It’s another week full of deals here at The edgeand we’ve got some bangers ranging from the biggest hits to some of the hottest niches.
First, the Apple TV 4K streaming box with 32GB of storage is thanks to the frequent retail price of $129.99 at Best Buy and Amazon. Back during Amazon Prime Day, it dropped to $119.99, but if you missed that sale, it’s still an excellent price. It supports 4K resolution, as its namesake implies, and it has many top specs to bolster its performance – HDR support, HDMI 2.1 and Wi-Fi 6. While one of the standout features of the latest Apple TV 4K is that Apple has finally solved its terrible remote design, it also includes an A12 Bionic processor for fast performance. You can get a good streaming device for under $100, but the Apple TV 4K is a very good premium option that is a little more future-proof. Read our review.
The king is dead, long live the king! It took almost two years, but the M1 MacBook Air has been dethroned on our list of the best laptops. Unsurprisingly, it was the redesigned M2 MacBook Air that committed this regicide. However, the M1 MacBook Air is still highly recommended, because its affordable price makes it look a bit like the new Emperor has no clothes on (or at least, the new monarch leaves fewer dollars in your pocket – that’s for sure).
How much cheaper is the M1 though? The M1 MacBook Air is currently on sale at Amazon for $899.99 in silver or gold with basic 256GB storage. That’s $100 off the regular price and about $299 less than the $1,199 M2 model — though the M2 gets even more expensive in its better configuration with faster storage. Even in 2022, the M1 MacBook Air is still a great everyday laptop to get work done. Sure, it’s stuck with a terrible webcam and only two USB-C ports for all accessories and charging, but it’s hard to beat this laptop for performance on a budget. Read our review.
Here’s another Apple-adjacent deal for you. The Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds are available in pink at Woot for $99.99. This half discount knocks off a cool $100 off their regular price. I know refurb earbuds might not be everyone’s bag, but these have a 30-day return if you change your mind and a one-year third-party warranty.
The Beats Fit Pro is one of the best earbuds you can buy today, especially if you want great active noise cancellation in a fitness-ready earbud. These buds outperform the AirPods Pro in many ways, except that their USB-C charging box is a bit too large and cannot be charged wirelessly. Still, it has Apple’s own H1 chip inside for easier pairing with iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Read our review.
We may be just over two weeks away from Samsung’s next foldable phones, but in the meantime Best Buy has great prices for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 with two of the three major airlines. You can get a Flip 3 with 128GB of storage for $299.99 ($700 off) with activation on Verizon or $399.99 ($600 off) with activation on AT&T.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is as conventional as a foldable phone gets these days. The 6.7-inch 120Hz screen folds in half for an easily pocketable device with a 1.9-inch external display for viewing notifications. While durability may be the weak point of most modern foldable devices, the Flip 3 does have some water resistance.
The bigger elephant in the room is that the replacement and a new Galaxy Z Fold 4 are just around the corner, with an upcoming Samsung Unpacked event scheduled for August 10. You can even make a free, no-obligation reservation for the new Flip and get up to $200 credit from Samsung if you want the upcoming phone, earbuds, and smartwatch as a bundle from Galaxies (or $100 credit for an upcoming Galaxy foldable only). Read our review.
If you haven’t grown tired of using a mirrorless camera as your Zoom webcam like some of us, the Elgato Cam Link 4K costs $99.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. That’s a $30 discount off the regular price of $129.99 for one of the best HDMI to USB dongles out there, capable of 4K output.
I joke about using it as a webcam, but the Cam Link is an excellent tool for streaming and recording video. It enables all kinds of DSLRs and mirrorless cameras that output a clean video signal via HDMI for easy use with Windows or macOS. It’s a good choice for many Twitch streamers who want their face camera to have much better sharpness, color, and background blur. In addition, the Cam Link 4K can make up for the shortcomings of a bad webcam in a monitor. Our very own Cameron Faulkner touched upon this topic lightly in a recent episode of The Vergecast when a listener asked about finding their ideal monitor – because many monitors have bad webcams.
More offers on Monday:
- The Govee DreamView TV bias light that mimics the colors on the screen using a small camera mounted on the TV is turned on a one-day deal from Best Buy for $64.99 ($25 off). This version is suitable for 55-inch to 65-inch sets. Read our review.
- Mophie’s 7.5W 3-in-1 Wireless Charger for Apple Devices is $64.99 (50 percent off) at Best Buy for today only. It’s not as fancy as Mophie’s newer MagSafe-compatible chargers, and it doesn’t charge quickly (half the top speed of MagSafe), but it’s an affordable bedside charger for a Qi-enabled iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch.
- The older Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R lens is just $799 ($100 off) today from adorama and B&H Photo. It’s not as sharp or well-corrected as its weatherproof replacement, but it’s still a great, fast 35mm equivalent focal length on Fujifilm X cameras.
- If you need to stock up on some standard SD cards for your mirrorless camera, B&H Photo has a one-day deal price for Lexar 128GB UHS-I SDXC cards. They’re only $19.99 when added to your cart, though you’ll need to spend $49 for free shipping.
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