It’s tough to tell the newer second-generation AirPods Pro from the previous model by looks alone. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
In case you missed out on Woot’s recent $50 off deal on the second-generation AirPods Pro (it happened very early Saturday morning, inconveniently), Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart have your back. Each of those retailers is selling them for $199.99, matching that all-time low price. The cost for this newer model keeps falling week by week, and it’s possible that Black Friday’s arrival will sink the cost by a little more, but I wouldn’t expect it to dip much further.
Compared to the first-gen AirPods Pro, this model has better sound quality and more effective active noise cancellation. Beyond those improvements, it’s possible to adjust the volume by touching the earbuds. The charging case included with this newer AirPods Pro model got a few upgrades, too. It has a built-in speaker, a loop for a lanyard, and better location tracking. Read our review.
Target, Amazon, and Walmart have a fantastic deal on a four-pack of Apple AirTag trackers. Normally a kit costs $99, which breaks down to $25 a pop. That’s already saving you $4 per tracker compared to just buying one for $29. But this deal for $74.99 makes each tracker cost about $18.75. If you have multiple bags or a couple of family members who use iPhones, these can help you and yours keep track of important belongings. It could come in handy if you plan to travel for the holidays.
My colleague Nathan Edwards recently made a big cross-country trip with the AirTags in tow, and he wrote about his experience using them to track his belongings.
Slickdeals pointed me in the direction of this excellent price cut on Lenovo’s 2022 Legion 5i gaming laptop. Originally $2,209.99, it’s $1,369 at B&H Photo. The specs make this a great deal for this 15.6-inch version with a 1080p display and a fast 165Hz refresh rate. Inside, it has Intel’s Core i7-12700H processor, Nvidia’s powerful RTX 3070 Ti graphics card, 16GB of speedy 4,800MHz DDR5 RAM (upgradeable to 32GB), and a 1TB NVMe SSD (with another M.2 slot available). As far as ports go, it has three USB-A ports, one Thunderbolt 4 port, two USB-C ports, ethernet, a headphone jack, and an HDMI 2.1 port.
I reviewed a similar configuration but in Lenovo’s larger, pricier 16-inch Legion Pro form factor with a QHD display. It’s a great gaming laptop if you want more than just solid performance. It has a nice-to-use keyboard and trackpad and better battery life than I expected. Knocking down the resolution and screen size slightly to get this price are tradeoffs that I feel comfortable recommending.
A couple more deals for your Monday
If you’re looking for the best pre-Black Friday tech deals, here’s one: Meta’s Quest 2 virtual reality headset is $50 off and comes bundled with two games — Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4 VR. It’s a great deal for $349.99 at Amazon and Best Buy.
GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy are selling every color of the DualSense PS5 controller for $49.99 ($20 off or more, depending on the color). This gamepad works great on PC, too, in case you’re just in the market for extras. I’m partial to the blue, pink, and purple models, but they all look great in their own way. Previous discounts knocked $10 off, so this is a pretty big deal.