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These are the eight Black Friday deals we would actually spend our money on

Looking to make the most of Black Friday by investing in some tech? Well here are some of the best deals doing the rounds.

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Rob Banino

Published: August 31, 2023 at 9:30 am

Black Friday is upon us, once again and there’s money to be saved on gadgets, consoles, cooking appliances, computers or just fun toys and games for kids of all ages to play with.

Beat the online scramble to find the best deals by pinpointing the product you want at a price you’re prepared to pay with these suggestions for cut-price gear…

Sony WH-100XM5

Sony’s flagship headphones come highly recommended, having earned plaudits from audiophiles everywhere (including BBC Science Focus).

These over-the-ear, Bluetooth-enabled, wireless headphones combine advanced noise-cancelling technology with high-performance audio. And have a battery that’s capable of keeping them running for up to 30 hours.

They can be paired with multiple devices, feature user-friendly intelligent controls – including a ‘Speak-to-Chat’ feature that automatically pauses music when you need to take a call – and come with their own collapsible storage case to keep the protected on those rare occasions when they’re not in use.

Right now, Amazon has brought the price down below £300, despite these headphones only being out for a couple of months. That makes this a fantastic price that is unlikely to drop much more.

Xbox Series S

© Microsoft

Avid gamers who lack space may want to turn their attentions towards the Xbox Series S. This fully digital, disc-free gaming platform is the smallest and sleekest member of the Xbox family.

Don’t let its diminutive stature fool you, though. It contains all the speed and performance you need to immerse yourself in next-gen gaming.

Splash your cash on this Black Friday deal and you’ll get the Series S console along with a wireless Elite Series 2 controller and stereo headset for only £189 - its lowest price yet. But also included in the bumper starter pack is a free one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, giving you access to a library of hundreds of high-quality games. Bargain!

Instant Pot Duo Crisp Air Fryer 11-in-1 Electric Multi-Cooker

Say hello to the Swiss army knife of cooking appliances: the Instant Pot Duo. It’s a pressure cooker, a slow cooker and an air fryer. It steams, sautés and bakes. And it will warm, grill, roast, sous vide and dehydrate your food too – all at the touch of a button.

It’ll also perform all those tasks quicker and using less energy than if you were to carry them out on the hob or in your oven. Buy it in this Black Friday deal and not only will you save an impressive £60 on the usual retail price but you’ll also save money on your energy bills whenever you cook with it. And given it’s has a 5.7-litre internal capacity, you could be cooking some very big, hearty meals with it. Perfect if you’re having the relatives over or if you’re batch cooking meals for the weeks ahead.

Google Pixel 6 – 128 GB

In the market for a new smartphone? Then you might want to consider the Google Pixel 6 – and on this Black Friday, you can put its immense capabilities into your pocket without putting the usual big dent into it too.

The Pixel 6 has a 6.4-inch HD OLED touchscreen to show you everything its dual 50MP/12MP main cameras and 8MP front cameras see and Android 12 operating system is doing for you. You can text, play games, watch movies, browse the web, email, organise your diary (even talk if you want to use it as a phone) without putting a strain on its custom-made Tensor processor, which also boasts improved speech and text recognition for when you’re asking Google’s Assistant to give you a hand.

You can save £200 on the usual price of a Pixel 6 by buying from Currys this black Friday and you can save another £100 if you mention code PIXEL100 when you checkout. It's the cheapest this smartphone has gone.

Hisense Smart 4K Ultra HD TV

Go big with this 43-inch smart 4k ultra HD TV from Hisense. Size isn’t the only trick this TV has up its sleeve, though. It also features an UHD AI Upscaler to enhance lower definition images and “give new life to old films”.

DTS Virtual:X audio technology helps you hear dialogue as clearly as the deep, bass noises so whether it’s courtesans whispering palace intrigue or submarine captains bellowing dive commands, every word will be crystal clear.

With Currys sale, this TV falls below £250 - a price well below what its worth.

Sonos Arc

Sonos is known for its high-quality audio equipment, as well as its high prices. But this Black Friday, those high prices are coming down… a lot.

The Arc soundbar is capable of mimicking the immersive three-dimensional audio of a full surround sound set-up or, if you want the real thing, you can integrate it into a surround sound speaker network. And it brings that same sense of spaciousness to your music as well as your movies.

Under normal circumstances it would cost you a quid short of £900, but this Black Friday, could be yours for £200 less.

Apple MacBook Air

© Future Publishing

Right now you can pick up the 2020 Macbook Air for £200 below the usual retail price. While it isn't the newest option, it is certainly the best value choice from Apple right now.

Although it may not be bang up to date, you will be getting the featherweight, razor-thin laptop with a 13-inch Retina display powered by Apple’s M1 chip. Plus, if you get fed up of typing in your password to wake it up, it also has Touch ID so you can rely on your fingerprint.

Oral-B Pro 1 Electric Toothbrush

Polish up your pearly whites by giving them a “professional” clean with the Pro 1 electric toothbrush from Oral-B. A “professional” clean, is more than just running a brush back and forth over them; it’s using a brush that oscillates, rotates pulsates to dislodge the plaque lurking in those hard-to-reach places between your teeth and gums.

Speaking of your gums, it’s kinder than a manual brush to those too, as the Pro 1’s built-in pressure sensor lets you know when you’re pressing too hard. It has interchangeable heads to ensure you always get the best clean and comes with its own recharging station and a tube of toothpaste.

LEGO Super Heroes Sanctum Sanctorum

This isn’t just any old house. It’s a Lego recreation of the house that belongs to Stephen Strange; the house that’s better known to all Marvel fans as Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum.

Putting the 2,708 pieces of this set together to construct the famous property is just the start of the fun. Once it’s built you can peer inside to find the Sorcerer Supreme’s museum of mystical collections, his library and his entrance hall –all sites of classic scenes from the Marvel movies.

Naturally, the set comes with a Doctor Strange minifigure, but the Master of Mystic Arts is accompanied by Wong, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Ebony Maw, Master Mordo and The Scarlet Witch.

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Rob Banino

Science writer

Rob Banino is the Managing Editor on BBC Science Focus Magazine.
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