Eliana Willis

Current price: $599 (15% off)Original price: $699Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is one of the best value Chromebooks, offering great performance, a marathon battery life, and a versatile 2-in-1 design. Powered by the energy-efficient MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 and 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, the laptop feels fast and responsive whether you’re creating a new project in Google, multitasking across apps, or jumping into a Play Store game. It can last up to 17 hours on a single charge, plenty to take you through an entire day and still have enough juice in the tank for Netflix.Review: Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514The 14-inch WUXGA+ display outputs crisp and clear images that run at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Its glossy panel reflects a lot of light, which can make it hard to see under brightly lit conditions. Still, I recommend the Spin 514 if you’re looking for a new, long-lasting laptop for work or school. More

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Tonie/ZDNETThe Toniebox has become a sensation among kids, but it’s also beloved by parents who appreciate its screen-free entertainment offerings. My own children love their Toniebox, so they were delighted when we upgraded to the Toniebox 2 More

When is Black Friday? Black Friday 2025 falls on November 28, and Cyber Monday (which only became a thing in 2005) follows on December 1. Beat the store chaos and do your shopping from the comfort of your home (or office!).Are gadgets really cheaper during Black Friday? The short answer is yes, gadgets can be significantly cheaper in the run-up to and during Black Friday. It’s a time of year when retailers want to make up for the discounts they offer with a high volume of sales. Yes, price manipulation does happen sometimes, where some brands and retailers increase their prices in advance to make their cuts seem even better, but it happens a lot less these days because there’s more competition and people are getting savvy to it.How did we choose these Black Friday deals?ZDNET (and I) only writes about the deals we want to buy — devices and products we desire, need, or and would recommend wholeheartedly. Our experts look for the best deals, or products that are hardly ever on sale, using established price comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually on sale and how frequently it drops. I also review customer feedback to determine what matters to real people who already own and use the products I’m recommending. There are also recommendations that are based on my own testing and reviews. Our goal is to provide you with the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter and save money.  More

J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source<!–> on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Perplexity and PayPal have launched an “instant buy” feature. It allows users to complete purchases within a Perplexity chat. Only five brands are currently available, with more on the way. Perplexity and PayPal are capitalizing on the upcoming holiday […] More

When is Black Friday 2025? Black Friday takes place on Nov. 28 this year. During the sale, retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target cut prices on thousands of products (and many products from brands Amazon owns, like Kindle, Alexa, Ring, and more). Unlike Prime Days, which mainly discounts Amazon products, Black Friday is the universal deals day. Since more retailers participate, there’s more competition (and sometimes better deals). Are fitness trackers really cheaper on Black Friday? I’ve been following deals during events like Black Friday, Cyber Week, and Amazon Prime Day for several years. During these events, there are steeper deals on all sorts of merchandise, whether that’s a fitness tracker or a household good. (I do lots of my cleaning supply shopping during these events.) Retailers know Black Friday commences the holiday shopping season, so they will cut prices on all sorts of goods, whether that’s household necessities or brand-new gadgets. Of course, the best deals on gadgets will be the ones that are a year or two older than the newest model. For example, we’ll see a steeper deal on Apple’s Series 10 Apple Watch that debuted last year, and maybe $10 or $30 off Apple’s latest Series 11. How did we choose these Black Friday deals?ZDNET only writes about deals we want to buy — devices and products we desire, need, or would recommend. Our experts looked for deals that were at least 20% off (or are hardly ever on sale), using established price comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually on sale and how frequently it drops. We also looked over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the deals we’re recommending. Our recommendations may also be based on our own testing — in addition to extensive research and comparison shopping. The goal is to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter.  More