I asked Amazon's artificial intelligence to show me the Prime Day deals, and thankfully, I'm still better than a robot at this.
" Hey Rufus, show some gaming laptop deals... No, gaming laptops. "
This is my first time using Rufus, an Amazon AI designed to give shoppers sage advice. Most of the time, it's shoppers who have money burning a gap in their pockets but don't know what to do with it. I thought it was a good time to ask Rufus some advice, since we're in the middle of October Prime Day aka Big Deal Days aka Let's Turn on the Money Hose v2.0.
We're just sacks of bones and flesh, spending our precious time on Earth on Amazon, Newegg and Best Buy to find the best deals for PC gamers. Why not hand this task over to an AI that is specifically designed for the job? AI will make everything better -- in one way or another.
Asking Rufus to recommend gaming PC deals
I first asked Rufus about gaming PC deals. It gave me five options, which is great. These are:
- was $1,599.99, now $1,234.99
- was $1,349.99, now $1,099.99
- was $999.99, now $799.99
- was $699.99, now $594.99
- was $799.99, now $679.99
This AI clearly has a thing about iBuyPower. There are only a few PCs available on Amazon right now. I'll show you the one that we saw with our human eyes earlier.
The PCs selected by Rufus do not sing to me. The best ones are fine, but the rest should be avoided.
The two cheaper options are equipped with graphics cards from the last generation. This is a big no-no. The GTX 1650, while still a good card in 2024 and a decent one today, is no longer worth considering. Neither is the RTX 3150. Why settle for anything less when you can get current-gen cards for the same price or less?
We prefer the RTX PCs with the RTX 4060/Ti graphics cards. If you're just talking about the graphics card they're a bit pricey, but you could definitely get an RTX 2060 Ti/Core i7-14700F combo with that kind of cash. I'd still rather have an RTX 4007 Super gaming PC at $1,100.
If you're interested, I'll list some of the ones we've found below.
This is the cheapest RTX 4060 rig you can get, and it's cheap. CyberPowerPC managed to sneak this RTX-4060 Ti build into the price range that is normally reserved for RTX-4060 builds. It comes with a Ryzen 7 8700F which is a decent performer. This RTX-4060 Ti gaming computer has everything you need in an entry-level PC and should perform a lot better than a 4060." data-widget-type="deal" data-render-type="editorial">
We have an RTX Super 4070 build for only $1,100. This is less than most RTX (non-Super), and even many RTX 4600 Ti builds. It's true that the CPU is two generations old and it only has 16GB of DDR4 memory, but these are both significant sacrifices. For a 4070 Super Build at this price? Come on. I'll take it any day. After all, the GPU is a crucial component for gaming. I would add 32 GB of faster memory later on." data-widget-type="deal" data-render-type="editorial">
Asking Rufus about gaming laptop deals
Then I asked for recommendations on the best gaming laptops for Prime Day. It then spit out 5 office laptops without a GPU, which was not very helpful.
I asked again, and this time I was very clear about my desire to see gaminglaptops.
One Alienware M18 R2 is on display: it has an RTX4080, Core i9-14900HX processor, 32 GB of DDR5 memory, a 165 Hz screen, and a 1 TB solid state drive. All for $2300.
It's not bad, but the price is not great compared to other options. I understand that Rufus only shops at Amazon, and recommending a machine from another retailer would be unfair. However, you can get a machine with a similar specification for around $1840 over at Best Buy. There are other models available with better RAM and CPU.
It's like Rufus is playing roulette with the Prime Day offers. He picks one and shoots it. There were a few options when it came to 'Prime Day,' as in the deals for Prime users, but they were limited. It does make me wonder, however, what kind of data the device has access to and whether it can be tweaked to be useful in the near future.
Best Buy has the lowest price on an RTX-4080 laptop we've ever seen. It has a fantastic IPS 240 Hz display, a sleek chassis, and the most important combination of a full fat mobile RTX4080 and the fastest laptop CPU, the Core i913900HX. The only downside is that it has only 16 GB RAM, but this can be upgraded for a reasonable price.
Price check: Newegg $2,218.99
" data-widget-type="deal" data-render-type="editorial">What Rufus did was actually useful
Rufus, Amazon’s deal-sniffing robot, might seem like I’m being rude, but I’m already seeing the benefits. It's a good place to start if you're willing to dig deeper into the deals. If you're totally lost in the world of tech or are out of gift ideas, this is a great place to start.
I'm terrible at giving gifts. I wish I could be one of those people that can pick out the perfect gift, something thoughtful and helpful, for each friend or family member. But I'm definitely not. I'd like to think that I do a great job, but the whole thing stresses me out.
I asked Rufus for help in finding a gift for the PC gamer that I know. You know what? It was a good help.
First, I asked "What is the best gift that I can get a PC Gamer during the Prime Day Sales?"
It replied, "I can find you an awesome gaming present. What are their gaming preferences? Are they interested in PC gaming accessories or upgrades to hardware? For example, "They really like first-person shooters. They have a high-end system."
Before I could respond, it churned up some generic gift suggestions. These included a pink Razer blackwidow V3 keyboard, a Logitech G502 Hero Mouse, and a SteelSeries Arctis 7 headphone. All of these are good choices for PC gamers.
However, the person I am buying for deserves a little bit more. I will elaborate:
"They love World of Warcraft and are big fans of MMOs," I tell Rufus.
It gives me a list of products to check out. I'll add the blurbs that Rufus has written for each product.
- Razer's Naga Trinity Gaming MouseThis mouse features 19 programmable buttons, making it ideal for MMO games such as WoW. It allows easy access to macros and abilities. The interchangeable sideplates provide flexibility.
- Corsair's K95 RGB Platinum keyboard: This keyboard features 6 programmable macro-keys and RGB lighting per key that you can customize to your WoW character or abilities. The Cherry MX Speed switch provides tactile responsiveness.
- Elgato HD60 Pro Game Capture:This device allows them to easily record and stream WoW gameplay at 1080p60. The HD60 Pro captures straight to their PC, without lag.
When I told Rufus about my fictitious PC player's preferred MMO games, I immediately thought of the Razer Naga Mouse.
The Corsair keyboard seemed like an odd choice, but once you consider the macro keys and its ability to connect with World of Warcraft it makes more sense.
Elgato is the odd one out for me. It's interesting for recording gameplay, but I don't think it has much to offer MMO players. I'd probably just ditch this one.
Two out of three isn't bad.
It's actually more like 0 out of 3. Sorry Rufus, these recommendations kinda stink. It's because they are all older models that have been replaced by newer versions. The Naga Trinity was replaced by the Pro V2, and V2 Pro. The K95 has been replaced by the K100. The HD60 Pro is the 4K Pro.
Amazon no longer sells the K95, Naga Trinity or even the Naga Trinity. I have no idea where Rufus gets his data.
I'm not worried that Rufus will trample on PC Gamer’s deal recommendation patch. Rufus is in beta, and not yet ready for Prime time. Will Amazon's bot give you all the information, including possible better deals at competing retailers, someday? I don't think so.
You can find a lot of great PC gaming deals on our October Prime Day page, which is 100% human-made.
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