Walmart’s early Black Friday deals have arrived, and we’ve found a handful of deals that rival last year’s Black Friday prices. If any of these products are on your shopping list, now is a good time to buy, especially if you can pair them with a Walmart coupon. This is just the start of our holiday deals coverage. Check out our Black Friday tips to get prepared, and head over to our curated gift guides for ideas and inspiration.
Updated November 13: We’ve checked for accuracy and added a handful of new deals on toys, cookware, headphones, headsets, and more.
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Tech Deals
Photograph: Acer
This deal beats last year’s Black Friday pricing by $70. After being a top pick for months, the Acer Aspire 3 is now honorably mentioned in our Cheap Laptops buying guide. It still has excellent value, with a big display and plenty of ports (including Ethernet, USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and the elusive headphone jack). It’s also relatively lightweight when compared to similarly sized budget laptops. This model has an Intel Core i5 chip, integrated graphics, 8 GB of RAM, and a 15.6-inch IPS display. We wish that the speakers were louder and that the display was sharper, but if you’re on a tight budget, it’s hard to get more bang for your buck. You can also upgrade to the newer Acer Aspire 5 for beefier specs for $480 ($219 off), which beats last year’s holiday pricing and gets you a nicer display and more RAM.
The recently released Apple Watch Series 10 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the Best Apple Watch money can buy. Thanks to this deal, it’s a bit less money than usual. The discount may not seem stellar but this is the lowest price we’ve seen so far and it’s unlikely to drop much further, if at all, during Black Friday. It unfortunately doesn’t have blood oxygen sensing like previous models did, but it does have a bunch of fitness tracking features, and it can help gather data on other health stats like breathing disturbances, workout efficiency, and more.
Roku Black Friday deals are nothing new, but this is a good deal for the best Roku device and our favorite streaming stick overall. I recently swapped from Amazon’s streaming ecosystem to a Roku device and I think it’s a much better experience. There are lots of free channels to watch (including all of How It’s Made, an American version of the Great British Baking Show, and tons of good Antiques Roadshow episodes). The interface is user-friendly and customizable, the remote is fast, and the plug-and-play setup couldn’t be simpler.
Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
This headset earned a rare 10/10 review from our tester, who claimed it was made with some sort of magic. That’s because it has a whopping 300 hours of battery life—and sometimes even more in our testing. That’s about 10 times the average. Of course, the sound quality is great and so is the comfort and fit. But perhaps most enticingly, you’ll hardly ever need to charge it. This deal comes within $20 of the best price we’ve tracked and $10 of the deal we saw during Black Friday last year. Learn more and get additional recommendations in our Gaming Headset Buying Guide.
This deal was slightly cheaper earlier in the week, but we still think it’s a solid discount, and most of the seven available colors are on sale for this price or a bit lower right now. This punchy little speaker is the slightly older version of one of our favorites. It’s water- and dust-resistant, and the built-in carabiner makes it easy to clip onto a backpack or stroller. The small size also makes it perfect for kids. The battery lasts for around 10 hours per charge, and the sound quality is surprisingly full despite the speaker’s miniature footprint.
The unfortunately named Sony WH-1000XM5 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) remain our very favorite wireless headphones out of the hundreds we’ve tested. They have sold for slightly less, with $298 being the best deal we’ve seen, but last year’s Black Friday sales dropped them to $328 so this deal is worth mentioning. They have excellent sound quality, a whopping 30 hours of battery life, great noise canceling, and a swanky design. The comfortable fit and intuitive onboard controls round out the listening experience.
Photograph: Samsung
This beats last year’s Black Friday discount by $500. The QN900C (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is undeniably expensive, but this is one of the best deals we’ve tracked. It’s gorgeous and has exquisitely detailed, clear video quality, with deep blacks, vivid colors, and some of the smoothest motion processing you’ll see. It can handle up to 8K resolution, too.
These wireless headphones are old—they first came out in 2016. I tried them then and loved them (as did the editors at WIRED), but eventually, I upgraded to AirPods, and then AirPods Pro. And after several years of trying and failing to see what all the fuss was about, I recently bought another pair of Solo3. I love them just as much as I used to. They pair quickly with my iPhone thanks to the built-in M1 chip (though they’re still compatible with Android), plus the onboard controls are easy to use, and they’re rose gold! Other colors are on sale, too. I still love the booming bass and the tight on-ear fit, plus the fast-charging that gets you three hours of battery life in just five minutes of charging. They’re not the newest, they don’t have USB-C charging, and they don’t have noise canceling. But I still love them just the same. If you, too, yearn for the headphones of yesteryear, this is a deal I’d recommend (and would get in on myself if I hadn’t already purchased a pair).
Home Deals
Photograph: Ninja Kitchen; Getty Images
Beating Black Friday prices by $20, this is a solid deal on the Ninja Creami (6/10, WIRED Review). If you’re interested in making sorbet, gelato, and sundaes at home, this little countertop appliance will get the job done. A few recipes are included though you can find oodles more online (or in the company’s $17 cookbook, which we firmly believe should be included for free). The Ninja Creami takes some trial and error, but once you get the hang of it, you can whip up your own creations to have a freezer full of goodness all the time. Just be prepared to relinquish some counter space.
I have tested the sold-out Green Day special edition of this Keurig, which I was sent as part of the promotion of the band’s Punk Bunny coffee line that includes bagged beans as well as K-cups. While I’m not going to replace my Chemex with it, there’s a lot to be said for the convenience. Fill the water reservoir once every few days, load up a cup, and press one button. What separates this device from others in the Keurig line is the ability to make iced-ish coffee, which comes out significantly cooler than the regular brew and will make a passable iced coffee when poured over ice and sweetened. This blue version is on a steep discount and would make a great gift for someone who doesn’t want to fuss over their coffee and wants lots of options in flavor—I mostly use mine to make hot cocoa for my daughter now. —Martin Cizmar
This is a match of the discount we saw last Black Friday. This tilt-head model isn’t the most powerful KitchenAid mixer, but it’ll still make baking holiday cookies a breeze and has plenty enough strength to knead dough, whip your egg whites, and make a perfectly silky buttercream. It’s on sale in a lot of different fun colors.
Photograph: Dyson
The Dyson V12 Detect Slim (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite Dyson vacuum for small spaces. This is one of the best prices we’ve seen for this svelte dust-sucker, which is lightweight, easy to maneuver, and overall user-friendly. There’s a single power button and an array of attachments are included for specific tasks like stairs or crevices. This vacuum also has the neat neon-green laser that shines a spotlight on any dust you might have otherwise missed while cleaning.
I’ve used many items from The Pioneer Woman’s cookware line and I’ve always found the products to be beautiful, durable, and well made. This would make an excellent gift for a young adult just getting settled into their first place. The set includes four each of dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls. Everything is dishwasher- and microwave-safe.
Deals on Everything Else
This offer is available for new, expired, monthly, and trial Walmart+ members. Walmart+ usually costs $98 per year, but right now it’s down to $49 for the first year. It automatically renews, so set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to pay full price. But Walmart+ members get early access to Black Friday deals and other special sales, free grocery delivery, free shipping online with no order minimum, and more. You can learn more here.
Photograph: Walmart
This Rubik’s Cube is designed to look and feel like the toys of yesteryear. It doesn’t turn as fast as a newer version, but that shouldn’t be a deterrent unless you’re looking specifically for a speed cube. I still haven’t figured out how to solve one of these things, but it’ll probably keep your kid entertained for at least a little while over the holiday break.
A few classic board games are on sale for this price, including Candy Land, Connect 4, Sorry!, and Trouble. Obviously these are fun for the family when gathered for the holidays, but inexpensive toys like this are also excellent for donating to local toy drives. Find more great board game recommendations over at our buying guide.
A few different 8- and 10-inch Squishmallows are on sale for $5. There are some licensed characters, a stuffed popcorn, and more. We love Squishmallows because they’re so darn cute and squishy, and again these would make great gifts to donate to local charity drives.
