10 tech products worth buying on Black Friday.

Living room

Last year’s 55-inch 4K smart TV

Big screens drop on a regular rhythm, and last year’s sets are still excellent. If you play on a console or a PC, confirm HDMI 2.1, 120 Hz, and VRR on the spec sheet, not just the word “gaming” in the title.

• 4K
• 55″ as a starting size
• HDMI 2.1 if there is a console

Pocket

A mid-range phone, or last year’s flagship

The handset that shipped this week is rarely the best sum. A Galaxy, Pixel, Xiaomi, or Motorola with an OLED screen, a solid battery, and several years of updates still ahead will outlast this week’s launch with a 15% “discount”.

If the ceiling is €200, there is a separate phone list.

Sound

Headphones with noise cancelling

This is a category where a sale week often separates the launch price from the street price. Decide first whether you want over-ears for a desk or small earbuds for the commute. Cancelling is wasted if the calls are bad.

Desk

A laptop with 16 GB of RAM

8 GB already gives way once several browser windows sit next to a document. Look for 16 GB, a matte screen if you study by a window, and a weight under 1.6 kg if you will carry it. A refurbished machine from a known brand, with a warranty, belongs in the same calculation.

Bag

A power bank around 20,000 mAh

Enough for a large phone over a weekend, or for a light laptop if the USB-C output has the watts. Read the output wattage, not only the milliamp-hours. To take it on a plane, check the airline limit: many allow up to 100 Wh without a special declaration.

Reading

An e-reader

A Kindle, a Kobo, or the equivalent often drops this month, and it rarely becomes a regret. A black-and-white screen is enough for almost everyone. Colour only pays off if you read comics or highlight heavily.

Files

A 1 TB external SSD, or an internal drive

Storage is one of the few things where the discount is easy to compare: the same model, the same capacity, one price. Skip no-name drives on marketplaces. If the laptop has a slot, an internal NVMe gives you more than a disk hanging off USB.

Home

An entry robot vacuum, if the flat allows it

They work well on open floors and worse around rugs, cables, and toys. A station that washes the mop pushes the price up fast. If the job is only vacuuming through the week, the version without a station is enough.

Wrist

A smartwatch with a battery that lasts several days

A watch that wants a charge every night tends to end up in a drawer. Garmin, Huawei, Xiaomi, and the entry lines from Samsung or Apple are built for different jobs: long sport sessions, notifications, or the phone you already own. Buy the one that talks to that phone.

Living room, again

A console bundle, if you actually want the games inside

PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch show up in bundles this time of year. Add up the price of the games on their own before you treat the pack as savings. A game that is already in a subscription is not worth its shelf price.

PlayStation 5 · Nintendo Switch