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Regardless of if you need a new laptop for work or play, October Prime Day may have just what you’re looking for at a good price. Amongst the clothing, shoes, household essentials and other tech gear are some decent laptop deals that you can snag if you’re a Prime member — and even some that you can grab without a Prime subscription. But deciphering what constitutes a “good deal” on a laptop during Prime Day can be a bit challenging. That’s due in part to the manic nature of laptop prices on Amazon in particular: they fluctuate often depending on model, brand, configuration, seller and more. But Engadget can help by collecting all of the best October Prime Day laptop deals here so you don’t have to go searching for them. Best Prime Day laptop deals: MacBooks Apple’s latest laptops are the MacBook Air M4 and the MacBook Pro M4, and we recommend getting those if you want a device that’s as future-proof as possible at the moment. You’ll find decent MacBook deals on Amazon throughout the year, and most of them will be on the base configurations. In a welcomed update earlier this year, Apple recently made all base models of the MacBook Air M4 have 16GB of RAM by default (which is the same as you’ll find on the base-level Pros). Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M4) for $999 (17 percent off) Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) for $1,399 (13 percent off) Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4) for $2,249 (10 percent off) Best Prime day laptop deals: Windows laptops You’ve got a lot of variety to choose from when it comes to Windows laptops, and that can be a blessing or a curse. We recommend looking for a laptop from a reputable brand (i.e. Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and others like them), and one that can handle daily work or play pressures. That means at least 16GB of RAM and 245GB of SSD storage, plus the latest Intel or AMD CPUs. If you’re looking for a new gaming laptop, you’ll need a bit more power and a dedicated graphics card to boot. HP Ultrabook 14 (14-inch, Intel N100) for $280 (20 percent off) Dell Inspiron 3530 laptop (15-inch, Core i3) for $284 (29 percent off) Lenovo IdeaPad 1i (Windows 11, 15-inch, Intel Celeron) for $280 (30 percent off) Acer Nitro V gaming laptop (15-inch, Intel Core i5) for $600 (20 percent off) Dell 15 3530 laptop (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i5) for $659 (27 percent off) Lenovo LOQ laptop (15-inch, Intel Core i7) for $780 (34 percent off) Alienware 16 Aurora gaming laptop (16-inch, Intel Core 7) for $1,180 (16 percent off) Best Prime Day laptop deals: Chromebooks Most Chromebooks are already pretty cheap, but that just means you can get them for even less during an event like Prime Day. However, there are a ton of premium Chromebooks available today that didn’t exist even three years ago, so now is a great time to look out for discounts on those models. In general, we recommend looking for at least 4 to 8GB of RAM and at least 128GB of SDD storage in a Chromebook that you plan on using as your daily driver. Lenovo Chromebook Duet 2025 (11-inch, MediaTek Kompanio 838) for $210 (34 percent off) HP HD Chromebook (15-inch, Intel Pentium N200) for $319 (9 percent off) Acer Chromebook Plus (14-inch, Intel Core i3) for $360 (10 percent off) This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/best-amazon-prime-day-laptop-deals-discounts-on-machines-from-apple-lenovo-dell-hp-and-more-130507738.html?src=rss

October Prime Day is here, and Amazon is awash with discounts to consider. Amazon uses October Prime Day to kickstart the holiday shopping season — even if you haven't even thought about the holidays yet, you should give the latest Prime Day Lego deals a look. A number of Lego sets from the Super Mario and Star Wars collections are already on sale for up to 38 percent off. When shopping for Lego sets on Amazon, we highly recommend checking a price tracker like Keepa or CamelCamelCamel before buying. It's not difficult to find Lego sets "on sale" at Amazon, but often those discounted prices have been around for a long time. We've clocked "deals" in which the sale price has been available for months already, going back as far as late spring and early summer 2025. Here, we're mostly highlighting discounts on new Lego sets, recent price drops and record-low (and close to them) prices on popular Lego sets from franchises like Star Wars, Super Mario and others. Best Amazon Prime Day Lego deals Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2025 75418 for $31 (30 percent off) Lego Minecraft Advent Calendar 2025 21280 for $38 (16 percent off) Lego Harry Potter Advent Calendar 2025 76456 for $38 (16 percent off) Lego Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696 for $18 (49 percent off) Lego Classic Vibrant Creative Brick Box Building Blocks 11038 for $42 (30 percent off) Lego Star Wars Brick-Built Star Wars Logo set 75407 for $50 (17 percent off) Lego Star Wars Spider Tank Building Toy 75361 for $35 (30 percent off) Lego Star Wars R2-D2 set 75379 for $80 (20 percent off) Lego Star Wars Ahsoka Ghost and Phantom II Spaceship Toy 75357 for $112 (30 percent off) Lego Super Mario: Mario Kart Donkey Kong & DK Jumbo set 72033 for $28 (19 percent off) Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi Building set 71438 for $104 (20 percent off) Lego Technic Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Toy Car 42138 for $35 (30 percent off) Lego Creator 3 in 1 Forest Animals Red Fox Toys 31154 for $35 (30 percent off) Lego Botanicals Bouquet of Roses 10328 for $48 (20 percent off) Lego City F1 Garage & Mercedes-AMG & Alpine Cars set 60444 for $64 (20 percent off) Lego Ideas A-Frame Cabin Building Set 21338 for $126 (30 percent off) Lego Brick Tile backpack for $50 (29 percent off) This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-lego-deals-get-up-to-30-percent-off-star-wars-and-super-mario-sets-121513345.html?src=rss

Amazon’s newest October Prime Day sale is underway, and a selection of highly-rated TVs from LG, Samsung, Sony and others are heavily discounted for the occasion. If you can’t wait until Black Friday to upgrade, we’re rounding up the best Prime Day TV deals on the sets worth your time below. We've also thrown in a few discounts on streaming players we like. Just keep in mind that Amazon’s event officially runs October 7 and 8, and you may need to be a Prime member to see some of the discounts. Best Prime Day TV deals TCL QM7K 55-inch Mini-LED TV for $570 ($330 off MSRP): If you’re willing to stretch your budget a little further, the TCL QM7K is a fairly comprehensive step up, with noticeably improved contrast, brightness and color volume. It has a 144Hz refresh rate with 288Hz support at 1080p, too, though it’s still limited to two HDMI 2.1 ports. (As with the QM6K, however, neither of those is an eARC port, so hooking up a soundbar won’t block a game console if you have multiple systems.) This discount represents a new low, beating the previous best mark we've seen by roughly $30. Hisense U8QG 65-inch Mini-LED TV for $998 ($500 off): Several reviews suggest that the Hisense U8QG ticks most of the requisite boxes for a LCD TV in 2025: robust local dimming and mini-LED backlighting, exceptionally high brightness, vibrant quantum-dot colors, a fast refresh rate (165Hz in this case), support for the major HDR formats and so on. It’s a higher-end option than something like the TCL QM6K or QM7K with superior brightness and contrast, though it still falls short of a good OLED TV when it comes to the latter. Like most LCD panels, it’ll also look a bit washed out if you view it from an angle. It has three HDMI 2.1 ports, which is one fewer than many other TVs in this price range, though it uniquely includes a USB-C video input if you want to hook up a gaming laptop or Nintendo Switch. (Just note that you won’t get VRR or HDR when using that.) You’d mainly get it over an OLED TV if you’re willing to trade some picture quality for something better-suited in a bright room. This deal on the 65-inch model matches the best price we've tracked. Samsung S90F 55-inch QD-OLED TV for $1,100 ($498 off): The Samsung S90F is an upper-tier model with a QD-OLED panel, which blends the usual perks of a quality OLED set — near-perfect contrast, wide viewing angles, clear motion, low input lag — with a layer of quantum dots. This helps it produce a wider gamut of more vivid colors compared to traditional WOLED TVs. It also comes with four HDMI 2.1 ports and has a fast refresh rate of 144Hz. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR, however, and reviews we trust say that the LG C5, a competing WOLED model, retains darker black levels in a bright room. This deal marks a new low for the 55-inch model, while the 65-inch and 77-inch versions are also at all-time lows of $1,598 and $2,298, respectively. Just make sure you only buy the 55-, 65- or 77-inch model, as every other size in the US uses a lesser WOLED panel. Shady, we know. LG C5 65-inch OLED TV for $1,373 ($1,324 off): The LG C5 can’t produce the same bold colors as a QD-OLED display like the Samsung S90F, but reviews almost universally agree that it’s an exceptional OLED TV otherwise. It should get brighter with non-HDR content, and as noted above it should produce deeper blacks in well-lit environments. It also has just about all the essential gaming features, plus it supports the popular Dolby Vision HDR format (but not HDR10+). If you need that, or if you want an OLED set in this price range for a bright-ish room, it’s well worth a look. This is nearly an all-time low for the 65-inch model, beating its typical street price by about $125. Other sizes are also on sale, but note that the 42- and 48-inch models can’t get as bright as the larger versions. LG B5 55-inch OLED TV for $997 ($100 off): The B5 is LG’s entry-level OLED TV for 2025, and as such it’s a level below the C5 in terms of brightness and color performance. It’s technically limited to a 120Hz refresh rate instead of 144Hz as well, though that isn’t a huge deal right now unless you plan on hooking up a gaming PC. If anything, last year’s LG C4 — which isn’t seriously discounted as of this writing — is a better value for most on the whole. But if you just want to save cash, the B5 still provides most of the core benefits of an OLED display at a lower price. This is a new all-time low for the 55-inch variant. Sony Bravia 8 II 65-inch QD-OLED TV for $2,800 ($700 off): It’s certainly not cheap, but the Sony Bravia 8 II has earned plaudits for its excellent image processing, upscaling and overall accuracy alongside the expected color, contrast and motion benefits of its QD-OLED display. This should help it make lots of movies and shows look closer to their original intent. It also uses the handy Google TV interface. This deal marks the best price to date for the 65-inch version. That said, if you can’t stomach the high price, other reviews note that the older Sony A95L offers similar performance a bit less, while more recent competitors like the LG G5 and Samsung S95F can get noticeably brighter (even if they’re not always as accurate). Those two should be better for gaming as well, as the Bravia 8 II only has two HDMI 2.1 ports — one of which is an eARC port for soundbars — and its input lag is slightly higher. Samsung The Frame (2024) 55-inch LED TV for $798 ($700 off): Samsung’s The Frame series has always been for people who care about their TV’s aesthetic more than its picture quality, since it’s designed to resemble a framed piece of wall art. It’s still overpriced for a TV with no local dimming or Dolby Vision HDR, but this deal ties the lowest price we’ve seen for the 55-inch model, making it at least a little more reasonable. Other sizes are also on sale. Note that this deal is for the 2024 model — this year’s version is also on sale, but its panel still isn’t great for the price. We’d recommend saving as much cash as possible if you really want one of these things. Roku Streaming Stick 4K for $30 ($20 off): The Streaming Stick 4K is worth considering if you prefer a stick-style streamer that plugs directly into your TV, or if you’re partial to Roku’s app-centric interface, which many find simpler to navigate than the content-heavy UIs pushed by Google and Amazon. It supports Apple AirPlay and the major HDR formats, and its performance remains quick enough for most. You’ll have to deal with some ads, though, and no Roku player supports the Twitch app. This deal is $5 more than the device’s all-time low but ties the best price we’ve seen in several years. Roku Streaming Stick Plus for $24 ($16 off): The Streaming Stick Plus is cheaper alternative to the Streaming Stick 4K with no Dolby Vision support and no long-range Wi-Fi extender built in. The latter means it may be less reliable if you don’t get a consistent connection in your TV’s room. (Both sticks are limited to Wi-Fi 5, though.) That said, this model can typically be powered straight from a TV’s USB port instead of requiring a separate power supply. If you can live with the sacrifices, it may not be worth paying extra. This deal represents a new all-time low. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 ($25 off): The standard Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K offers the same core experience as the pricier Fire TV Stick 4K Max, only it comes with a slightly slower processor, half the storage (8GB) and Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 6E. For most people just looking for a casual streamer on the cheap, those shouldn’t be huge losses. This model is also more powerful than the just-announced Fire TV 4K Select, though its Fire OS interface can still be messy and ad-heavy, with special emphasis on Amazon’s own services. This deal is $3 more than the stick’s all-time low, though it matches the best price we’ve seen since Black Friday last year. Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for $18 ($17 off): The Fire TV Stick HD is the budget pick in our guide to the best streaming devices. It can only stream up to 1080p, and it can run a bit choppier than the 4K models since it has a slower chipset and half the RAM (1GB). The usual issues with the Fire TV interface still apply here too. But if you just want to add streaming apps to an aging TV or basic monitor for as little cash as possible, it should get the job done. This discount ties the device's lowest price to date.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-prime-day-tv-deals-save-on-sets-from-lg-samsung-tcl-and-others-180051219.html?src=rss

OpenAI has disclosed that a now-banned account originating in China was using ChatGPT to help design promotional materials and project plans for a social media listening tool. OpenAI says that this work was purportedly done for a government client. The tool was a "probe" that could crawl social media sites like X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube for specific political, ethnic or religious content as defined by the operator. The company said it cannot independently verify if the tool was used by a Chinese government entity. OpenAI disrupted similar efforts earlier this year. The company also says it banned an account that was using ChatGPT to develop a proposal for a tool described as a "High-Risk Uyghur-Related Inflow Warning Model" that would aid in tracking the movements of "Uyghur-related" individuals. China has long been accused of alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in the country. OpenAI began publishing threat reports in February 2024, raising awareness of state-affiliated actors using large language models to debug malicious code, develop phishing scams and more. The company's latest blog post serves as a roundup of notable threats and banned accounts over the last quarter. The company also caught Russian-, Korean- and Chinese-speaking developers using ChatGPT to refine malware, as well as entire networks in Cambodia, Myanmar and Nigeria using the chatbot to help create scams in an attempt to defraud people. According to OpenAI's own estimates, ChatGPT is being used to detect scams three times as often as it is to create them. . This summer, OpenAI disrupted operations in Iran, Russia and China that were using ChatGPT to create posts, comments and to drive engagement and division as part of online influence campaigns. The AI-generated content was used on various social media platforms in both the originating nations and internationally.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-has-disrupted-more-chinese-accounts-using-chatgpt-to-create-social-media-surveillance-tools-142538093.html?src=rss

You may not be looking to spend big on tech this October Prime Day, but it's still a good idea to look for tech essentials during the shopping event while you can get some at good discounts. Anker makes some of our favorite charging gear and I always end up picking up an accessory or two during Prime Day to ensure I have what I need when I need it most, and I feel better knowing I didn't spend full price on it. For example, in sales past, I picked up a couple of extra USB-C charging cables so I could keep one in my carry-on luggage so I always have one when I travel. My partner will likely be upgrading to an iPhone 17 this year, so we'll have to get a few more USB-C cables now that Lightning is officially banished from our home. Also, every year it seems I need yet another surge protector, so even though I picked one up the year before — but one can never have too many. Here, we've collected all of the best October Prime Day deals on Anker devices and other charging gear we could find, and we'll update this post as the event goes on with the latest offerings. Anker Prime Day deals: Power banks Power banks are not as straightforward as you might think. They come in all shapes, sizes and capacities and can have extra features like magnetic alignment, built-in kickstands, extra ports and more. It's worth considering how you'll use a power bank before you decide on the right one to buy. Smartphones don’t need huge-capacity bricks to power up a couple of times over; a 5K or 10K portable charger should be plenty if that’s all you’re looking to support. If you want a more versatile accessory that can charge a tablet, laptop or gaming handheld, consider a brick with a higher capacity — and more ports so you can charge multiple devices simultaneously. Anker Prime Day deals: Wireless chargers A good wireless charger can lighten your cable load. While wired charging remains faster and more efficient, wireless chargers can clean up your space by eliminating a few of those cables that constantly trip you up. We recommend thinking about where you'll use a wireless charger before buying one. Those outfitting a home office with new tech may want a wireless charging stand that puts their phone in an upright position that’s easier to see while it’s powering up, while those who want a wireless charger for their nightstand might prefer a lay-flat design or a power station that can charge a smartphone, smartwatch and pair of earbuds all at once. Anker Prime Day deals: Charging gear Plenty of other charging gear is on sale for Prime Day. It’s never a bad idea to pick up a few 30W USB-C adapters so you always have what you need to reliably power up your phone. Same goes for extra USB-C (or USB-A) cables that can live in your car, in your office at work or by the couch. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-on-anker-power-banks-wireless-chargers-and-other-accessories-164536491.html?src=rss