Ten Top Tech Deals That Can Up Your Productivity Game Significantly

We're now 2/3rds of the way through January (and over 5% through 2024 already), so the holidays are well and truly over, and everyone's back to work. That doesn't mean that there are no more tech deals to be had, though! Indeed, if you're a tech industry worker or just someone who has to deal with endless Zoom meetings, we might have some accessibly-priced hardware to make your 2024 working experience more tolerable.


First up on the docket is a new PC. That's right: if you're still struggling along with some ancient machine that you bought or built in the previous decade, it's high time for a new system. This Dell Optiplex 7010 micro form factor machine is barely bigger than a VHS tape, yet packs in a 14-core Raptor Lake CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD. It comes with Wi-Fi 6E, Windows 11 Pro, and has dual display connections. Even if your current PC is up to spec, having a separate system strictly for work can really improve your productivity.


If that's too rich for your blood, how about this Beelink mini-PC based on a Ryzen 7 5700U? It's barely half the price compared to the Dell above and even a little bit smaller. The Ryzen 7 5700U gives you eight Zen 2 CPU cores—more than fast enough for typical work and office tasks—as well as a powerful Radeon Vega GPU. Like the Dell, it comes with 16GB of RAM, but you actually get twice the storage. We just reviewed Ayaneo's Retro Mini PC AM01 based on this same APU, so if you're curious about the performance, check that out.


Your author makes use of five displays on his primary system, and couldn't imagine going without any of them. If you're still stuck on a single screen, it's time to step it up. This Arzopa portable monitor is essentially a 15.6" 1080p laptop display in a slim case with a folding cover and both USB Type-C as well as HDMI connectivity. It's nothing to write home about as a display, but it's also just $95 on discount, and it can be used with nearly anything—laptops, desktops, phones, even the Nintendo Switch. Arzopa has a 16.1" 144Hz model for $138, too.


Alternatively, if you need to make a presentation in a pinch or want to have a watch party in the middle of nowhere, you could probably do worse than this well-rated mini projector. It fits in the palm of your hand and accepts HDMI input, with an output resolution of 1920×1080. Web reviews say it doesn't come close to its rated 6000:1 contrast ratio, but it does apparently manage about 200 nits brightness, which is perfectly fine for a dark room or nighttime viewing. At $99.99, there's not much to complain about.


Of course, you'll need to power your portable devices, and neither of the above come with their own batteries. You could bring a power inverter or wall warts, or you could simply wire them up to a big giant power bank. This GOODaaa power bank has a 36,000 mAh capacity and four built-in cables as well as a pair of USB ports, solar charging, and a flashlight function. It even supports wirelessly charging other devices, and it can supply power up to 15W at a time for rapid charging. Not bad for only $39.99 on discount.


If, on the other hand, you're not planning on going anywhere, Addtam has some extremely high-rated outlet extenders on sale as cheap as $13.94. This device plugs into both plugs of a standard US wall outlet and turns two into five while also including USB ports for charging devices, a night light for finding the plugs in the dark, and up to 1050J of surge protection, which admittedly isn't very much, but what do you want for $13.94? There's also a newer version that swaps another one of the USB Type-A ports for a second Type-C port that's a bit more.


Next up: a pair of storage deals. First we have a pretty darn decent deal on a quality SSD: the Solidigm P41 Plus in 1TB capacity. This is an entry-level PCIe 4.0 SSD that may not blow your socks off if you're a DIY PC enthusiast with a bleeding-edge system, but it'll still whip out over 4 GB/second of sequential reads. It's a fantastic addition to nearly any system at a bargain basement price.


If your system's storage expansion is all tapped out, you could instead consider something like this Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Ultra NAS. This is a stand-alone unit that comes pre-equipped with a 4TB hard drive and a bay for a second drive. You plug it into the wall, hook up your Gigabit Ethernet connection to it, and suddenly you've got an extra 4TB (or more) of storage on your network; it couldn't be any easier.


This one's almost a gag gift, but it does have some legitimate utility. The MuteMe is exactly what it looks like: a big round light-up physical mute button that you connect to your PC to mute your microphone with a single touch. Okay, sure—you can mute yourself by clicking a button in the software. If you're working in a home office with lots of clutter around and having to shuffle around physical paper documents, even getting to the mouse quickly can be a struggle. MuteMe is a solution for people who work from home and have kids, noisy pets, or any other reason that they need to have a mute button close at hand.


Last item on our list for today is a little bit of an oddity, but it's a good deal for iPhone users, and that's a whole lot of you, so we're throwing it in. It's a four-pack of Apple Airtags. If you want AirTags to secure your stuff, well, here they are. These things haven't gone on discount too often, so while 14% off isn't a super amazing value or anything, you're not likely to find four genuine Apple AirTags for much cheaper than $85 anytime soon.

What do you think of our Saturday deals? Let us know if you snag something, or if you pick up another product elsewhere. We're always keen to hear about great values.