13 bargains under $13 to improve your tech life — the best cheap tech you can grab this Black Friday

A full 1-meter (3.3FT) USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable that supports up to 100W is always useful. But this retractable cable from Baseus keeps things neat and tidy. Throw it in your bag and don't worry about untangling a mess of wires while commuting. It is ready when you need it.

A two-pack of USB Type-C to USB Type-C cables with a 90-degree angle plug is not something I am initially excited about. But make it coiled, and I am very happy. Why? Because coiled, it takes up 1.3ft; uncoiled, I get 3.3ft! Oh, and it supports PD 3.0 fast charging up to 60W, so I can use it with my phones, tablets and even my laptop. It supports USB 2 only, which is a bit slow, but this is more of a charging / peripheral cable than fast external storage. I used to recommend the single pack for $9, but a two-pack for $10 is a steal!

This nine-pack of HDMI adapters will live in your junk drawer until called upon to save the day. These are one of those "I may need these one day" purchases that often live in a box / bag / drawer for that fateful day.

This keyboard cleaning kit comes with an excellent array of tiny tools to help pick dirt, grime, and anything else you can think of. All of the tools are housed in a neat multi-tool arrangement, and you get tools to remove dirt and detritus from every aspect of your digital devices. Key cap puller, brushes, lens cleaning, a spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol, metal pins to remove earwax from headphones, and a sponge to keep grease marks off your screen.

This small kit has everything you need to get started with your first / next PC build. You get a precision screwdriver with 48 different bits (slot, Phillips, Pozidrive, Petalobe, Tork, Stand-off driver, Gamebit (for Nintendo consoles), Torx / Torx security, and many others. You also get spudgers and pry tools, tweezers, a brush, and a magnetizer/demagnetizer for your screwdriver bits.

Right now, it is available in blue or orange. Prusa fans may opt for the orange; in fact, I probably will, so that I can easily spot it on my cluttered desk.

Its not on sale, but this is a steal!

Coming third in our best thermal paste guide, this is an excellent thermal paste.

In our review, we noted that it has excellent thermal performance and great stability. This paste is easy to use and clean up when reapplication is required.

No gimmicks, no fuss, this GPU support brace will stop your GPU from sagging and breaking your expensive gaming rig. Yes, you could just use some Lego or a Nokia 3310 to support your GPU, but this brace is made for the job!

Need a cheap, effective way to keep a bunch of NVMe SSDs cool? This Arctic deal won't hurt your wallet and will keep your drives cool.

I personally own this reader, and it has been a solid and reliable piece of tech. I've used it to pull images from old Compact Flash cards, and I even used it to read and write files between my PC and an old Psion Series 5a PDA( RIP old friend). With this, you can read microSD, SD, Compact Flash, and Sony Memory Stick cards. Whenever there is a panicked "I've lost the adapter for my camera's memory card" during the holidays, you have what you need to save the day.

A five-port Ethernet switch for less than $10 is a typo, right? Nope. It's not fancy, it's unmanaged, no PoE, and it "only" has Gigabit ports, but when you need a few extra Ethernet ports, this sub $10 switch is a great deal to keep working.

Here's the scenario. You've got an old PC, and it doesn't have Wi-Fi. You don't want to spend a ton of money to give it Wi-Fi. This sub-$10 Wi-Fi 6 USB dongle will give you the Wi-Fi connection you need.

It works without a driver for Windows 10 and 11, and it will most likely work with Linux, but you'll need to take an extra step.

Keep your desk tidy with this simple wall mounted hanger for your headphones and up to two Xbox, PlayStation, Switch or PC gamepads

This headphone stand clips onto your desk so your headphones can hang off the side rather than taking up valuable table real estate.