The LG C5 and Apple’s M4 Mac Mini are both steeply discounted this weekend
Small footprint. Speedy performance. | Image: The Verge Happy Saturday, folks! This week, Best Buy kicked off its so-called “Winter Sale,” introducing a whole host of price cuts that range from not-so-good to legitimately great, at least for this time of year. We’ll be publishing many of the highlights in a dedicated news post tomorrow, though, per usual, not all of this week’s best deals revolve around Best Buy. Apple’s M4 Mac Mini, for instance, is receiving a $100 discount at Amazon and B&H Photo, while LG’s 65-inch C5 OLED TV is on sale at eBay for a little over a grand. There are also steep savings to be had on 45W power banks, the Beats Fit Pro, and more, so let’s dive in. Mac Mini with M4 Where to Buy: $599 $499 at Amazon (256GB) $599 $499 at B&H Photo (256GB) $799 $689 at Amazon (512GB) If you want a Mac and your budget is less...
Small footprint. Speedy performance. | Image: The Verge Happy Saturday, folks! This week, Best Buy kicked off its so-called “Winter Sale,” introducing a whole host of price cuts that range from not-so-good to legitimately great, at least for this time of year. We’ll be publishing many of the highlights in a dedicated news post tomorrow, though, per usual, not all of this week’s best deals revolve around Best Buy. Apple’s M4 Mac Mini, for instance, is receiving a $100 discount at Amazon and B&H Photo, while LG’s 65-inch C5 OLED TV is on sale at eBay for a little over a grand. There are also steep savings to be had on 45W power banks, the Beats Fit Pro, and more, so let’s dive in.
Mac Mini with M4
Where to Buy:
$599 $499 at Amazon (256GB)
$599 $499 at B&H Photo (256GB)
$799 $689 at Amazon (512GB)
If you want a Mac and your budget is less than $500, your only real option — aside from going the refurbished route or picking up a model that’s several generations old — is Apple’s latest Mac Mini. Thankfully, the desktop machine makes for a truly excellent daily driver, one that’s currently on sale at Amazon and B&H Photo with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage starting at $499 ($100), which is just $20 shy of its Black Friday low and about $30 less than its best price to date.For most people, the 2024 Mac Mini is a far better (and more economical) choice than the latest Mac Studio. The tiny, M4-powered machine is an excellent value, even at full price, with three Thunderbolt 4 (USB 4) ports, a gigabit ethernet jack, a 3.5mm audio input, and an HDMI port. Its 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU provide fast, consistent performance for a wide range of tasks; however, keep in mind that you’ll need to bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse.
Read our full Mac Mini (2024) review.
Iniu Carry P51L-E2 Power Bank 45W 20000mAh
Where to Buy:
$36.99 $18.86 at Amazon (at checkout)
Last year, we saw a spate of power bank recalls, including those from both Anker and ESR. I replaced one of my aging Anker models during that time with Iniu’s excellent Carry P51L-E2, which is on sale at Amazon for a new low of $18.86 (about $21 off) at checkout.The 20,000mAh power bank isn’t particularly fancy, though it does output up to 45W of power and features a built-in, braided USB-C cable that doubles as a lanyard. You also get an extra USB-C and USB-A port, allowing you to juice your phone, tablet, a pair of wireless earbuds, and other small electronics at the same time. Now, if only Iniu could have packed the extra battery capacity into a charger as compact and colorful as the like-minded Pocket Rocket P50. C’est la vie.
LG C5 OLED TV (65-inch)
Where to Buy:
$2699.99 $1197.59 at eBay (with code FAVEFINDS20)
Arguably the best TV deal you can find this weekend would be on the 65-inch Bravia 8 II, which is still hovering around $2,398 (over $1,000 off) at multiple retailers, including Amazon. But not everyone has that kind of money to throw around on an OLED panel, which makes the current discount on LG’s C5 more appealing. Now through January 20th, you can pick up LG’s 65-inch OLED TV at eBay for $1,197.59 ($1,502 off) when you use code FAVEFINDS20 at checkout.Like prior models in the C Series, the C5 is all about value. The 4K set delivers the deep black levels and contrast for which OLEDs are known, and it features LG’s AI Picture Pro, which a***yzes what you’re watching and adjusts brightness, resolution, and other settings to improve clarity. It also features a bevy of gaming-friendly features, including a 120Hz refresh rate, support for AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, and four HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing you to play current-gen t**les in 4K at up to 120fps. It’s rounded out with HDR10 and Dolby Vision support, further enhancing color and contrast.
Beats Fit Pro
Where to Buy:
$199.95 $89.99 at Woot
Having now used both the Beats Fit Pro and the new Powerbeats Fit as part of my weekly workout regimen, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there’s little difference between the two — well, other than the fact that the Powerbeats Fit retail for $199.95 and the last-gen Beats Fit Pro are on sale at Woot in select colors for $89.99 ($110 off) through January 31st. Beats’ latest workout earbuds also feature a smaller charging case and more flexible wing tips, I guess, but with the Fit Pro, you’re still getting solid noise cancellation, good sound, and all the Apple ecosystem tricks you’d expect for less than half the price.
Read our full Beats Fit Pro review.
More ways to save this weekend
Elgato’s Stream Deck Plus is matching its all-time low at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, where you can pick it up for $159.99 ($40 off) for a limited time. Like the standard Stream Deck, the Plus model comes with a slew of large, programmable LCD keys — eight, in this case — which you can use to automate a variety of tasks on your computer or control various smart home devices. The Plus comes with a few neat add-ons, though, specifically four knobs for making finer adjustments and a narrow touchscreen at the bottom for viewing tidbits of information at a glance. Read our review.
If you’re a modern gamer with a soft spot for the Sega Genesis, 8BitDo’s M30 Bluetooth Controller is down to an all-time low of $20.98 ($4 off) at Amazon as part of an ongoing lightning deal. The inexpensive, retro-styled gamepad sports a similar layout to Sega’s iconic controller, only it comes with Bluetooth, 20 hours of battery life, and built-in b***ons for quick access to the homescreen and snapping screenshots. It also works with a handful of platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, and Android.
Speaking of gaming, Steam’s weeklong Detective Fest is set to wind down at 1PM ET on Monday, January 19th. That means that this weekend is one of your last chances to pick up a copy of The Case of the Golden Idol ($8.99), Disco Elysium ($9.99), The Séance of Blake Manor ($14.99), Strange Horticulture ($6.39), or 2025 GOTY contender, Blue Prince ($19.79), at a steep discount.
My UGREEN DXP4800 Pro NAS quietly replaced half my home lab, and I didn’t expect that
I bought the UGREEN DXP4800 Pro NAS expecting it to behave like a better storage box. That was the sensible role for it, at least on paper. It had room for drives, enough performance to handle my files, and a more appliance-like personality than the random assortment of mini PCs...
I bought the UGREEN DXP4800 Pro NAS expecting it to behave like a better storage box. That was the sensible role for it, at least on paper. It had room for drives, enough performance to handle my files, and a more appliance-like personality than the random assortment of mini PCs and Raspberry Pis that had accumulated around my home lab. What I didn’t expect was for it to start swallowing jobs I used to reserve for dedicated machines.
Wendy Perkins United States
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I ditched Copilot on VS Code for this free extension, and it’s miles ahead
Although I’ve started reducing the VS Code extensions in my coding arsenal, I consider some of them borderline essential for my programming tasks. For example, I continue to rely on extensions for C++, Python, Terraform, Ansible, and other coding/IaC languages I use to train my DevOps skills. Likewise, I’ve got...
Although I’ve started reducing the VS Code extensions in my coding arsenal, I consider some of them borderline essential for my programming tasks. For example, I continue to rely on extensions for C++, Python, Terraform, Ansible, and other coding/IaC languages I use to train my DevOps skills. Likewise, I’ve got Container Tools for my self-hosting experiments, while Prettier makes my terribly formatted code a bit more readable.
John Doe New York
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Samsung workers set to strike at worst possible time
Samsung Electronics workers attended a rally outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek on April 23rd, ahead of the planned strike. | Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images More than 47,000 Samsung Electronics workers are gearing up for an 18-day strike after bonus payment negotiations between the company and...
Samsung Electronics workers attended a rally outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek on April 23rd, ahead of the planned strike. | Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images More than 47,000 Samsung Electronics workers are gearing up for an 18-day strike after bonus payment negotiations between the company and its union collapsed. The strike is set to start on Thursday and will be limited to Samsung's domestic chipmaking plants, raising concerns around the already constrained production of memory chips amid the ongoing shortage.While the union had agreed to mediation proposed by South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission (the details of which have not been made public), management at Samsung Electronics rejected the deal without explanation, Nikkei Asia reports.As part of its demands, the Samsung unio …Read the full story at The Verge.
Becky Brewer United Kingdom
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Wear OS 7 will keep track of deliveries and sports scores on your wrist
A Pixel Watch 4 running Wear OS 6, not Wear OS 7. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amid the flurry of today's Google I/O announcements, Google shared details about Wear OS 7, the next major update to its smartwatch platform. To help you keep track of...
A Pixel Watch 4 running Wear OS 6, not Wear OS 7. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amid the flurry of today's Google I/O announcements, Google shared details about Wear OS 7, the next major update to its smartwatch platform. To help you keep track of things like deliveries and sports scores, Wear OS 7 will get the iPhone-style Live Updates that were introduced on Android last year - which can appear on your watch or your smartphone - and you'll also be able to track automated tasks that an AI is working on right from your watch.Wear OS is also getting an upgrade from its widget-like Tiles for glanceable information. With the new update, Google is adding "Wear Widgets" to the platform, which look more like Android widgets …Read the full story at The Verge.
Julian Noriega Mexico
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Plex is tripling the price of a lifetime pass to $750 after doubling it last year
I am dying to know how much money Plex is about to make the next six weeks charging people to stream their own video from their own homes. Today, it's giving every prospective customer until July 1st to lock in a lifetime subscription at today's rates - before it triples...
I am dying to know how much money Plex is about to make the next six weeks charging people to stream their own video from their own homes. Today, it's giving every prospective customer until July 1st to lock in a lifetime subscription at today's rates - before it triples the price to $750. Plex already more than doubled the price of a lifetime Plex Pass subscription from $119.99 to $249.99 last March, and it'll triple again on July 1st to $749.99. At that price, you'd have to subscribe for 11 years (at the current annual rate) to make the lifetime sub worthwhile.Plex isn't choosing the new number because it expects you to pay $750. In a …Read the full story at The Verge.
Michael Johnson Chicago
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Android 17 is getting its own version of Apple’s Handoff
At launch, Continue On will only allow you to move tasks from a phone to a tablet. | Image: Google Google is adding a new Android feature that resembles Apple's Handoff, allowing you to start a task on your Android phone and continue it right where you left off from...
At launch, Continue On will only allow you to move tasks from a phone to a tablet. | Image: Google Google is adding a new Android feature that resembles Apple's Handoff, allowing you to start a task on your Android phone and continue it right where you left off from a compatible tablet. "Continue On" is designed to eventually be bidirectional, but Google says that at launch it will only support tasks moving from a smartphone to a tablet. Android tablet users will see the Continue On icon in the dock suggesting the most recently used app from their phone, assuming it's also installed on the tablet.It should allow Android users to directly open documents they were working on, or jump straight into the email they just had open. In some c …Read the full story at The Verge.
Mats Winther Norway
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I added a second Ethernet port to my NAS and finally stopped fighting network slowdowns
NAS boxes with dual Ethernet ports are common enough. When I spotted one on my Synology box, I just assumed that it was meant for office setups or more comprehensive enterprise networking. As it stands, one cable was good enough for me, and the network speeds maxed out at gigabit...
NAS boxes with dual Ethernet ports are common enough. When I spotted one on my Synology box, I just assumed that it was meant for office setups or more comprehensive enterprise networking. As it stands, one cable was good enough for me, and the network speeds maxed out at gigabit transfer speeds were more than enough for quick file transfers. Over time though, I've been using my NAS as more than just a storage box. It's also become my secondary PC, handling all the home server needs.
پوریا مرادی Iran
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Treating Claude Code as just a coding tool is like using a Swiss Army knife to open cans
The "Code" in Claude Code is really doing the tool a disservice. From the name, most people assume that they point it at a codebase and ask it to fix something. That's a perfectly reasonable way to use it. But I've been throwing increasingly unrelated tasks at Claude Code for...
The "Code" in Claude Code is really doing the tool a disservice. From the name, most people assume that they point it at a codebase and ask it to fix something. That's a perfectly reasonable way to use it. But I've been throwing increasingly unrelated tasks at Claude Code for weeks, and it's become clear that it can do so much more than its name suggests. I now think of it more as a context-aware terminal agent, which also happens to be great at coding.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Discord’s voice and video calls just got much more secure, but it’s still leaving text messages exposed
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a big selling point for a messaging app. E2EE allows two people to chat on an app without people spying on what's being said, including the company hosting the service. And while it can make it near-impossible to track people misusing the service, it does mean...
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a big selling point for a messaging app. E2EE allows two people to chat on an app without people spying on what's being said, including the company hosting the service. And while it can make it near-impossible to track people misusing the service, it does mean people can chat without fear of their data being exposed.
Emily Brown Houston
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Lossless Scaling is the only Steam Deck plugin worth your time, and here’s why
It's no secret that I love my Steam Deck, and one of the things that makes it better is the plugins supplied by Decky Loader. It's even better on more powerful hardware like the ROG Ally X if you install SteamOS, because it gives you more computing grunt to run...
It's no secret that I love my Steam Deck, and one of the things that makes it better is the plugins supplied by Decky Loader. It's even better on more powerful hardware like the ROG Ally X if you install SteamOS, because it gives you more computing grunt to run your games, on top of the boost from Linux's lower resource usage.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Deepin’s security problems just cost it another major Linux distro
There are a lot of desktop environments out there, but only a few can claim the title of being truly beautiful. One of them is Deepin, a Chinese-based DE that also has its own distro. We've given the distro a try in the past and found that it "looks more...
There are a lot of desktop environments out there, but only a few can claim the title of being truly beautiful. One of them is Deepin, a Chinese-based DE that also has its own distro. We've given the distro a try in the past and found that it "looks more beautiful than anything Microsoft or Apple ever made."
Velemudr Lyucenko Ukraine
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Mercedes’ electric AMG GT 4-door coupe can go 0-60 in 2 seconds
The era of ultra-high performance Mercedes EVs is here. The German automaker finally revealed its new super sedan, the AMG GT 4-door coupe, with technology borrowed from the automaker's XX concept that last year made history by driving 24,901 miles in under 8 days at Nardò Ring in southern Italy....
The era of ultra-high performance Mercedes EVs is here. The German automaker finally revealed its new super sedan, the AMG GT 4-door coupe, with technology borrowed from the automaker's XX concept that last year made history by driving 24,901 miles in under 8 days at Nardò Ring in southern Italy. With the production model, Mercedes rethought its approach to motors and batteries in the hopes of delivering a high-performance vehicle that could go toe-to-toe with even some hypercars. The new AMG GT utilizes three axial flux motors developed by Mercedes subsidiary YASA, delivering up to 1,153 horsepower and 1,475 lb-ft of torque. Mercedes clai …Read the full story at The Verge.
