What Can I Buy With $500 REPACK
The controls are super intuitive. And the sound is 3D cinematic. You can also connect your headset with your PC for getting into the Oculus Rift experience. This is all you need to get into the Metaverse!
what can i buy with $500
Here comes the Bose Wave Music System IV with lifelike, room-filling sound with breakthrough award-winning Bose waveguide speaker technology. A stunning 83% of customers who bought and reviewed this sound system left a 5-star review.
Where it falls short: By default, some configurations of the Aspire 5 (A514-54) ship with Windows 11 S mode, which only allows apps from the Microsoft Store and limits you to Microsoft Edge for web browsing. But you can switch it to Windows 11 Home for free to install any program you need. And like many inexpensive Windows laptops, our pick comes with a ton of unnecessary bloatware that takes up space and slows down performance. Follow these steps to remove those programs and make your laptop feel faster and be more secure. The Aspire 5 (A514-54) also lacks a fingerprint reader, which some of our other picks have.
Why we like it: Depending on how you use a computer, you might not need a laptop at all. An Apple iPad (9th generation) with a Bluetooth keyboard or a keyboard case makes for a lighter and more portable system than any of our picks. If you primarily browse the web, make video calls, write, and take notes, an iPad provides a smoother, less painful experience than the Windows options in this price category.
When you have a product that a lot of people love, change can be risky. Such is the case for Sony's WH-1000XM5, the fifth generation of the 1000X series headphones, which were first released in 2016 as the MDR-1000X Wireless and have become increasingly popular as they've improved with each generation. Over the years, Sony has made some tweaks to the design, but nothing as dramatic as what it's done with the WH-1000XM5. Other than the higher $400 price tag ($50 more than the WH-1000XM4), most of those changes are good, and Sony's made some dramatic improvements with voice-calling performance as well as even better noise canceling and more refined sound.
The price for Facebook's Oculus Quest 2 has gone up in the last year -- it used to start at $300 for the 128GB version but now it costs $400, with the 256GB version now going for $500 (though it's currently on sale for $430). While it's not quite the bargain it used to be, it's still the best affordable cord-free VR headset and a lot of fun to play with a large collection of impressive games.
Sonos' new entry-level soundbar features the company's excellent multiroom music system onboard. A two-channel soundbar with Dolby Digital decoding, it's roughly two-thirds the size of the also excellent Sonos Beam (gen 2) but delivers a surprisingly wide soundstage through the use of proprietary waveguides.
While it doesn't support Dolby Atmos surround sound or have an HDMI port to connect to your TV (you connect it to your TV with an included optical cable), we were impressed with the sound quality for music and movies. You can pair it with a couple of other Sonos speakers like the Sonos One to create a surround sound system.
Amazon recently released a large-format 10.2-inch E Ink e-reader that includes a stylus. One might say it is the spiritual successor to the defunct Kindle DX, which had a 9.7-inch screen. It's available with a standard stylus for $340, or $370 with a premium stylus.
A handful of competing stylus-equipped touchscreen E Ink e-readers that double as digital notepads are available from other companies, including Kobo and ReMarkable. But the Kindle Scribe is the only front-lit 10.2-inch e-reader with a high-resolution 300 ppi (pixels per inch) E ink display.
The ninth generation of Apple's entry-level iPad came out last fall with an updated A13 Bionic chip processor that gives it a nice performance boost (a keyboard or case is not included). While prices start at $329 for 64GB of storage, it jumps to $479 for the 256GB version, so look for special offers as this iPad often gets the flash-deal treatment.
The improvements don't stop there, though: Where the Theragun Liv only had two preprogrammed speeds and came with two closed-cell foam attachments, the Theragun Prime has five built-in speeds (from 1,750 rpm to 2,400 rpm) and comes with five closed-cell foam attachments.
The Hypervolt Hypervolt Pro 2 is the current flagship Hyperice percussive massager, and rivals the slightly better-known Theragun in effectiveness. This new model features a digital speed dial that lets you cycle through five levels of percussion and features the same 90-watt high-torque motor and notably quiet operation (for the amount of force it generates) of its predecessor. You can get up to three hours of battery life and five interchangeable heads along with a nice carrying case.
If the person on your list doesn't already have a Nintendo Switch or needs an upgrade, you can't go wrong with this gaming system. This fourth iteration of Nintendo's Switch hybrid handheld adds a bigger, better built-in display (now an OLED screen), plus a redesigned kickstand and TV dock. It's a splurge, but it provides hours and hours of fun with games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Metroid Dread, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Super Mario Odyssey. (If you're looking for the next Zelda game, that's not coming until May 2023.) Check out more great game suggestions here.
No, you can't get a truly high-performance TV for less than $500, but with TCL's 55-inch 55S535 you can get a great gift with a nice size screen, very solid 4K picture quality and the best streaming system available (Roku) for less than $500. If you want under $400, TCL's latest 4-series 4K line is also a respectable choice.
If you're shopping for a laptop on a budget, you can find some great options for under $500. Many laptops in this price range are available with the same CPUs that we see in more premium models, but they compromise on a few features to bring the price down. The recommendations in this article consist mainly of productivity and media consumption devices like Chromebooks and Windows laptops because gaming laptops and Apple MacBooks are typically much more expensive. The list is short for now, but it'll grow as we review more laptops.
The best laptop under $500 we've tested is the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 (2021), an ultraportable Windows laptop with a sturdy build and all-day battery life. At just a little over $500, you can get a model with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U CPU, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage. The Ryzen 5 5500U is fast and can handle general productivity tasks like web browsing, video playback, text processing, and spreadsheets. Of course, you can get a better configuration with a faster CPU or more memory if you spend more, but for most people with a light workload, this Ryzen 5 model is more than adequate.
Our best under-$500 Chromebook pick is the Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 (2020), a 2-in-1 convertible with a 360-degree hinge. It feels well-built, especially for a device in its price range, and it's easy to carry around, thanks to its compact design. The battery lasts easily through a full day with plenty to spare, and it charges over USB-C, so you don't have to lug around a proprietary power adapter. The keyboard feels comfortable to type on, and while the touchpad is on the smaller side, it's responsive to all movements and gestures.
Spec-wise, you can get this laptop with an Intel Pentium Gold or Core i3 processor. The Core i3 is faster, although both are powerful enough to provide a smooth experience on Chrome OS. The downside is that you can only get a maximum of 4GB of memory, meaning you might experience stutters and slowdowns if you run too many things simultaneously. Its 1080p display looks reasonably sharp and provides plenty of room for multitasking; however, it doesn't get very bright, meaning visibility can be an issue in very well-lit or sunny environments.
For media consumption, we recommend the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021), a Chrome OS tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard. This form factor is very versatile, as you can detach the keyboard to make the device easier to hold as a tablet or to save space, and you can simply snap it back on when you need to type something. It's easy to carry around thanks to its compact size, and its battery lasts around eight hours of video playback, plenty of time for a couple of movies or TV show episodes.
The star feature that makes this device great for multimedia is its gorgeous OLED screen. It displays vibrant colors, and like all OLEDs, the blacks look amazing, so it's fantastic for dark room viewing. The speakers are just okay; they get reasonably loud but sound slightly unnatural and lack bass. If you want to use headphones, know it doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so it's best to go wireless. As for the keyboard, it comes with the device, so you don't need to buy it separately. However, it doesn't feel particularly comfortable to type on. It's fine for a couple of emails on the go but not the best option for typing out a long essay.
If you're looking for something compact to use for media consumption or web browsing, get the Microsoft Surface Go 3 (2021), a Windows tablet with a built-in kickstand and a detachable type cover keyboard. Unlike the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 (2021) above, you have to buy the keyboard separately, but it's worth it, as Windows isn't the most touch-friendly operating system, and it helps protect the display from scratches. As for the display itself, it's a sharp 10.5-inch IPS panel that gets bright enough for use in most settings. Above the display sits an excellent 1080p webcam, and there's an IR camera for quick logins via Windows Hello facial recognition.
The Intel Pentium Gold model with 4GB of memory is fine for simple web browsing, emails, and video playback, but don't expect to edit 4k videos or play AAA games. If you can stretch your budget slightly over $500, it's worth getting a model with 8GB of memory, as you'll get a much smoother desktop experience with fewer slowdowns when multitasking. The battery lasts about seven hours of light productivity or a little over three hours of video playback, so you'll likely need to keep the charger close. You can charge the device via its USB-C port, but you'd lose the only USB port available, which means you'll likely need a dock. 041b061a72