Prime Day isn’t quite the keyboard gripping mad dash for deals it was the heady days of the mid-2010’s. Back then, Amazon had hour by hour changes to the “decor,” musical performances and — my personal favorite — an emphasis on lightning deals that were extremely good, but limited and appearing throughout. With a four earth days to one Prime Day exchange rate and similar Big Spring Sale, Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the competitors’ answers — phew — it feels like less of a standout event each year, but there are still some genuinely good deals if you look. Here are a few of my favorite TestyTim-approved options.
Editor’s Note: this article contains no affiliate links, just pure recommendations from Tim’s tech bag.
Before I get into the nerdy nitty gritty, if you use anything rechargeable — which would be pretty much everyone — you can benefit from a power bank or two. While they are nice for phones and such, as phone battery life has improved, I find their most useful place is keeping more powerful devices charged. The first time your not-as-great-as-it-once-was laptop battery fails to chain you to a wall outlet, you’ll be sold. The UGREEN Nexode Power Bank 20,000 mAh 130W is a brilliant combination: it is powerful enough to fuel even powerful laptops like the MacBooks Pro despite a diminutive size and the (unnecessarily, but pleasantly) full color screen that displays useful insights into how everything is charging.
To be sure, it is only 20,000 mAh: plenty of charging speed, but not enough capacity to fully top off more robust laptop batteries. If you want more than a “get me through this one project” type battery, the Anker SOLIX C200 DC Power Bank Station with a whopping 60,000 mAh is no feather weight, but it sports triple the capacity. I like having both on hand so I can choose whether more power or less weight is the order of the day.
The Raspberry Pi made a meteoric rise a few years back and quickly went from an easy impulse purchase to a frequently out of stock (or marked up) item. The Pi’s charm is its complete flexibility. Pis are small, can be run silently and can be customized with different cases and add-on boards to hit the exact mix you need all while enjoying the rush that once came from piecing together components bought at the local Radio Shack. However, as Pis have become more expensive and harder to obtain, other mini PCs have encroached on its turf when the need is relatively generic and the DIY enjoyment aspect isn’t a driving force. If customized cases and expansion boards are beyond your needs, the various mini PCs that go on sale every Prime Day can do a lot of the same things with the added perk of being regular x86 hardware that works with pretty much any software.
Most come with Windows, but that’s easily replaced with Debian, the base of Raspberry Pi’s own Raspberry Pi OS. The result is essentially the same for most uses, but with broader compatibility and more power under the hood. To be fair, they have their downsides over the Pi: they lack the super easy installation tool that the Pi offers for its special flavor of Linux, they almost certainly draw more (electrical) power for that added (computing) power and many include a fan that — no matter how quiet — can’t best a fanless Pi.
I’ve been very pleased with MeLe, GMKtec and Beelink options and found them essentially identical in performance. On a week like Prime Day, the best thing to do is pull up the different brands and see which one offers the specs your project requires. This GMKtec i3-based option is nicely specced and priced given the escalating prices of computer components. It is likely suitable for most general purposes and will set you back just $179.
Speaking of Pi and Pi-like devices, the NanoKVM is based on a Pi-inspired RISC-V single board computer, but purchased assembled, you needn’t worry about that unless you want to. It’s just an incredibly tiny Linux box purpose built as a simple a plug-and-forget way to gain remote access to a computer.
When plugged in, you can access that computer via a web browser and Tailscale users can do so through their Tailnet with the integrated support (sadly, no Netbird support yet). A tiny display on the case displays the address of the NanoKVM and its current status. Sipeed is a Chinese company, but to their credit, they’ve released all of the system’s software as open source and the company behind it invites full security audits. The full Linux “micro-PC” base also invites further customization for the adventurous.
Unlike software remote access tools, the NanoKVM works even if something is malfunctioning on your computer — you can even reboot and enter the BIOS through it. I have one hooked up to the Beelink mini PC I use as a router and was able to use its “virtual drive” function to install Linux to it from the comfort of the living room couch while the system hummed away in the garage.
I should note that since it plugs in where you would ordinarily connect your monitor, desktop computers plugged into it become remote only. You’ll need a Prime Day deal on an HDMI splitter or an upgrade to the NanoKVM Pro, with its HDMI pass through port, if you want to, say, attach this to your office computer for use from home without giving up the ability to use it in person, too. If you go the splitter route, check out the “buy used” option — I’ve written before about the hidden gem of Amazon Resale, the retailer’s open box section and this splitter is an example of a product that gains an extra Prime Day 15-20% off on top of the open box discount.
I ran into this coffee company earlier this year and have been impressed with their various blends. Whether you prefer your coffee plain or would like a dessert blend (the chocolate raspberry is excellent), these are delicious and are on sale for $12.95 for 12 oz. bags. Do yourself a favor and opt for the “Subscribe and Save” discount, that knocks the price down to $9.95 and keeps you stocked and energized for tweaking those mini PCs over your NanoKVM. 
Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. He also serves as a pastor at Little Hills Church and FaithTree Christian Fellowship.
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