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The second-gen Apple Pencil returns to its best price of $89

The second-gen Apple Pencil returns to its best price of $89

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A knockoff is cheaper, but the real deal Pencil is much more convenient to use. Plus, more deals on the Eero Pro 6E router, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X / S.

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A person holding both their iPad and second-gen Apple Pencil.
Drawing, doodling, note-taking, or looking cool while you wield your big tablet. The Apple Pencil has many uses.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The latest Apple Pencil is back on sale for its lowest price of $89. You can pick one up, saving $40 in the process, from Amazon, Best Buy, or Walmart. If you have a compatible iPad, then Apple’s second-gen Pencil is the best stylus option for note-taking and drawing. Yes, there are third-party clones out there that can do a lot of what the Pencil offers for much less, but they can’t match Apple’s convenient software integrations with its own accessory — like easily checking its battery level when charging or a fancy hover feature on M2-equipped iPad Pros.

If you have an older iPad or a current 10th-gen iPad, the original Apple Pencil is also on sale for its respectively lowest of $79 ($20 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The first-gen Pencil is a fine stylus, though it remains plagued by awkward charging. You either have to plug it into a Lightning port (if your iPad has one) or use a USB-C adapter. At least that adapter is now bundled with the first-gen Pencil, as it’s necessary for anyone using it with a 10th-gen iPad.

A photo of Apple’s second-gen Apple Pencil being used on an iPad Pro.
$89

The second-gen Apple Pencil ditches the awkward Lightning port charging, adopting a magnetic mechanism that attaches to the side of the latest iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Mini models. It can also recharge while magnetically attached and supports tap gestures.

A first generation Apple Pencil plugged into a 10th gen iPad via the USB-C to lightning adapter and a USB-C cable.
$79

Compatible with the latest entry-level iPad and earlier models, the first-gen Apple Pencil differs from the second in that you need to plug it directly into the iPad’s Lightning port or use a USB-C adapter cable to charge. It also features gesture controls, allowing you to tap the sides of the Pencil to switch tools.

Spring cleaning time may be a good time to clean up your home Wi-Fi network with a nice upgrade. The Eero Pro 6E mesh router is selling for $195 ($54.99 off) at Wellbots when you use code 22VERGE until May 14th. If you have an average-size home or larger apartment, a two-pack that offers more coverage is $311.99 ($88 off) with the same promo code. Lastly, those with very large houses or floor plans that kill Wi-Fi signals can get a three-pack for $428.99 ($121 off) from the same deal.

These are the second-best prices of all time on Eero’s flagship mesh routers, which support 6GHz Wi-Fi for faster speeds on the latest devices with less network traffic for them to compete on. They’re ideal for people with gigabit internet or faster who want a little futureproofing. Read our review.

$195

Eero’s Pro 6E mesh router is the Amazon-owned company’s latest top-of-the-line model. It supports the 6GHz Wi-Fi band with speeds of up to 1.3Gbps and covers up to 2,000 square feet with one unit. Wired speeds can go up to 2.5Gbps. Wellbots is offering a 22 percent discount on the Pro 6E when you use code 22VERGE until May 14th.

Prepaid memberships to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription are on sale right now at Amazon. You can get a one-month prepaid digital voucher for $11.99 ($4 off) or three months for $35.99 ($9 off). We usually cover Game Pass deals from sites like Eneba or CDKeys, sometimes for lower prices, but you don’t always see these solid savings on stackable vouchers at a retailer like Amazon.

A subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gets you access to over 100 games on both Xbox Series X / S consoles and Windows PC, as well as access to Xbox online multiplayer. It includes some classics like the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, critical successes like Hi-Fi Rush, and day-one releases like Redfall. In fact, with Redfall launching tomorrow, you can potentially play it for a full month for just $11.99. Not bad for a AAA game from Arkane Studios Austin.

The Xbox logo
$32

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offers access to more than 100 titles, which you can play on multiple devices. The pass also gives subscribers access to exclusive deals, online multiplayer, and Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming.

For those that game on an Xbox Series X or Series S, Seagate’s Storage Expansion Cards have dropped to a new low price. The plug-in 1TB SSD is now selling for $149.99 ($70 off) at Amazon, Target, and Adorama, and the 2TB version is $279.99 ($120 off) at Amazon and Target. Yes, these are still expensive accessories — especially compared to what standard M.2 SSDs for the PlayStation 5 cost — but it’s the trade-off the current Xbox consoles and their proprietary format made for the sake of convenience. At least these price drops have gotten more aggressive since a leak hinted at a cheaper option from Western Digital coming soon.

A Seagate 1TB Expansion Card plugged into the back of an Xbox Series X console.
$130

Proprietary SSD expansion for the Xbox Series X / S consoles. The plug-and-play drives are designed to be as fast as the Xbox internal SSD and are sold in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations.

Mulling over more Mondeals:

Update May 1st, 6:33PM ET: We’ve updated our original post to note that the fifth-gen Echo Dot is also available with a free smart bulb from Philips Hue.