You can save $50 on the Xbox Series S

Black Friday is next week, which means we’re about to see a lot of great deals drop and inevitably disappear within seconds. That’s why it’s not the worst idea to start your holiday shopping before the madness begins. If you want to do so while saving, you can’t go wrong gifting a gamer a discounted Xbox Series S. Right now, you can buy Microsoft’s miniature console for just $249.99 ($50 off) at Adorama, which is one of its better prices to date.

If your loved one lives in a small apartment or home, the Xbox Series S is a particularly ideal console to consider purchasing, one that’s much smaller than the more expensive Series X. Though it lacks a disc drive, you can use it to play the same digital games as the Series X, albeit at 2560 x 1440 resolution with HDR instead of 4K. Just note the compact console only comes with a paltry 512GB of storage, though you can increase your storage capacity if necessary with external hard drives and expansion cards. Read our review.

Speaking of Black Friday, there are some things that can’t wait until the shopping holiday to buy, even if it is next week. A laptop is often one of those things, whether you intend to use yours for work or simply for fun. If your laptop literally just died and you need a replacement ASAP, you don’t need to wait, as LG’s Gram 15 is available at a new record low at both Amazon and Best Buy. Both retailers are currently selling the 15-inch version of one of our favorite laptops with a whopping 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor for $1,499.99 ($400 off). Admittedly, it does come with a lower-resolution 1080p display than the 17-inch model we reviewed and highly recommend. Nevertheless, it is still a powerful yet lightweight laptop, one that boasts a wide selection of ports, like two USB-A and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a microSD card slot, an HDMI output, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

In case you forgot, another US holiday takes place the day before Black Friday: Thanksgiving. It’s a day when families across the nation come together over turkey to give thanks, fight over politics, ask intrusive questions about your personal life, and so much more. Fun!

If that doesn’t sound appealing to you, a pair of noise-canceling headphones can help you temporarily drown out the noise and save your sanity. Thankfully, you can pick up a pair of Apple’s AirPods Max at Amazon right now for $449.99 instead of $549, which is one of the better prices we’ve seen on the over-ear headphones. True, you can buy a better pair — including Sony’s WH-1000XM5 — for a lot less; however, the AirPods Max still boast terrific sound and build quality that truly make them stand out. They’re also a great option for those embedded within Apple’s ecosystem given how easily they allow you to switch between iOS and macOS devices. Read our review.

If you’re in need of a streaming device, Amazon’s last-gen Fire TV Cube remains a good, budget-friendly alternative to Amazon’s newest model, even though it lacks Wi-Fi 6E support and faster speeds. Like the latest model, you can use the versatile gadget as both a streaming device and a decent Echo speaker, but you’ll only be paying $59.99 ($60 off) instead of $139.99 (the cost of the 2022 Fire TV Cube) at Amazon. Despite being a little slower, this should still be plenty fast enough for most people, and it supports 4K streaming in all the major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision. It even allows you to make voice commands without a remote, just as you would any other speaker in Amazon’s Echo speaker lineup.