Black Friday external hard drive deals 2023: The best discounts on SSDs and HDDs

The holiday season has begun in earnest, and the clock is ticking on your gift-giving obligations. While I'm sure the list for what you want rolls out the door and down the street, coming up with ideas for others is tough. That's where I come in, with my personal picks and a rock-solid who's-who of the hardware, peripherals, and games that every gamer worth their thumbs wants.

From Nintendo’s triumphant follow-up to Breath of the Wild to the hot pink perfection of Barbie and so much more, 2023 has been a landmark year for games and entertainment. Indeed, IGN has labeled 16 games, movies and TV shows a masterpiece over the past 12 months, with countless more worthy of your time and money. Admittedly, it’s also been a year of polar opposites, and Skull Island: Rise of Kong wasn’t the only stinker to receive a bad score (I’m looking at you, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey). The games industry suffered a huge number of lay-offs too, and Hollywood strikes put release calendars on hold as screenwriters and actors fought for better working conditions.

Another weekend means another batch of streaming recommendations, and there's plenty of variety to choose from this week. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali star in new Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind, while Todd Haynes' May December, which is already generating Oscar buzz for actor Charles Melton, has made its way to the UK via Sky Cinema. If you're in the mood for something a little more festive and lighthearted, try animated movie Merry Little Batman or Christmas rom-com Your Christmas or Mine 2, both on Prime Video.

Update: It's now Cyber Monday, which means new deals and more opportunities to grab a bargain. As before, we'll be updating this page throughout the day to highlight the best discounts available at retail.

There is a moment near the end of Prime Video’s new Christmas movie Candy Cane Lane that will now be seared into my brain every time I look at Christmas tree decorations. Evil elf Pepper (Jillian Bell) pulls a spherical glass ornament out of her pocket and takes a big chomp out of it like it’s an apple. There’s this chilling crunch noise as she continues to chew, the exact opposite of a soothing ASMR effect.

You can add a disc drive to the PS5 Slim Digital.

We've given the nod to the Razer DeathAdder V3 as our best gaming mouse, but if it was my money looking for a gaming mouse this Black Friday? I've just never had a Logitech mouse let me down. Every non-Logi rodent I've laid my grubby fingers on has given up the ghost sooner than I'd have liked, while my clickers from the big L have managed five years or more. It also doesn't hurt that there are some killer deals out there, especially on the gamer-friendly G502 line.

I hate to say this, but PS5 controller deals have been completely weak sauce this Black Friday. 

By Alienware's standards, the Alienware m16 with RTX 4090 graphics for $2,599 in their Black Friday sale is a bit of a steal (note that you'll need to hit the «RTX 4090» option to upgrade from the base configuration that's linked here). After all, we're used to seeing their high-end models go for $3,000 to $4,000 or more.

Hello, it's me, the guy who's constantly banging on about tabletop roleplaying games on a website that's supposed to be about PCs. If you thought Black Friday was going to stop me, you were sorely mistaken: I've been digging up D&D and other TTRPG deals like some sort of polyhedral dice-obsessed badger, and I've got the very best ready for your waiting eyes. 

I've been wading through all the Black Friday deals guides, and have picked out the very best stocking fillers for under $50. Why? Because I feel your pain.

Alienware x14 R2 | 14-inch | QHD+ 165Hz | RTX 4060 |Core i7 13620H  | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB | $1,899.99$1,399.99 at Alienware (save $500) The world's thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop they say. It's certainly far cheaper than Razer's 14-inch Blade, with comes in $600 higher with the same GPU. A very slick little machine for portable gaming action.