This Week’s Deals on MacBooks, Apple Watches, and iPads

Though so-called sales on Apple devices pop up regularly, finding a truly meaningful discount on stubbornly expensive favorites like the MacBook Air can be a tough task. We’ve assessed all the discounts out there and rounded up the best deals to help you get great laptops, tablets, and smartwatches without paying the dreaded Apple premium. And best of all, you don’t even have to trek to the Apple Store (or any store at all).

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/money/deals-on-macbooks-ipads-mac-mini-apple-watch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Carry-On Travel Backpacks

Opening up your favorite carry-on travel backpack—with all your stuff in the right place and easy to reach—should feel like opening the door to a well-organized closet or sitting down at a clean desk. This is a moment to center yourself, no matter how chaotic the journey. We spent six months testing 22 bags and flying across the country with all of our picks. In the end, we chose two as our top picks: the Cotopaxi Allpa 35L (for most trips) and the larger Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L. Both bags are exemplary carry-on travel backpacks that are designed for comfort, durability, and organization.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-carry-on-travel-bags/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most Stereos

A great pair of bookshelf speakers is one of the best investments a music lover can make. It should last for years and deliver better performance than you can get from the majority of all-in-one Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speakers that are all the rage now. The Q Acoustics 3020i is our favorite pair of passive bookshelf speakers to mate with your favorite stereo receiver, while the excellent Edifier S1000MKII pair is a more complete option with built-in amplifiers and Bluetooth.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-bookshelf-speakers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Dishwashers

Any dishwasher—even a cheap one—can clean your breakfast bowls and dinner plates, as long as you use a decent detergent. But the best dishwashers can handle the tough jobs and are also quiet, reliable, and easy to load. After digging through thousands of customer reviews and stress-testing 17 models with seriously crusty dishes, we’ve concluded that the Bosch 300 Series is the first one you should consider.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-dishwasher/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Waffle Maker

Fresh, fluffy waffles may seem like a delicacy reserved for restaurant brunches and hotel breakfasts, but a good waffle maker can give you the gift of superb, easy-to-make waffles at home. After 70 hours of research, talking with four experts, and testing 30 models since 2014, we recommend the Chef’sChoice WafflePro Classic Belgian 840B for most people. It consistently delivers perfect-looking, evenly colored waffles no matter what kind of batter you use. It’s also highly customizable, allowing you to choose between six different brownness settings and adjust for either a uniform texture or a crisp exterior and moist interior.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-waffle-maker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Instant Coffee, Ranked

There’s a reason instant coffee gets such a bad rap: It usually tastes terrible. Although it’s probably not the ideal choice for your morning cup of joe, instant coffee can be a saving grace when access to fresh-brewed coffee isn’t an option. And now that more and more specialty coffee roasters are selling instant coffee, we’ve found it’s not always as bad as it used to be.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-instant-coffee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Cutting Boards

A good cutting board is a workhorse in any kitchen. Above all, it should be large, providing ample space for carving or chopping, and relatively easy to care for. We recommend the OXO Good Grips Carving and Cutting Board for those who want a plastic board, and the Teakhaus Edge Grain Professional Carving Board with Juice Canal (15″ by 20″) for those who want a wooden one. Both boards feel good under a knife, and they stood up to many sharp cuts, dark stains, and strong odors better than the competition. Plus, after years of long-term testing, neither board has split or egregiously warped from misuse.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-cutting-board/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Toaster

It’s a familiar story. You finally splurge on an expensive toaster, hoping it will make the toast of your dreams every day without fail. But after a few years, the machine starts getting spotty—or goes kaput. This is frustrating—and costly! Unfortunately, no matter how much you spend, toasters aren’t made to last like they once were. That’s why we recommend the relatively inexpensive Cuisinart CPT-122 2-Slice Compact Plastic Toaster. After toasting mountains of carbs in 32 toasters over the years, we think the Cuisinart offers the best balance of performance, quality, and features without asking you to overspend. We can’t guarantee it will toast evenly over time or last for decades (few modern toasters do). But we do think you’ll get your money’s worth.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-toaster/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Nintendo Switch for You: Original, Lite, or OLED

If you’re looking to play games with unparalleled graphical fidelity on a huge 4K TV screen in the comfort of your own home, then Microsoft and Sony have powerful, expensive video game consoles to do that. But if you’re looking for a game system with a big library of party games, indie titles, and outstanding exclusives that is also portable, you can’t beat the Nintendo Switch.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/nintendo-switch-vs-switch-lite/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

Cheers to 7 Deals on Our Favorite Drinking Gear Under $50

Water or wine, coffee or tea—it doesn’t matter what you choose. Without the proper gear to prepare, sip from, warm, or chill your beverage of choice, no brunch, road trip, or dinner party will be complete. But you don’t have to spend a bundle to save on our favorite travel mugs, water bottles, and wine glasses: All of these deals are under $50, which makes it that much easier to see the glass half full.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/money/drink-deals-under-50/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Carry-On Luggage

It may be time to dust off old luggage or consider new replacements as you consider even newer destinations. We’ve tested 47 bags over the past nine years and are convinced that the Travelpro Platinum Elite is the best carry-on luggage for most travelers. It packs five days’ worth of clothes into standard US carry-on dimensions and has premium build-quality touches you’d expect from a $600 bag at about half the price. It’s a bag that you can rely on for life, even if it’s damaged by airlines—a rarity at any price.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-carry-on-luggage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best VR Headset

Virtual reality can be an arresting way to step into engaging virtual worlds, even if it’s still a new technology that remains far from being a “most people” purchase. We think the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2 is the best headset for most people because it’s the easiest to use and offers access to the widest range of games and experiences.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-standalone-vr-headset/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

Choosing the Right PlayStation 5

The PlayStation 4 era, which started in 2013, is over. Big PlayStation titles will still launch on the PS4 in 2023, but the PS4 is expected to cease production by the end of the year. In 2023, new-PlayStation shoppers have a better option: the $500 PlayStation 5 and its somewhat slimmer sibling, the $400 PlayStation 5 Digital Edition.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/choosing-best-ps5-standard-vs-digital-edition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Smart Security Devices to Make Your New Home Feel Safe

For new homeowners, picking furniture, choosing paint schemes, and finding bath towels with the right fluff factor tend to be top priority. Home security, however, ought to be the first item on the list. If that sounds like paranoia to you, relax—today’s DIY smart security systems and devices not only help foil burglars and other miscreants but also make life far more flexible and convenient.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-smart-security-devices/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Soda Maker

For the avid bubble lover, nothing hits the spot like a crisp glass of seltzer. An at-home soda maker provides a potentially more economical and environmentally friendly alternative to store-bought seltzer. It also allows you to get creative with carbonated beverages and ensures that you are always just a button push away from getting bubbly. Of the 26 soda makers we’ve tested over the years, the Drinkmate OmniFizz stands out for its stellar seltzer, simple carbonation process, and ability to carbonate more than just water.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-soda-maker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

How to Clean an Air Fryer

Air fryers are alluring because they can cut the chore of cooking in half; they create fewer dirty dishes while also cooking in less time. Though we’ve found that air fryers can be an excellent kitchen tool—they have a compact footprint, cook fast, and can be more accessible for people with certain disabilities—cleaning them is still a pesky process (as with any appliance). Cleaning an air fryer is no different than cleaning any other piece of cookware—maybe a little worse, depending on the design of the basket and if the heating elements get splattered with grease. To make cleaning as easy as possible, do it every time you use your air fryer.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-clean-an-air-fryer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Juicer

Only a dedicated juicer can make beverages that are as silky and flavorful as the pricey ones you buy from a café. After juicing more than 60 pounds of leafy greens, fibrous roots, and fruits over 30 hours, we think the Omega VSJ843 offers the best value. In our tests, this machine cranked out verdant, smooth green juice and earthy, spicy carrot-apple-ginger juice. The Omega is a steadfast favorite among juice enthusiasts, and it’s backed by the best warranty we’ve found.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-juicer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Bluetooth Tracker

If you’re lucky, the $30 you spend on a Bluetooth tracker will be wasted money. These tags are helpful only when you need to find your stuff—if you never lose things, they’re just ornamental. But if you’re often scrambling to locate your keys or bag as you’re heading out the door, a Bluetooth tracker can be a lifesaver. iPhone users should choose Apple’s AirTag, which employs a huge network of Apple devices to passively search for lost goods and enable precision finding features, making it more likely that you’ll recover what you’ve misplaced. If you use an Android phone, go with Tile trackers, including the Tile Mate (2022). With the second-largest crowd-finding network, Tile is the best option for those who don’t use Apple’s phones.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-bluetooth-tracker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

If You Hate Ironing, Try a Handheld Steamer Instead

For some, ironing freshly laundered clothes is a soothing ritual—there is something meditative about pulling out the board, plugging in the iron, and melting away creases and wrinkles. But if you view ironing as a tiresome nuisance, you can still avoid walking around in crinkled clothes by using a handheld clothing steamer.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/try-a-handheld-steamer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

We Wish Buying Carbon Offsets for Your Flight Helped. It Doesn’t.

Flying from Hawaii, where I live, to just about anywhere in the world requires at least one 2,400-mile leg of cross-ocean air travel—that’s roughly the width of the continental US. Not an ideal situation for someone trying to minimize his climate-change impact while still seeing far-off friends and family once a year. Air travel produces up to 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions each year and 10% of transportation-related emissions in the US—and the problem’s not going away any time soon. Shorter flights have the potential to go electric; efforts take place in the margins where the complicated math of battery weight versus power output begin to make sense. But pound for combustible pound, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned jet fuel for keeping the big planes in the sky.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/buying-carbon-offsets-for-your-flight-doesnt-help/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Best Baby Swaddles

Swaddling—wrapping a baby securely in a thin blanket—can help minimize the startle reflex, replicate the coziness of the womb, and calm a baby who’s overstimulated. To find the best swaddles, we had five families spend two weeks testing 11 of them with babies ranging in age from 2 to 12 weeks, and talked to four birth and postpartum experts. There’s no single swaddle that will work for every baby, and the right swaddle for one baby might even change between the newborn stage and later months. Still, we found that the Happiest Baby Sleepea is the most effective at keeping a baby securely wrapped, is among the easiest for parents to use, and is safe and comfortable for the baby.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-baby-swaddles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Has a Great Camera. You Don't Need It.

Flagship smartphones are extremely expensive, and one of the tactics that device makers like Samsung and Apple employ to try to convince people to upgrade is to add new, DSLR-style camera features to their phones. Samsung’s new Galaxy S23 Ultra attempts to justify its sky-high $1,200 price tag in a few ways, including a 200-megapixel camera that seems especially impressive on paper. But if your current phone is only a few years old, shelling out that much money to get more megapixels simply isn’t necessary.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/samsung-galaxy-s23-ultra-camera/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed

How a Laundry Sorter Gave Me My Weekends Back

My Saturday mornings used to be a total drag, and it was all because of laundry.

Dismiss

from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/laundry-sorter-got-my-weekends-back/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed