My favorite early Memorial Day deals: Save big on laptops, tablets, and more

Summer sales like Amazon Prime Day are coming soon. But before we get there, Memorial Day sales are on the way. For many, the holiday weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, and retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and more are still celebrating the season with savings on home, outdoor, tech, apparel, and beyond.

Also: How to get Amazon Prime for 50% off: The two ways to qualify in 2026

Lucky for you, I cover sales 24/7 as ZDNET’s deals and shopping editor, and I’ve learned a thing or two about finding the best offers to share with you. That’s why I’ve vetted and curated these deals across several retailers, featuring ZDNET-tested and recommended products, from phones and TVs to robot lawnmowers and outdoor gear. Here are my favorite Memorial Day deals live now. (You can also check out our favorite Memorial Day deals on TVs, SSDs, Apple products, laptops, phones, and outdoor gear.)

The best Memorial Day deals so far

The newest 2026 S7 TV (and Hisense’s response to Samsung’s Frame TV) is now on sale at its lowest price to date. The 55-inch model is 40% off, bringing it down to under $1,000.

Blink mini cams are great for adding security or tracking pets or kids inside your home. The latest 2K+ model is on sale for 35% off.

The Ninja Slushi is perfect for the upcoming summer season. Make chilly drinks at home and save 26%.

Audible’s free trial grants you 30 days of access to a catalog of over 1 million titles, including brand new releases. You’ll get the same benefits as full members on your free trial, and you can cancel before the 30 days are up and you get charged if you don’t want to continue. ZDNET Managing Editor Alison DeNisco-Rayome recently tried it herself, and it helped her decide if the service was right for her.

Also: Get Audible for 30 days totally free – here’s how

Apple deals

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 features a rugged design that’s ideal for adventurists with premium features like GPS, advanced metrics, Offline Maps, and more. It has a gorgeous 49mm watch face that gets plenty bright for outdoor use.

Review: Apple Watch Ultra 2

The Apple Pencil Pro incorporates advanced features like squeeze, barrel roll, and haptic feedback to make marking up, taking notes, and creating an artistic masterpiece more intuitive. It charges wirelessly and works with the newest iPad Pro and iPad Air models.

Also: Apple Pencil Pro vs. Apple Pencil 2

If you are deeply committed to the Apple ecosystem and you want to keep it that way, you’ll want the AirPods Max 2. The upgraded sound quality is great, and Apple’s Transparency Mode is a standout feature. Plus, they come in all sorts of colors to fit your style.

Review: Apple AirPods Max 2

TV deals

Last year’s flagship OLED TV from LG offers a gallery-inspired design for showing off your art from your favorite painters and photographers or your own work. You’ll also get signature OLED picture quality, virtual surround sound with Dolby Atmos, and a dedicated Filmmaker Mode for streaming movies and shows as they were meant to be seen.

More: LG G6 vs. LG G5

The Hisense U8QG is an excellent mid-range Mini LED TV that offers crisp 4K resolution, bold colors, and sharp contrast. The native 165Hz refresh rate gives you ultra-smooth motion for live sports, movies, and video games and can be boosted to 288Hz with support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro VRR.

Review: Hisense U8QG

The TCL QM8K is one of our favorite Mini LED TVs, offering built-in voice controls, a maximum brightness of 5,000 nits, 3,800 dimming zones for ultra-sharp contrast, and a 144Hz refresh rate for live sports, action movies and shows, and console gaming.

Review: TCL QM8K

Last year’s flagship OLED from LG still offers plenty of punch with signature picture quality, support for both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, a 144Hz refresh rate, and support for both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium VRR.

Review: LG C5 OLED

Samsung’s flagship QLED TV offers virtual surround sound via both Dolby Atmos and object-tracking sound for immersive audio that follows the on-screen action. It also supports cloud gaming via Xbox GamePass so you can play your favorite titles without a console. And with a 165Hz refresh rate, you’ll get smooth motion for movies and live sports as well.

Review: Samsung QN90F QLED

While a generation behind, the Samsung S95F still has a lot to offer with excellent OLED picture quality, object-tracking sound, a 120Hz refresh rate, and AMD FreeSync Premium VRR support for console gaming.

Review: Samsung S95F OLED

Laptop deals

The M5 MacBook Air improves on its predecessor with more base memory, more base storage (that’s faster) and better battery life. The M5 Air just came out this spring, but we’re already seeing $150 off, making a fantastic buy on the latest and greatest in Apple’s thin and light laptop lineup.

Armed with 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core 5 CPU, the Vivobook is an affordable PC that’s actually thin and light (3.09 pounds) and packing a nice display.

We went hands-on with several of HP’s EliteBook 6 models, and called out their solid performance relative to price, especially as work devices. This EliteBook 6 with an AMD Ryzen 5 220 processor brings fast, efficient horsepower to multitasking, working with large datasets, and staying mobile, with up to 14 hours of battery on one charge.

The 13th-generation X1 Carbon features an Intel Core Ultra 7 255U processor, 16GB of RAM, and a full 2TB of storage, making it a fantastic work machine. It’s currently $500 off the regular price as Lenovo makes room for newer models, but still absolutely a competitive machine in 2026.

Looking for a gaming laptop that can run triple A titles on max graphics? Acer’s 16-inch Predator Helios is a beast with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (with 24GB of Vram) and 32GB of memory.

Phone deals

New units of the iPhone 17 Pro Max appear to be widely sold out, but refurbished devices are readily available. Best Buy has one of the better deals, slashing the price by more than $400.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max delivers elite performance that few smartphones can match. Like the iPhone 17 Pro, it features a smooth 120Hz ProMotion OLED display and durable titanium construction. Still, the Pro Max stands out with its larger 6.9-inch screen and better battery life, rated for up to 39 hours of video playback on a single charge.

Review: iPhone 17 Pro Max

The iPhone 16e is a solid midrange device that delivers much of the core iPhone 16 experience. It houses a vibrant 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display inside a lightweight design. Powered by the A18 chipset, the phone supports the company’s full suite of Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools and a “smarter” version of Siri. It’s a budget buy, and it just got a bit cheaper.

Also: I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro with the 16e for a month – here’s my buying advice now

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is as premium as a foldable phone can get. Like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, this device runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, providing flagship-level performance. Mobile expert Cesar Cadenas says the outer screen measures 6.5 inches and works well for everyday usage.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Expert Cesar Cadenas says Motorola’s 2025 Razr Ultra is one of the most visually striking smartphones on the market. “On the outside, the phone has a 4-inch pOLED screen that lets you message contacts, control media, and interact with useful widgets. The inner screen is a bright, AMOLED screen with a crease so subtle it’s practically invisible. It’s not just the displays that are impressive,” Cadenas says.

Motorola currently has a great deal on the Razr Ultra. Not only is the 1TB model on sale for $700, but buyers also receive the Moto Buds 2 Plus for free.

The Google Pixel 10 may be the entry-level model in the lineup, but phone expert Cesar Cadenas says it’s arguably one of the best, providing high-end hardware at a more accessible price.

Powered by the same Tensor G5 chipset as the previous entry, the Pixel 10 offers fast performance, improved battery efficiency, and deep Gemini AI integration across the device. On the camera side, the smartphone features a triple-lens system, including a new 5x telephoto lens capable of up to 20x Super Res Zoom. Because it’s part of Google’s latest generation of phones, the Pixel 10 also supports Pixelsnap magnetic accessories and Qi2 wireless charging.

Also: Why Google’s best Pixel 10 announcement yesterday was an iPhone feature – and I don’t mind

Kitchen and home deals

Our smart home reviewer said the Skylight Calendar smart display has had a significant impact on keeping track of her family’s events, meetings, and even household tasks.

Also: Skylight Calendar: Review

While these 10% savings aren’t the strongest, the GE Profile nugget ice maker is a favorite appliance of ZDNET contributor Artie Beaty. He says this machine is worth the investment if you’re particular about your at-home ice.

Also: I tested a ‘luxury’ ice maker

Our smart home expert Maria Diaz has tested several Ring doorbells for their ease and function, and the latest Doorbell Plus is on sale for 33% off.

The best price we’ve seen the Ninja Creami sell for is $279 around Black Friday, but this $292 offer isn’t too shabby ahead of the summer season. Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome said she loves hers to make frosty treats for her kiddos.

Also: I can’t stop talking about the Ninja Creami Swirl

This year, Memorial Day is on Monday, May 25, 2026. It is a US federal holiday and observed on the last Monday in May annually. It also traditionally marks the unofficial start of summer.

ZDNET only writes about deals that capture our own interest — devices and products we want, need, or would recommend not only to our readers, but to friends and family. Our experts look for deals at least 20% off (or hardly ever on sale), using established price-comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually worth your time.

We also examine customer reviews and rely on our own hands-on experience with new tech to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products we’re recommending. The goal is to deliver the most accurate advice and to make you aware of price drops so you can shop smarter.

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Kristina Dawson

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Recent Reviews

Timberwolves game 3 win vs. Nuggets showed team at playoff best

If Game Two of their first-round playoff series with the Denver Nuggets saved the 2025-26 season for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Game Three showed why it should be saved.

The Timberwolves were a different beast while decisively thumping the Nuggets, 113-96 Thursday night at Target Center, in a game that wasn’t nearly that close. These Wolves were the mythical creature we’d heard about in preseason lore, purposefully locked and loaded to be both marauding and staunch. They owned both ends of the court, gleefully transferring back and forth from irresistible force to immovable object.

A quartet of Timberwolves deserve special mention, but it begins with Jaden McDaniels. After his team had toppled Denver to even the series at a game apiece Monday night, McDaniels used the sizable chip on his shoulder to etch some graffiti into the public discourse, casually castigating the most prominent Nuggets players by name as “bad defenders” in a matter-of-fact manner that had the media compelling him to confirm what he had just said.

Trash talk is fleetingly fungible in the jaundiced social environment of 2026, functioning more like coupons than currency in that it needs to be rapidly leveraged before its expiration date. The common perception naturally was that McDaniels was calling out the Nuggets. But in a more subtle, profound way, he was also putting his teammates on notice.

All season long the Timberwolves have procrastinated on their full potential, frequently demonstrating that their preseason talk about maturity and commitment was cheap. By contrast, those words uttered by McDaniels were expensive. He had just picked a fight with the opponent, leaving open the question of how many of his teammates would join him in the fray.

That he would lead the charge was established early, after the Timberwolves’ top two scorers, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, had each missed a pair of open looks against Denver’s bad defenders in the game’s first 90 seconds.

With the game still scoreless, the NBA’s best pick-and-roll combo, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, were clustered around the foul line with Minnesota’s best defenders, McDaniels and Rudy Gobert. As they jammed up Jokic, McDaniels picked the ball loose and started sprint-dribbling the other way. To no one’s surprise, Donte “Ragu” DiVincenzo was also on his horse in transition, receiving a pass from McDaniels and then lobbing it back for a Jaden slam against a hapless Murray and Murray’s late-arriving teammate, Cam Johnson, who committed the foul that allowed McDaniels to finish with the “and-1” free throw.

On the Timberwolves next offensive possession, McDaniels muscled his way to two offensive rebounds, feeding Ragu off the first one for a missed three-pointer, which he corralled for the second one and executed the putback in traffic. It was McDaniels 5, Nuggets 0, setting the tone for a game in which not only did the Wolves never trail, but never let the lead go under double digits after McDaniels made a consecutive pair of driving layups eight minutes into the game.

“Spectacular. I thought his activity offensively in the first quarter was outstanding,” said Wolves coach Chris Finch after the game. “He was inspirational.”

Among the most inspired were McDaniels fellow wing players, Ragu and Ayo Dosunmu. Ragu is exactly the kind of player who will have your back in a squabble, and his galvanized performance seemed borne of satisfaction that someone else had clarified the mission. As usual, the Timberwolves were at their best with him on the court: +20 in the 32:54 he played, -3 in the 15:06 he sat.

“He makes so many hustle plays, momentum plays, different styles of plays.” Finch raved. “He’ll make a shot, get a transition bucket, he’ll rebound, get a steal, blow something up. So many different plays. He’s just a basketball player.”

Related: How the Timberwolves sparked a season-saving Game 2 comeback over the Nuggets in Denver

Then there was Ayo, whose fearless, blazing, bee-lines for the bucket were quicksilver kryptonite for a Nuggets defense that is neither swift nor rugged. “I’ve been waiting for him to wake up a little bit in this series,” Finch accurately observed. “The downhill mindset that he played with all season for us was back.”

Back with the sort of multipurpose propulsion that leaves witnesses with giddy whiplash. Ayo led the team with 25 points and 9 assists in 32 minutes of time-lapse hoops, the lone blemish being three clanks from long range. Why chuck treys when you can so easily undress players in the paint? Ayo was 10-for-12 on two-pointers and none of those dozen shots came from anywhere but beneath the rim. Five of his nine dimes likewise yielded layups or dunks, which means he personally accounted for 30 of the 68 points in the paint by the Timberwolves on Thursday, doubling up the Nuggets’ 34.

Which brings us to the non-wing in Game 3’s ring of honor, Rudy Gobert. For the third straight game, Gobert blunted the supposed advantage Denver had with the magical playmaker Nikola Jokic at the controls. Suffice to say that in the last five quarters, Jokic has shot 8-for-33 from the floor. If that continues, the Nuggets are toast in this series.

When I asked Finch after the game if the herculean job Gobert was doing on Jokic made planning his defense simpler and better thus far, he replied, “Rudy is making all of us look good right now with his defense.”

Amen.

If there is an asterisk on this game, it would be the absence of Denver’s brutishly versatile power forward Aaron Gordon. Nuggets coach David Adelman should be given a lot of credit for his honesty and transparency in dealing with the media during his first full season at the helm, but it came back to bite him and his team during the pregame presser, when he was clearly rattled and dejected by the sudden unavailability of Gordon, whose playing status went to “probable” to “out” in a period of a few hours due to a chronic calf strain.

Gordon is far and away his team’s best defender, making the timing of his injury especially troublesome in the wake of McDaniels laying down his marker. Rattled is a good way to describe the entire team’s performance in the first quarter, an emotional wounding that needs to heal as fast as Gordon’s body if the Nuggets are going to be competitive in a series that had dramatically been flipped on its head over the past three days.

That the Timberwolves played with such dominance despite mediocre outings from Ant and Randle would be a good thing for both of those current cornerstones to keep in mind. Ant was beset by foul trouble and Randle had a solid second quarter, but it stood out that neither player fully embraced what so often works on offense when the Wolves are at their best: Push the pace, move the ball, move without the ball, and make quick decisions. Ant and Randle can still be first among equals and blend into that catechism if they stay attuned to the possibilities of a greater good, one that all of sudden doesn’t have to end with them being postseason fodder for the Spurs or the Thunder.

Not when you’ve got three wings at a collective peak, with a chaser of Rudy semi-clowning the Joker.

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