Our favorite portable SSD falls to $70, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals

It's Friday, which means it's once again time for us to venture into the discount mines and dig out a few tech deals worth your attention. This week's roundup includes the lowest price in a year for Crucial's X9 Pro, which we consider the best portable SSD for those who want a travel-friendly way to back up their data. Apple's 11-inch iPad Air and Google's Pixel 8a phone are each $100 off, while the Meta Quest 3S and OLED TVs from LG and Sony are cheaper than usual too. We're also seeing a few price drops on video games and gaming accessories we recommend. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still buy today. 

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

• Crucial X9 Pro (1TB) for $70 at Amazon ($31 off MSRP): The X9 Pro is our pick for the best portable SSD, as it combines steady performance for most needs with a rugged, super-compact design that's easy to take on the go. We saw this deal earlier this month, but it matches the largest discount for the 1TB model since late 2023. Also at B&H and Best Buy.

• Meta Quest 3S (256GB) + $15 Newegg gift card for $350 at Newegg ($65 off): The Quest 3S is the budget recommendation in our guide to the best VR headsets. While its older fresnel lenses aren't as crisp or clear as the pancake lenses in the superior Quest 3, they're good enough for most people just getting started with VR, and the headset as a whole is just as fast as the pricier model. More importantly, it supports all the same apps and games. The 256GB model has been $50 off at several retailers for a little over a week, but at Newegg you can now get a $15 gift card thrown in for no extra cost. Also at Amazon, Meta and others without the gift card. Meta says the price drop will end on February 8.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

• Apple iPad Air (11-inch, M2) for $500 at Amazon ($99 off): We consider the latest iPad Air to be the best iPad for most people, as it's significantly cheaper than the iPad Pro but gets you a more futureproof chip, a better display, more RAM, twice as much storage and better accessory support than the standard 10th-gen iPad. We gave it a score of 91 in our review. This deal was available for much of the holiday season, and it's $30 above the tablet's all-time low, but it's still $50 off the slate's usual street price. Clip the on-page coupon to see the full discount at checkout.

• Google Pixel 8a (128GB) for $399 at Amazon ($100 off): Samsung's new Galaxy S25 devices may have taken the spotlight earlier this week, but we still consider Google's Pixel 8a to be the best Android phone for those on a tighter budget. It gets you most of the headline features from a flagship Pixel phone — excellent cameras, a crisp 120Hz OLED display, clean software with updates through 2031, solid performance and battery life — only it uses a slightly cheaper plastic frame with slower charging speeds. This $100 discount has been off and on for much of the past few months, but it still comes within $20 of the lowest price we've tracked for an unlocked 128GB model. Also at Best Buy and the Google Store. Google says this offer will end on January 25.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

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