The best Prime Day 2021 tech deals from everywhere besides Amazon

Enlarge / Apple’s AirPods Pro are discounted across retailers this Prime Day.

Jeff Dunn

Not wanting to send any more business Amazon’s way on Prime Day? We can’t blame you. If you’re still hoping to snag a nice price on a good gadget, though, one side effect of Amazon’s manufactured holiday is that it has spawned a number of competing sales from other retailers. Target has kicked off a three-day “Deal Days” sale to directly counter Amazon’s event, for instance, while Walmart is advertising its own “Deals for Days” promotion.
As with Prime Day, most of the offers here aren’t particularly notable, but for the ones that are, these sales price-match much of what’s available on Amazon’s site. So if you’d rather opt out of Amazon’s summer cash grab, you don’t need to miss out on a discount that has caught your eye.

To help you out, we’ve gathered up the best non-Prime-Day deals we can find that are currently going on at Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and other online tech outlets. The offers include good prices on Google’s Nest smart home gear and new Roku media streamers, a recently launched back-to-school sale from Apple that bundles a pair of AirPods with various Macs and iPads, the lowest price we’ve tracked on Sony’s excellent WH-1000XM4 noise-canceling headphones, a good drop on Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, and more. You can check out our full roundup below.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Top 10 tech deals of the day

Laptop and desktop PC deals

Acer Swift 3 (SF314-59-75QC) laptop—Intel Core i7-1165G7, 14-inch 1080p, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD for $699.99 at Acer Store (normally $775).
Razer Blade 15 Base (2020) gaming laptop—Intel Core i7-10750, 15.6-inch 1080p 120Hz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti for $999.99 at Best Buy (normally $1,300).
27-inch BenQ EW2780U monitor—3840×2160, IPS, 60 Hz for $409 at Adorama and B&H (normally $480).
32-inch BenQ EW3280U monitor—3840×2160, IPS, 60 Hz, FreeSync for $599.99 at Adorama and B&H (normally $715).
Samsung 980 Pro (500GB) PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 internal SSD for $99.99 at Samsung, B&H, and Best Buy (normally $125).
Apple Back to School Sale: get Apple AirPods true wireless earbuds + 20% off AppleCare with purchase of select Mac and iPad products at Apple.

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Video game deals

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Hollow Knight (Switch, digital) for $9.90 at Target, GameStop, and Walmart (normally $15).
Dead Cells (Switch, digital) for $14.99 at Target and Nintendo eShop (normally $25).
Octopath Traveler (Switch, digital) for $41.99 at Target, GameStop, and Walmart (normally $55).
Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) for $29.99 at Target (normally $50).
Returnal (PS5) for $49.99 at PlayStation Store and Best Buy (normally $70).
Demon’s Souls (PS5) for $49.99 at Target and Walmart (normally $70).
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5, PS4) for $29.99 at Target (discount seen at checkout, free next-gen upgrade—normally $60).
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS4, Xbox) for $22.99 at Target (free next-gen upgrade—normally $37).
Watch Dogs: Legion (PS4, Xbox) for $16.99 at Target (normally $32).