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Reading Time: 6 minutesDeal Hunters go to great lengths to avoid paying full price whenever possible, but everyone has their line. Some tech products are truly worth their price tags, which unfortunately means they also rarely go on sale. If you’re having trouble figuring out when to pull the trigger on a large purchase, take some time to learn about which types of deals are especially valuable and worth prioritizing.
We’ve rounded up a list of the most common products and categories you should never pass up when a good deal rears its head. All of these products are things you’re likely already planning on buying at some point, and with our help you’ll be able to do so at the best possible price.
8 Rare Tech Deals You Should Always Go For
Credit: Samsung
1. SSDs Over 4TB
You don’t have to wait long or work hard to find a deal on a flash drive or a smaller hard drive, but the same can’t be said for solid-state drives with multiple terabytes of storage. Decent SSDs in the 4TB+ range are rarely cheaper than $500 at full price, and some higher-end models can run you over $1,000 – a cheeky little $30 discount won’t do much to reduce your sticker shock.
If you find your desired SSD on sale for $70 off or more, hop on it if you’ve got the cash on hand. In terms of security and longevity, a high-end SSD with a ton of storage is a sound investment. If you’re a gamer like murrayd222, you can keep a massive game collection on your SSD and forego less reliable solutions like cloud uploads and proprietary console storage.
Don’t forget to take advantage of discounts for specific groups. If you’re a student (or an employee at an academic institution), you can set a Deal Alert for “education discount.” The rest of us might have to wait for Prime Day or Black Friday, but this particular group discount reliably shows up a couple of times a year.
2. Internet Upgrades for Existing Customers
When it comes to subscription services, all of the best promotional prices are reserved for new customers. Where is the appreciation for existing, paying customers who already use the service? If you are a current subscriber with an internet provider such as Xfinity, T-Mobile Magenta or Verizon, you should always be on the lookout for rare offers that knock a few bucks off and add some speed to your existing plan.
Discounts intended for specific groups or locations have a tendency to fall into YMMV territory — the discount isn’t showing up or the price reflected isn’t what you thought it was. If you find yourself in this predicament, why not take a look at what the community says? You will likely find the information that you need reading through the original Deal Thread (or past Deal Threads featuring a similar offer). It might be the difference between getting the deal and letting it pass you by — thanks to a Deal Thread conversation, lammy93 and other Slickdealers were able to take advantage of a recent Xfinity deal despite living out of the target region.
Credit: Logitech
3. Fancy Versions of Cheap Accessories
Chargers, power blocks and webcams are just a few daily use accessories that you can reliably get for under $20. As far as some of us are concerned, if it’s cheap and it does its intended job, who cares about long-term build quality?
If you’re having trouble stomaching the idea of paying $70 for a webcam when you already have one inside of your laptop (even if your coworkers can see up your nose and hear you pounding on your keyboard), there is a middle ground so long as you don’t mind waiting for the right deal to appear.
It might take a while, but you can save time on researching the best deal by downloading the Slickdeals Browser Extension and setting a Deal Alert for your preferred category of high-end cheap tech accessory.
In a recent Deal Thread discussing Target’s discount on a Logitech C920s Pro HD webcam, flyingroach made a number of good points about why it’s worth springing for a nicer webcam if the price is right. A fancy webcam won’t change your life, but it’s still worth shelling out for amenities like flip-down covers, sensitive auto-focus and the ability to shift the camera’s perspective.
4. High-End Graphics Cards
PC gaming, 3D rendering and digital illustration are not hobbies known for their affordable cost of entry, to say nothing of how much it costs to upgrade your gear. Between global shortages affecting access to important components and the deal rarity, high-end graphics cards are often the most difficult parts to find at an affordable price.
Set a Deal Alert for Graphis Cards
If you stumble across a fancy NVIDIA graphics card for more than $100 off, you’d better have your wallet nearby and your trigger finger ready. Due to the limited supply, graphics card deals are particularly time-sensitive compared to others on this list. Since our deal posts are entirely user-generated (and Slickdealers as a whole have their collective fingers on the pulse of the latest deals), you may find out about a big markdown the moment it goes live. Deal Alerts and Slickdeals app notifications are delivered in real-time, so you can use these tools to beat the pack.
Credit: Apple
5. Brand New Technology You Want
To be fair, unless you’re really feeling hungry, you shouldn’t necessarily jump on the very first deal you find on brand new tech. Better deals are likely to appear later in the product’s life cycle, especially if it is a TV, phone or another category that updates yearly. However, novel-but-useful accessories like Apple’s AirTags are a perfect example of something worth buying on sale as soon as you see it. In general, Apple is pretty stingy when it comes to marking down its prices, especially on a product that has only been available for a couple of months.
Recently, kamc250 spotted a $5 discount on AirTags. There are plenty of GPS-tracking tags on the market nowadays, but AirTags are the premium choice for those who have the rest of their tech integrated into Apple’s ecosystem. It isn’t much, but it’s $5 less than you’d pay any other time outside of the holiday shopping season, and if you know you’re going to buy them you might as well not pay full price.
6. Nintendo Products
As its legion of long-suffering fans know all too well, Nintendo is notorious for its bizarre (and sometimes consumer-hostile) business practices. Sales on games are pretty rare, and you’re lucky if you can find a Nintendo Switch console for under $260 — and that’s assuming that Nintendo’s refurbished store has them in stock.
Set a Nintendo Switch Deal Alert
Luckily, the company’s reliable (if not too reliable) pricing makes it easy to tell what is and isn’t a good discount on Nintendo games, controllers and accessories. It’s easier to find deals at third-party vendors like Target and Walmart, but you are limited to how many physical copies are available. If you see major titles like Super Mario Odyssey or Animal Crossing: New Horizons on sale in the eShop, don’t delay if you want to save a few bucks.
Credit: iRobot
7. Robot Vacuums
Even if they are adorable and virtually effortless to use once they’re set up, robot vacuums are still considered a luxury compared to an “analog” vacuum cleaner. Cheap models go on sale more often, but they can be more trouble than they’re worth due to their lack of connectivity and smart navigation features. Meanwhile, fancier vacuums can cost anywhere from $500 to over $1,000. Before you set your sights on a specific vacuum, you should refer to articles and Deal Threads to get an idea of what constitutes a good deal and which robot vacuum is best for your space.
Set a Deal Alert for Robot Vacuums
Even if large discounts are hard to come by, robot vacuum deals are quite popular on Slickdeals. The best ways to ensure you never miss a big markdown are by setting a Deal Alert and downloading the Slickdeals browser extension and app.
8. Next-Gen Console Controllers
Getting your hands on the latest generation of consoles is hard enough as it is, so the high cost of a standard-issue DualSense or Xbox Core controller can really add insult to injury. The technology within is almost enough to justify spending $60 to $70 on extra controllers, but some people are priced out due to the rarity of next-gen controller discounts.
Fortunately, it’s not too hard to find a discount as long as you are patient and do your research — which shouldn’t be too hard if you were able to snag a PS5 or Xbox Series X. Like with the consoles, you’ll have some competition when these rare deals drop. Setting a Deal Alert is a low-effort, high-reward method for beating the rest of the pack when retailers offer a significant discount on controllers.
If you’ve made it this far, you probably don’t need any further Deal Alert encouragement. Just to be on the safe side – you can save yourself a lot of time (and maybe even money) by setting one for anything you’d like to buy for less than full price.
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Oliver Pretl-Drummond
Oliver Pretl-Drummond is a copywriter, memoirist and Scorpio living in Baltimore, MD. Primed by years of recreational research spirals, they've helped Slickdeals document hundreds of arcane store policies and hidden coupon tricks for the greater good of deal hunters everywhere. They spend their days seeking and sharing killer deals on budget travel, sound systems, home goods and tech. By night, their free time is reserved for making bass music while consuming exotic caffeinated beverages with their partner and growing family of yucca plants.
