It’s one thing to do a little online shopping during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, but it’s another to put your money where your mouth is. (Where Did Where does that phrase come from, anyway?) If you’re curious what our writers, editors, and reviewers bought for themselves, here are some items, many of which are still discounted.
I’ve been planning a monitor upgrade for a while – I mentioned it in my “What’s on your desk?” I have done it too. Entering back in August – and the trigger was finally pulled this weekend. I was using two old 24-inch monitors of different brands, resolutions, and specifications, and knew I wanted something larger and 4K to replace both of them. However, recently I’ve faced some other big expenses, so I talked myself down to a 32-inch model, or a higher-spec Dell 27-inch display with a USB-C hub that meets most, if not all, of my needs. The IPS panel looks great for the price, the modern design looks good on my desk, and it has USB-C connectivity and a 120Hz refresh rate, all for under $300. This makes it pretty much perfect for me right now, giving me more desktop space during the work day and some specs suitable for my occasional PC gaming sessions, too. – Dominic Preston, News Editor
My partner and I recently moved into a smaller apartment – but with a larger living room. We’d been making do with a 40-inch TV for several years, but when Black Friday came around, we decided it was worth an upgrade. So, we bought the 55-inch Hisense U7 Mini-LED TV. Yes, we knew it was only a mid-range TV, and these days, a 55-inch TV seems relatively small, but it was within our budget and it got pretty good reviews. It arrived on Sunday, and so far, we’re really happy with it. Setup was extremely simple, we were able to abandon the old Chromecast we were using in favor of the TV’s Google interface, we’re happy with the colors and brightness (though the sound could be better), and we’re going to have fun changing all the settings to suit our cinephile inclinations. -Barbara Krasnoff, Reviews Editor
I don’t usually buy a lot of stuff during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but I took advantage of the sales to buy a few big-ticket items that I was going to buy anyway. I got an Oxo coffee maker because my old Bonavita broke irreparably a few months ago. This Panasonic 4K Blu-ray player has been in my cart for half a decade, fluctuating between $450 and $550; It dropped down to $399 sometime over the weekend, so I pulled the trigger.
I also got a collection of D&D Young Adventurers Guides for my 10 year old for Christmas. -Nathan Edwards, Senior Reviews Editor
I have to be careful with events like Black Friday/Cyber Monday because I end up buying a lot of things I don’t really need or want. To check that impulse, I made a list this year and got pretty good at sticking to it. The first thing I bought was a retractable USB-C cable from Baseus. It’s boring but practical and just what I needed since I upgraded to the iPhone 17 earlier this year and all my old cables became obsolete. I hope it will make my bag “cleaner and lighter than before”.
I also bought a copy of Death Stranding 2: On the BeachThe first game was undeniably weird but I thoroughly enjoyed stepping into the role of a postapocalyptic delivery man and have been waiting for the sequel all year, Between traveling, moving house, and starting a new job, I haven’t had much of a chance to play games lately, so I’m hoping it’ll be worth the wait, The Verge’s Reviews suggest I will not be disappointed.
A quick purchase was: these adorable LEGO Botanical Happy Plants. I guess they’re for kids, but I thought they’d make my boyfriend smile. -Robert Hart, AI reporter
I tried to stop myself from overindulging during Black Friday this year and I think I did a good job. I purchased the one item I really needed: Arctic MX-6 Thermal Paste. I’m using it to upgrade the CPU on a used watercooled PC that I bought from a flea market. (Thankfully, it doesn’t require RAM!)
Amazon’s Black Friday sale reduced some of the price of the version that comes with alcohol wipes, which you can use to clean off existing thermal paste on your CPU die. But I didn’t really need the wipes; I misinterpreted the listing as saying it came with six tubes of paste, not just the nominal alcohol wipes. (Don’t be like me and actually read the listing!) -Emma Roth, news writer
I live next to a subway station in New York City, so I’ve had my eye on this realtime circuit board LED display of subway car locations for quite some time now. They had a 20 percent discount for Black Friday, so I jumped on it — and I look forward to checking this thing out every time I hear a train rumble.
TrainTracker also has versions for Boston, DC, Chicago, London, and San Francisco, and a sexy-looking, limited-edition black version for New York City. -Travis Larchuk, Vergecast supervising producer
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