve seen but still $100 off its typical selling price.
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The entry-level Sonos Ray soundbar is down to a new low of $223, which is $56 off its MSRP.
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The Sonos Roam portable speaker is available for $134, while the Sonos Roam SL is down to $119. Those are discounts of $45 and $40, respectively. The former is about $7 more than its all-time low, while the latter marks the best price we’ve tracked. Between the two, the Roam SL lacks integrated mics and the “Automatic Trueplay” feature, which lets Sonos speakers automatically adapt their sound to the acoustics of their current environment.
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The Sonos Move, a heftier yet still portable speaker, is $100 off at $299. That’s an all-time low.
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The Sonos One SL, a variant of the One home speaker without built-in microphones, is on sale for $159. That’s $30 more than its all-time low but still a $40 discount.
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The Sonos Sub (Gen 3) subwoofer is available for $639, which is about $50 more than the lowest price we’ve seen but $160 off Sonos’ list price all the same.
While none of these devices are cheap, they all deliver impressive sound for their categories and are relatively easy to operate with the Sonos app. We gave the Arc, Beam and Ray review scores of 85, 88 and 82, respectively, and all three are picks in our soundbar buying guide. The Move, Roam and One, meanwhile, earned respective scores of 80, 87 and 90. The Roam is the top portable pick in our guide to the best smart speakers. The One SL is still a decent buy at $159, but note that Sonos has replaced the standard One with a new speaker called the Era 100. Our review found that $249 device to be an improvement across the board, but it’s not included in the sale outside of a few pricey bundles. Either way, we usually only see a handful of Sonos sales per year, so this is a good chance to save.
Samsung 980 Pro SSD
The 1TB model of Samsung’s 980 Pro SSD is down to $66, which is a new all-time low. We’ve typically seen it retail between $80 and $90 over the last few months. If you need more space, the 2TB model is down to $130, which is also a new low. While this isn’t the newest PCIe 4.0 SSD Samsung sells, it still meets Sony’s requirements for expanding the storage of a PlayStation 5. You just need to add a heatsink to go with it. For PC users, not everyone needs the improved performance of a PCIe 4.0 drive like this, but it can still provide a bit of a speed boost for heavier loads.
If you’re buying for a PS5, though, Samsung sells a version of the 980 Pro that comes with an integrated heatsink. The 1TB version of that drive is on sale for an all-time low of $80 if you don’t mind paying a couple dollars extra for an all-in-one solution. In other Samsung storage deals, the 128GB version of the Fit Plus flash drive, a pick from our best SSDs guide, is available for a low of $15.
Apple MacBook Air
The entry-level version of Apple’s 13.6-inch, M2-powered MacBook Air is back down to $999 at B&H, matching the lowest price we’ve tracked. This is about $60 below the notebook’s average street price in recent months and $100 below Apple’s MSRP. B&H says the deal will end on June 10.
The Air itself is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops and earned a review score of 96 from us last year. It continues to check all the necessary boxes for an everyday laptop, with a slick and light design, accurate display, comfortable keyboard, MagSafe charging port and long-lasting battery. This 8GB RAM/256GB SSD configuration has slower storage performance than the higher-capacity SKUs, but the drop-off shouldn’t be a major hindrance for the non-intense work and web browsing at which the Air is aimed. For those kind of tasks, Apple’s M2 chip is still an excellent performer.
Apple announced a new 15.3-inch variant of the M2 MacBook Air earlier this week, which’ll arrive on June 13. It looks to be extremely similar to the 13-inch model, albeit with a slightly stronger GPU and a couple extra speakers by default. Apple says that one will start at $1,299, but Amazon has the entry-level model for $50 less. If you already planned on pre-ordering, it’s a way to save a few bucks.
Fitbit Inspire 3
The Fitbit Inspire 3 is down to $80 at various retailers. While that’s $10 more than the all-time low we saw last Black Friday, it’s still $20 below the activity tracker’s typical going rate. The Inspire 3 is the top budget pick in our guide to the best fitness trackers, as it gets you a slim and comfortable design with a color touchscreen, up to 10 days of battery life and useful health monitoring. There’s no integrated GPS like the Fitbit Charge 5, our top pick, but it still offers automatic workout detection, sleep and heart rate tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, smartphone alerts and most other essentials.
Apple Pencil (2nd gen)
The second-gen Apple Pencil is back on sale for $89 at Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. That’s $4 more than the lowest price we’ve seen but about $12 below the stylus’ average street price in recent months and $40 below Apple’s MSRP. Unsurprisingly, we think the Pencil is the best stylus for iPad owners thanks to its consistent accuracy, system-wide pressure sensitivity, magnetic charging and easy pairing with iPadOS. Just make sure your iPad is compatible with this model before buying.
Peacock Premium
If you don’t already subscribe to NBCUniversal’s Peacock Premium service, you can get a 12-month subscription for $20 with the code SUMMEROFPEACOCK at checkout. That’s a $30 discount. Note that you’ll still see ads every now and then with this tier; Peacock Premium Plus, which costs $100 a year, is the ad-free plan, but that isn’t available as part of the offer. Still, if you’re looking to stream Premier League soccer, most NBC and Bravo shows, WWE live events or Yellowstone, this discount should make dealing with the occasional ad break easier to stomach. The promotion has technically been available since late May, but Peacock says it’ll end on June 12, so consider this a PSA.
Apple AirPods (3rd gen)
The third-gen Apple AirPods are once again down to $149. We’ve seen the wireless earbuds hit this price a few times before; it’s $10 more than their all-time low but still $20 less than what you’d pay if you bought from Apple directly. We gave the AirPods a review score of 88 back in late 2021. Their one-size-fits-all design, loose seal and lack of active noise cancellation will be dealbreakers for some, but if you hate the feeling of headphones that insert into your ear canal, the third-gen AirPods are still one of the better-sounding open-back earbuds you can buy. They remain a snap to use with other Apple devices, too, and their IPX4-rated water resistance and seven-hour battery life are solid.
If you need active noise cancellation and don’t mind the feel of an in-ear headphones, the AirPods Pro are fuller-sounding, more feature-rich and just as Apple-friendly. They’re currently on sale for $200, which is another deal we’ve seen fairly regularly in recent months but is $50 off Apple’s list price all the same. The AirPods Pro are the “best for iOS” pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds.
Roku, Google and Amazon 4K streaming sticks
It’s a decent time to be in the market for a new 4K streaming stick. Both the Roku Streaming Stick 4K and Google Chromecast with Google TV are now available for $40, while Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max is on sale for $35. The Streaming Stick 4K is about $5 off its average street price in recent months, while both the Chromecast and Fire TV Stick are about $10 below their usual going rates.
The Streaming Stick 4K has gone for as little as $25 in the past, but we highlight it here because it’s the top pick in our guide to the best streaming devices. Roku offers the most straightforward interface of the three major players, along with useful bonuses like AirPlay 2 support and a private-listening mode. The Chromecast is our runner-up pick; it’s more proactive about recommending shows you might like and personalizing the UI to your viewing habits, though it lacks AirPlay. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max isn’t as simple or intuitive to navigate as those devices, as it still tends to prioritize Amazon content and services above all else, but its app support and overall performance are similar. It’s also more open to sideloading, and its current deal price matches the lowest we’ve seen.
Meater Plus wireless meat thermometer
The Meater Plus is a wireless meat thermometer that reports food and ambient temperature details to your phone over Bluetooth. We’ve found it accurate and efficiently designed enough to include in our guide to the best grilling gear, as well as our recent roundup of outdoor gift ideas for Father’s Day. If this sounds like something you’d use during cookouts this summer, the thermometer is currently on sale for $80, which is a $20 discount. Meater says the offer will run through June 21.
Apple AirTag
Apple’s AirTag tracker is on sale for $25, which is a modest $4 discount but nevertheless matches the best price we’ve seen since November. The AirTag is the “best for iPhones” pick in our guide to the best Bluetooth trackers, as it leverages Apple’s massive Find My network and ultra-wideband wireless tech to locate your lost items accurately. The downside — outside of the general privacy issues that have arisen with these kind of devices — is that it doesn’t have a ring hole or built-in adhesive, so you’d need to buy an extra accessory if you wanted to affix it to a keychain or the like. If you want more than one tracker, you can get a four-pack of AirTags for $90.
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Source: www.engadget.com