The second coming of Amazon Prime Day (also known as “Big Deals Day”) is nearly upon us, which means you can expect tons of excellent deals and sales before and during the event. And while you can find discounts on pretty much anything and everything you can think of, certain products should be at the top of your list to search for.
Naturally, tech products are at the top of that list since their normal higher prices lend much better to these massive event discounts as they bring MSRP down to a more affordable range.
And within the large market of tech, there are three products you should be looking for in particular: components, peripherals, and cheap laptops like Chromebooks.
Components
Components like the best processors, the best graphics cards, RAM (or memory), and the best motherboards tend to be some of the most expensive tech you can purchase, with some high-end versions even eclipsing the price of laptops and pre-built desktop PCs. As such, sale events like Prime Day can be golden opportunities to upgrade their PCs without completely breaking the bank.
When purchasing components for your PC, the most important factor to consider is that it’s compatible with the other components in your PC. It doesn’t matter if you got the latest and most powerful CPU if it doesn’t work with your motherboard and vice versa.
It’s also important to not get components that match the potential resolution of the overall build, like the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT or Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and lower for 1080. Processors shouldn’t be older than the 12th generation Intel or Ryzen 5000-series from AMD, as anything older may run into compatibility issues with more recent components.
When buying a motherboard, make sure to check the socket type, as this determines whether your processor will fit into it. Finally, RAM needs to be 8GB minimum and features like speed and performance must also be considered.
Peripherals
While not as glamorous or well-discussed as components, tech peripherals and accessories are just as important. And the best part is that it tends to be much easier to find and purchase peripherals like mice, keyboards, headsets, and more. And despite them being generally cheaper than components, they tend to lend themselves well to the sales you’ll find during Prime Day.
When it comes to peripherals, the most important aspect is what works best for your needs. Getting the best gaming mouse with a high polling rate is nearly worthless if you’re just sitting in your office making spreadsheets or editing images in Photoshop all day.
For instance, a gamer will need a mouse with high specs while an office worker is looking for one with better ergonomics. Keyboards are similar, as the best gaming keyboards are more likely to feature wireless connectivity with high specs and more customization options while productivity work requires a more comfortable keyboard made for longer typing sessions.
Headsets, whether for gaming or other uses, must have comfortable ear cushions, high-quality sound, and multiple connectivity options.
Cheap laptops
Finally, while even the best laptops can be heavily discounted during Prime Day, the true stars of the show are cheap laptops as retailers tend to use sales events to clear out stock of inexpensive laptops to make way for shiny new products. So cheap Windows laptops, the best Chromebooks, and older MacBook models tend to be up for grabs.
Though this is the best time to invest in laptops meant for basic productivity work, internet browsing, streaming, video calls, and more, there are plenty of dangers in buying such inexpensive products. Unlike a cheap mouse or keyboard that’s still guaranteed to work just fine, a laptop with too low specs will be basically unusable for more than the most basic of tasks.
For instance, never go lower than 4GB for RAM, as anything below that won’t be able to perform basic functions with a modern OS, and really the minimum should be 8GB or 16GB for a gaming laptop.
Storage needs to be at a minimum of 128GB for Chromebooks or 256GB for Windows or Mac laptops since file sizes are larger now than years ago and you need adequate storage space for them. CPUs shouldn’t be lower than 12th-Gen Intel or AMD Ryzen 6000-series for Windows laptops (never get anything with an Intel Pentium unless it is a Chromebook), and don’t bother with a MacBook that has an Intel CPU as the M-series chips are far better quality.
GPUs are much more flexible since they tend not to be important for these kinds of laptops, and an integrated GPU is more than enough for most people.
Make sure to shop around on Prime Day
One last point of advice is to make sure you look around other retailers, not just Amazon, as Walmart, Best Buy, Newegg, and others will all be running competing sales events as well, so if you don’t see something you like from the big Amazon sale, the best Prime Day deals for you might be elsewhere.
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allisa.james@futurenet.com (Allisa James)
