Today’s Best Deals: iPad Air, Featured Board Games, and Gaming Mice

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Today's Best Deals: iPad Air, Featured Board Games, and Gaming Mice

Ars Technica

The time has come for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the web’s best tech deals includes a handy deal on Apple’s latest iPad Air, which has dropped to $559 at Amazon and Walmart. Aside from a very brief dip to $549 last month, this is the lowest price we’ve seen for the 10.9-inch tablet, which only launched in March, and has an MSRP of $600 Has.

As we’ve already noted, the new Air is a good middle ground between the cheaper 10.2-inch iPad and the higher-end iPad Pro. It lacks the latter’s higher refresh rate, better speakers, and larger storage (at 128GB) but its M1 chip makes it practically as fast, its USB-C port and front-facing camera are upgraded over the previous generation, and thanks to the generous displays and accessory support, it is suitable for both media consumption and leisure work. The base iPad is still the best value for most, but if you’d rather avoid this tablet’s more dated design and lower power cap, the M1-equipped Air should be a better buy than the Pro, until the latter gets a refresher. You can read our review for a deeper dive. In addition to iPads, our offer summary includes a deep discount on Terraforming Mars, a popular board game that we already recommended in our ultimate board game gifts guide. It’s available for $38 as of this writing, which is the lowest price we’ve tracked in well over a year. We’ve included this one in the Heavy Fare section of our gift guide, so it’s likely to be a little too complex, lengthy (at over two hours per game) and challenging for relative newbies. But for more dedicated players, it should offer an addictive, highly replayable card game in which players are tasked with turning the red planet green. Again, you can check out our review for more details.

Additionally, we also have deals on a range of well-reviewed gaming gear, a Roku soundbar and streamer hybrid, an entry-level Wacom drawing tablet, various video games, USB-C chargers, SSDs and more. Below is our full curated list.

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Selected offers of the day

  • Apple iPad Air (64GB) 10.9 inch tablet for $559 ($585) at Amazon, Walmart
  • Apple iPad Mini (64GB) 8.3 inch tablet for $409 ($460) at Amazon, Walmart
  • Terraforming Mars board game for $38 ($55) at Amazon
  • Razer Viper Ultimate Wireless Gaming Mouse + RGB Charging Dock for $80 ($95) at Amazon, Best Buy
  • HyperX Alloy Origins 60 compact gaming keyboard for $55 ($90) at Amazon (Clip $5 Coupon)
  • Anker PowerPort III Nano 20W USB-C Charger for $14 ($17) at Amazon
  • Lenovo Legion 7 16″ Gaming Laptop (Ryzen 9 5900HX, 2560×1600, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, GeForce RTX 3080 16GB) for $1,799 ($2,300) at Walmart
  • WD Black SN850 (1TB NVMe) PCIe 4.0 internal SSD with heatsink for $150 ($170) at BestBuy
  • $50 Nintendo eShop Gift Card for $45 ($50) at Amazon
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Switch for $49 ($60) at Amazon
  • elden ring (PS5, PS4) for $50 ($59) at Amazon, Walmart, GameStop
The iPad Air 2022.
Enlarge / The iPad Air 2022.

Samuel Axon

electronics offers

The Apple Watch Series 7.
Enlarge / The Apple Watch Series 7.

Offers for laptops and desktop PCs

  • Lenovo Legion 7 16″ Gaming Laptop (Ryzen 9 5900HX, 2560×1600, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, GeForce RTX 3080 16GB) for $1,799 ($2,300) at Walmart
  • Acer Swift 3 13.5″ Laptop (2256×1504, Core i5-1135G7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for $499 ($700) at Walmart
  • Dell S2721DGF 27″ Gaming Monitor (1440p, 165 Hz, IPS, FreeSync, G-Sync Compatible) for $300 ($365) at BestBuy
  • LG 32GN650-B 31.5 Inch Gaming Monitor (1440p, 165 Hz, IPS, FreeSync) for $267 ($330) at B&H
  • LG 27GP850-B 27″ Gaming Monitor (1440p, 180Hz, IPS, FreeSync, G-Sync Compatible) for $347 ($400) at Adorama (discount at checkout)
  • AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-core/16-thread desktop processor for $310 ($345) at Amazon, B&H
  • AMD Ryzen 7 5600X 6-core/12-thread desktop processor for $200 ($230) at Amazon, B&H
  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6-core/12-thread desktop CPU for $179 ($215) at Amazon, B&H
  • WD Black SN850 (1TB NVMe) PCIe 4.0 internal SSD with heatsink for $150 ($170) at BestBuy
  • SK Hynix Gold P31 (2TB NVMe) PCIe 3.0 internal SSD for $199 ($215) at Amazon
Most people won't have to pay extra for the faster speeds of a PCI Express 4.0 SSD like WD's Black SN850 just yet, but if you own a PS5 and want to expand your internal storage, this will meet Sony's requirements and be powerful.
Enlarge / Most people won’t have to pay extra for the faster speeds of a PCI Express 4.0 SSD like WD’s Black SN850 just yet, but if you own a PS5 and want to expand your internal storage, this will meet Sony’s requirements and be powerful.

jeff dunn

TV and home entertainment offerings

It's not ideal for board game newbies, however <em>Terraforming Mars </em> is a card game with depth and high replay value that we recommend.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_0971-800×485-640×388.jpg” width=”640″ height=”388″ srcset=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_0971-800×485.jpg 2x”/><figcaption class=
Enlarge / It’s not ideal for board game newbies, however Terraforming Mars is a deep, highly replayable card game that we recommend.

Gaming Offers

The Razer Viper Ultimate was created by the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/05/razers-simply-styled-wireless-mouse-is-only-2-ounces/" Ziel="_leer" rel="keinÖffner">new Viper V2 Pro</a>, but at today’s asking price, the former is still a recommendation for those looking for a high-performance wireless gaming mouse.  Also, the design is ambidextrous.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/razer-viper-ultimate-640×427.jpg” width=”640″ height=”427″ srcset=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/razer-viper-ultimate-1280×853.jpg 2x”/><figcaption class=
Enlarge / The Razer Viper Ultimate has been replaced by the new Viper V2 Pro, but at today’s asking price the former is still worth recommending for those looking for a high-performance wireless gaming mouse. Also, the design is ambidextrous.

jeff dunn

Video Game Deals

<em>LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga</em> is a typically goofy and accessible reimagining of the nine main lines of <em>Starwars</em>with more open levels and a plethora of collectibles that make it surprisingly large in scope.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/71IGx5cZmvL._SL1500_-640×360.jpg” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/71IGx5cZmvL._SL1500_-1280×720.jpg 2x”/><figcaption class=
Enlarge / LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a typically goofy and approachable show of the nine mainlines war of starswith more open levels and a ton of collectibles making it surprisingly extensive.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

The 2D action game <em>Metroid Dread</em> offers a hard-hitting challenge and a delightfully tense atmosphere.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021100516382000-9A9B6E0371D34263D6B6577F9CBA54D5-640×360.jpg” width=”640″ height=” 360″ srcset=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021100516382000-9A9B6E0371D34263D6B6577F9CBA54D5-1280×720.jpg 2x”/><figcaption class=
Enlarge / The 2D action game Metroid horror delivers a solid challenge and a delightfully tense atmosphere.

Accessories and other offers

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