What to buy in August

Back-to-school shopping is in full swing. It will run through mid- to late September, and you’ll probably be seeing deals on all the tech devices you’ll need, whether that’s laptops, computers,
printers, or wireless routers.

A good approach when you’re shopping for back-to- school items is to not try to find everything at once.

Consumer Reports tracks the prices of many of its top tested products all year long, so it knows exactly when they go on deep discount. 

Here are the ones to look out for in this month’s Best Time to Buy.

First up on deep discount are computers. CR found the Mac Mini for $649 at Amazon. 

It shows fast speeds in CR’s performance tests and scores well in owner satisfaction.

Next, strengthen your connection and make it more secure by upgrading your router. 

The Netgear Orbi Mesh Router System is $97 at Amazon. CR says it scored very good for mid- and far-range distances in its tests.

Another item that can go a long way this school year is a tablet. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Tablet is $530 at Amazon.

And finally, you can at least try to keep that college dorm room clean with a robotic vacuum.

The Eufy RoboVac is $220 at Amazon. 

CR says this extremely quiet model excelled at cleaning and navigating in a specially designed test laboratory. 

Vacuums in general tend to go on sale throughout the year, so you should never pay full price.

Consumer Reports says to keep in mind that the deals included in this report can be gone before you know it, so you should take advantage of a sale early, especially on popular products.

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