The best early Prime Day 2023 deals: TVs, game streaming, and more

You don’t need to wait until Prime Day 2023 on July 11 to access some great deals. Several products — mostly Amazon-made tech — are already discounted for Prime subscribers ahead of the main event happening in mid July. The highlights include deals on numerous Fire TV models, the Luna controller for its cloud gaming platform, and some neat smart home accessories, too. Some of the deals are available on an invite-only basis, while others are up for grabs right now.

We’ll be keeping tabs ahead of Prime Day to make sure this post is up to date. Then, come July 11 through July 12, you can expect us to bring you all the best deals in gaming and other associated nerdery.

Image: Amazon

Like Google Stadia (R.I.P.), Amazon’s Luna cloud game streaming lets you play games over the internet — no console required. All you need is a stable internet connection to play, a controller, and a compatible device for the service to function on.

Numerous controllers are supported, but you may want to buy this official Luna controller paired since it comes with a month of Luna+ for just $39.99 ahead of Prime Day. Normally, the controller by itself is $69.99, and the service costs $9.99 per month. Plus, Amazon claims that the latency of its Luna controller is far better than controllers connected via Bluetooth because it connects to Wi-Fi instead.

Luna is compatible with a broad range of devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Fire TV, and even Amazon Fire tablets (your save data will follow you across devices, too). Prime members automatically get access to a number of titles, including Fortnite, at no additional charge. Signing up for Luna+ will grant you access to a larger library of games to choose from (the game catalog is listed here). Other subscription plans for Jackbox Games and Ubisoft+ are also available for an additional fee if you want to expand your Luna catalog even further.

Amazon is currently discounting a limited series of Star Wars-themed stands that are compatible with its 4th and 5th generation Echo Dot. Usually available for $39.99, you can pick up the cleverly designed holsters for $29.99 each. These are available on an invite-only basis, so if you’re interested, request an invite and perhaps you’ll be picked to buy one come Prime Day.

These plastic busts are modeled after the visage of Darth Vader, Mando, and the Imperial Stormtrooper. All of them feature a spot on the back for routing the speaker’s power cable through, and translucent eyes that glow blue when your Echo Dot is activated by voice. Note: the stand doesn’t include the speaker, though you should expect to see the cost of the $49.99 5th generation Echo Dot to come down before or during Prime Day.

While Amazon has yet to make an olive green Echo Dot, Otterbox makes a $27.99 stand modeled after Grogu if your Mandalorian Echo Dot needs a sidekick.

Limited Edition Star Wars Echo Dot Stands

Prices taken at time of publishing.

These stands for the fourth and fifth generation Echo Dot and are modeled after Darth Vader, Din Djarin, and the Imperial Stormtrooper. While the stand is a purely cosmetic addition to the smart home device, the translucent eyes will glow whenever the Dot is activated.

Prime Day is also a great opportunity to grab an Amazon Fire TV television for well below the usual cost. Currently, several models are available at a deep discount. The few we’d recommend looking into are the 65-inch QLED Series Amazon Fire TV, the 55-inch 4-series Smart TV, and the 43-inch Omni series, all of which are 4K sets.

Starting with the priciest model first, the 65-inch QLED series is the flagship model for Amazon’s Fire TV lineup and is on sale for $599.99 (normally $799.99) ahead of Prime Day. The QLED series features a 4K quantum dot display with Dolby Vision IQ and HDR 10+ Adaptive technology for contrast-rich picture quality, no matter what you’re watching. Just like other Fire TV models, the QLED series supports Alexa voice-enabled functionality. Cleverly, it doesn’t need a remote to respond to voice commands, allowing for true hands-free playback control.

You’ll need to pay more (and look outside of Amazon’s offerings) to find gamer-centric features like AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync compatibility. But, for everything else, the QLED series represents a solid value, especially at this price.

Another solid 4K option that supports HDR10 and Dolby Digital Plus is the 43-inch Omni series Fire TV, which is currently on sale for $99.99 (normally $399.99). That’s no typo. However, this model is available at its discounted price by invitation only, which means the model will only be available in limited quantities on Prime Day, but Prime members can request an invitation now for first dibs when the sale goes live.

Honestly, if you just need a somewhat large, 4K-ready screen with a 60 Hz refresh rate, the UHD Omni series is a great option for just $100. The Omni series also has the added benefit of hands-free Alexa voice controls, unlike the 4-series which requires a remote.

Amazon’s 55-inch 4-series Fire TV is discounted to $379.99 instead of its usual $519.99. While it doesn’t have the same QLED display as more expensive models for lifelike contrast, the 4-series supports 4K HDR10 playback and Dolby Digital Plus for a vibrant picture and audio. Like the other TV options, the 4-series features built-in Alexa functionality but only supports voice controls via the included remote, in case that matters to you.

Amazon is accepting invites to be able to purchase this Acer Swift X on Prime Day. While not a gaming laptop, per se, its Ryzen 7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti should be able to run a fair amount of games at medium settings. If you get an invitation to purchase it on Prime Day, it’ll cost you just $629.99, a great price for what you’re getting. Whether you to plan to game or not, it’s a compact 14-inch laptop that seems great for all sorts of tasks.

All of Amazon’s streaming devices are also enjoying a significant discount. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick, is currently available for $24.99 (normally $54.99), while the standard 4K Fire TV Stick is on sale for $22.99 instead of $49.99. The Fire TV Cube is also on sale for $109.99, knocking $30 off the standard price.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the best choice for most people, offering several benefits over its closest Roku counterpart, the Roku Stick 4K Plus. The 4K Max features Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, Dolby Atmos compatibility, and has Amazon Luna, Amazon’s cloud gaming service, baked into the OS. To top it all off, the current discount on the 4K Max makes it less expensive than its closest cousin from Roku.

The standard Fire TV Stick 4K offers many of the same benefits as the 4K Max but at a slightly reduced price point. You’ll get the same picture quality here, plus a capable voice remote, but it has a slightly slower processor, and only supports Wi-Fi 5, if that matters to you.

Finally, the ominously named Fire TV Cube is equipped with the most powerful processor of the bunch, and offers the same visual and audio quality as its smaller counterparts. However, the key difference with the Fire TV Cube is that it’s equipped with an always-on microphone that allows for hands-free voice control alongside all the usual skills you’d find in the Echo Dot. It can double as a speaker, too.

Update (July 6): Added three deals for Amazon Fire TV devices.