With Prime Day fully upon us, we’re seeing a lot of great deals on Apple’s products, from the AirPods to the excellent Apple Macbook Air, to the point where we might as well call it Apple Prime Day deals with what we’re seeing. Of course, there are a lot of other great Prime Day deals to check out if you aren’t specifically tied to Apple’s ecosystem, especially since you might find a somewhat better deal.
Apple AirPods — $90, was $159
While the Apple AirPods 2nd generation is now considered entry-level compared to other AirPods, they’re still a force to be reconned with at only half the price. One of the most important things about any headphones is the sound, and the AirPods 2nd gen is a bit more smoothed out so that it doesn’t offend anybody. That means that instruments are smooth, the treble is clear though it lacks presence, and the bass is not too bad, although not at the level of earphones at double the cost. That’s to say that altogether, the audio quality isn’t bad, and when you consider the roughly five-hour battery life of the AirPods with up to 24 hours when you include the case, they’re a surprisingly good deal. On the other hand, it’s worth checking the comparison between the Apple AirPods Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro to see if you’re OK with going with the lower generation.
Apple iPad 10.2 (64GB, Wi-Fi) — $269, was $329
While there are a lot of great Prime Day iPad deals to look through, if you’re looking for the most budget-friendly of them, then this 2021 Apple iPad is probably the way to go. Loaded with the A13 Bionic chip, it’s a couple of generations behind the latest iPad Pro but is still quite powerful for modern applications, and 64GB of space should be more than enough to load a lot of content on it, but if you feel that isn’t enough, there’s a 256GB version as well. It also comes with a 12MP front-facing camera, an 8MP back camera, and an impressive 10 hours of battery life, although you may not always reach that if you have Wi-Fi on all the time. We’ll also mention that it’s compatible with the first generation of the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard, which you’ll have to purchase separately. Overall, it’s a great little iPad if you want a table within the Apple ecosystem without paying too much.
Apple Watch Series 8 (41mm, GPS) — $349, was $399
With the Apple Watch Series 8 released just a few weeks ago, we’re surprised to see a deal on it, especially considering that it’s just one step down from the flagship Apple Watch Ultra. If you aren’t familiar with the Series 8, it has the same overall design as the Series 7, except with a nicer screen and a few extra sensors under the hood. More specifically, the Series 8 now has a couple of temperature sensors that can help tell your body temperature and track a user’s ovulation cycle, a feature that isn’t available in any other smartphone. Beyond that, the Series 8 comes with a WatchOS 9 that brings its own set of great features, car crash detection, and a battery life that can last almost two days, depending on your use. While this version on sale is 41mm, there’s also a 45mm screen if you want something a bit bigger, and it’s also worth checking out the other Prime Day Apple Watch deals for more options.
Apple iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi) — $559, was $599
The 2022 Apple iPad Air is truly the Apple tablet to get if you want to stay within Apple’s ecosystem. It comes with Apple’s powerful M1 chip, the same that you see in some of their laptops, and the 10.9-inch Retina Display comes in a resolution of 2360 x 1640 and is gorgeous. It has two 12MP cameras, one in the front and one in the back, and it even supports Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard, which we certainly appreciate for what is traditionally Apple’s mid-range tablets. While the version listed here only comes with Wi-Fi and 64GB of storage, you have a couple of options, including a Wi-Fi + Cellular version and one with 256GB, the latter of which we encourage you to grab if you can. There’s also the iPad Mini to consider, which also has an M1 chip and is excellent if you want something smaller, and we have a bit more of a breakdown between the iPad Air (2022) vs. iPad Mini (2021) to help you decide.
Apple MacBook Air (8GB, 256GB) — $799, was $999
The 2020 Apple MacBook Air is a pretty important laptop for those in the Apple ecosystem; it is a budget-friendly Apple computer, and sometimes the first laptop Mac users tend to use. Luckily, it’s a powerful little laptop with an 8-Core M1 chip and 8GBs of RAM under the hood; it provides more than enough power for most productivity and general use tasks. The battery life is also impressive, managing up to 15.5 hours, which is more than a lot of other laptops in this range, and it remains surprisingly cool during extended periods of use, especially since it doesn’t have fans, and it is incredibly quiet. Truthfully, the M1 Apple MacBook Air is not just a budget Apple laptop but a powerful laptop in its own right.
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