The payday wishlist – what we'd spend our money on this week (August 25)

LG OLED TV, MSI Cyborg laptop, Fire TV Stick 4K Max and major kitchen appliances on a green background
(Image credit: Future)

Another week, and we're another step closer to this year's Labor Day sales. In fact, a greater number of retailers have now launched their sales for the upcoming holiday weekend, which is where I've taken the majority of this week's Payday Wishlist picks.

Read on for some excellent value laptops, TVs, mattresses, and appliances you can grab before the big day is even here. There's no reason to wait when terrific deals are up for grabs today, right? Plus, there's a return of an old favorite if it passed you by last time.

Enjoy!

1. MSI Cyborg

Even though I'm in the camp that prefers a souped-up desktop when it comes to PC gaming, I can definitely see the benefit of a gaming laptop for that added freedom and flexibility. They can be very expensive, though. It's a good job, then, that fellow deals editor Alex Whitelock has spotted this excellent value for money MSI Cyborg at Best Buy.

Why does he think it's one of the best gaming laptop deals? Well, it's simply the cheapest gaming laptop we've ever seen to feature the relatively new RTX 4050 graphics card - a powerful component that's perfect for the budget-conscious gamer. 

It's not a super high-end device, but you get great bang for your buck as machines with this card usually cost $900 or more. There's enough performance to play the majority of recent games smoothly at high settings.

MSI Cyborg 15.6-inch gaming laptop:$999

MSI Cyborg 15.6-inch gaming laptop: was $999 now $699.99 at Best Buy
Boom - here we go folks. This is the cheapest gaming laptop deal we've ever seen to feature a new RTX 4050 graphics card. At the original sales price of $799, this MSI Cyborg was already a bargain but this whopping $300 price cut makes it even better. Alongside that speedy RTX 4050, you also get a respectable 12th gen Intel Core i5 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

2. LG A2 OLED TV

OLED TVs contain some of the best technology on the market, so you can get a premium viewing experience at home. That's great. The costs can be eyewatering. That's bad. So, when you can pick one up for half price – and for considerably less than $1,000 – then we call that a bargain.

That's exactly what you get with this LG A2 48-inch OLED TV at Best Buy. It was available for $80 less during last year's Black Friday, but it's still a steal for the display that sits as the top budget OLED in our guide to the best OLED TVs thanks to its vivid colors, rich blacks, and solid overall picture quality.

A quick word of warning: it is one to avoid if you want to use it for gaming on current-gen consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The A2 lacks some key gaming features in more expensive OLED TVs. Keep an eye on our Labor Day TV sales guide as we expect more deals will be available very suit that will better suit your needs.

LG A2 48-inch OLED TV: $1,299.99  $649.99 at Best Buy

LG A2 48-inch OLED TV: was $1,299.99 now $649.99 at Best Buy
Best Buy has a huge 50% discount on the 48-inch LG A2 OLED. At $649.99, it's just $80 shy of the previous record-low price, but still excellent value for money for a TV of this size and specifications - and it's currently unavailable at most other major retailers. Named as one of our best OLED TVs and rated four out of five stars in our LG A2 review, it packs an Alpha α7 Gen5 processor that delivers sharp images and great upscaling from HDR, and Dolby Vision HDR support makes the most of movies and TV. LG's smart software is also excellent, and the included Magic remote allows you to navigate your TV seamlessly.

3. Casper mattress

I personally took the plunge and upgraded to a hybrid mattress a couple of years ago and honestly think it was one of the best decisions I made to improve my comfort during sleep. And as we're in the thick of the Labor Day mattress sales season, there's naturally a whole bunch of manufacturers slashing the prices of their bedding and sleep gear.

One such place is Casper, which now has 20% off a number of different mattresses for its pre-Labor Day sale. Our sleep editor, Jim, has picked out the Snow in particular as it's one of the best mattresses in the business at an affordable price if you're a hot sleeper who needs a cooling mattress. 

Casper Snow mattress: $1,495 $1,196 at Casper

Casper Snow mattress: was $1,495 now from $1,196 at Casper
This isn't the biggest discount we've seen on the Snow – there was 25% off for the 4th of July – but this is still a good price for Casper's more affordable cooling hybrid mattress. Particularly because, unlike most sleep brands, Casper doesn't have sales all year round. The Snow has cooling features including HeatDelete Bands, phase change material and a CoolTouch cover, and it's available in a queen size for $1,596.

4. Best Buy Labor Day appliances sale

It's the week before the Labor Day weekend, but Best Buy isn't interested in waiting around for the big day itself and has already launched its huge appliances sale for the year. 

This is always one of the main draws of the retailer's sale, and this year looks no different as there's up to a whopping 40% off major appliances. On top of that, you can get up to 30% extra off specific manufacturer bundles, a $200 Best Buy gift card with select refrigerators, and free shipping on purchases over $399.

And that's just the start. We expect the full Best Buy Labor Day sale will get underway towards the end of next week, and we'll be on hand to share all the best deals as soon as they go live.

Best Buy appliances sale: save up to 40% on select major appliances

Best Buy appliances sale: save up to 40% on select major appliances
Best Buy's Labor Day appliance sale is now live with savings of up to 40% off a vast number of major appliances. The retailer offers up to $3,100 off washers and dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and microwaves from all the top brands including LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, GE, and more. You can also save an extra 30% on select bundles. Shipping is free on all orders over $399 - saving you another $99 - and financing options are available to help spread the cost if needed.

5. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Wait a minute, wasn't this on last week's Payday Wishlist? Yes, good eye (and thank you for being a return visitor).

I did want to bring this one up again, though, as it is an excellent price for the retailer's popular and most powerful streaming stick. In fact, it's the lowest it's ever been for non-Prime members and only loses out to the deal over Amazon Prime Day by $2.

Snap it up while you can, and check out the full Amazon Labor Day sale for even more offers on Amazon devices, headphones, TVs, and more.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max: $54.99$26.99 at Amazon

Fire TV Stick 4K Max: was $54.99 now $26.99 at Amazon
This is the lowest price we've seen for Amazon's premium streaming device for non-Prime members. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max streams the same content in the same quality as the standard 4K version, but the extra power inside means faster performance when navigating apps. Plus, it uses WiFi 6 technology to give you a more stable and consistent streaming experience.

James Pickard
Senior Deals Editor

James Pickard is a Deals Editor at TechRadar. After many years of scouring the net for the cheapest games and tech for his personal use, he decided to make it his job to share all the best bargains and coupon codes with you. James also has almost a decade of experience covering some of the biggest sales events of the year at Eurogamer and VG247, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day. When not deals hunting or stacking coupon codes to get the biggest savings, James can be found on the PS5, watching a classic film noir or cheering on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.