I Never Travel Without My Kindle: Amazon’s eReader Deals Make Ideal Christmas Gifts

While I’ve traveled with various laptops, including some slick 14-inch models featuring stunning OLED displays, reading entire books on them never feels quite right. That’s why I tend to pack my Kindle Paperwhite whenever I hit the road. This nifty device offers a whopping amount of reading material, and thanks to its battery life that lasts a whole month, I’ve never had to worry about it dying on me unexpectedly.

Amazon, refusing to rest on its laurels, has stepped up its game. The 7-inch Paperwhite now boasts a battery life of about 12 weeks (yes, really), while the 6-inch ‘New Kindle’ also impresses with up to 6 weeks.

At the moment, you can grab the latest Kindle Paperwhite for $129.99 directly from Amazon. It’s a bit pricier than the ‘New Kindle’ at $84.99, but it remains my top pick. Amazon has also sped up the screen for quicker page turns, addressing the one major complaint about its predecessor. And if you’ve never tried an eReader, there’s a sweet deal on offer—Amazon provides a 3-month free trial of Kindle Unlimited, giving you instant access to over 4 million books, along with magazines, comics, and audiobooks.

Microsoft could take a page from Amazon’s book

Despite being overshadowed by its book-loving siblings, the Kindle Scribe from Amazon brought a transformative change to our Editor-in-Chief’s workflow. With its Paperwhite-style E-ink touchscreen, Daniel Rubino had high praise: "Beyond being the best Kindle I’ve owned just due to the size of the display, the ‘Scribe’ functionality has been a revelation at work. It’s the kind of technology I would have loved in graduate school, and it’s a gem for both students and office workers."

If you’re hesitant about purchasing a Kindle on Black Friday, why not give the Amazon Kindle desktop app a spin on your Windows device? It’s free, and the Kindle store is packed with complimentary books to sample, so you’ll get a true sense of what reading on their eReaders feels like.

The most striking feature you’ll appreciate about owning a Kindle, especially the Paperwhite, is its incredible battery life, which far surpasses practically any Windows laptop. Not even Windows on Arm devices, such as the Surface Pro 11, can compete with a Kindle’s endurance. However, a Surface offers a much wider array of functionalities than Amazon’s eReaders.

Still, there’s no harm in experimenting with the Kindle app before you make any purchases. In the end, I’d advocate for the Kindle Paperwhite at $129.99 simply because my fiancée and I never travel without ours, safe in the knowledge that we won’t need to worry about recharging it for ages.

Waiting for Cyber Monday? When it comes to a Kindle, it might not be worth holding out. Amazon isn’t likely to undercut its own Black Friday prices. You might even score an extra 20% off by trading in a similar device. So, if you’ve got an older eReader collecting dust, now’s the perfect time to upgrade.

🍁 More enticing Black Friday deals 🦃

• Best Buy: Score big on video games, accessories, and more.
• Walmart: Get early deals on just about everything.
• Target: Enjoy live deals on an extensive range of products.
• Dell: Discover top offers on laptops, gaming PCs, accessories, and more.
• HP: Save big on laptops, desktops, accessories, and more.
• Lenovo: Don’t miss doorbuster deals on Lenovo PCs, monitors, accessories, and more.
• Newegg: Great savings on PC gaming accessories, components, and more.
• Razer: Limited time free shipping offer.
• Samsung: Holiday deals on laptops, TVs, phones, and more.
• Amazon: Never-ending sales on absolutely everything you can think of.