To be honest, when I wrote about Black Friday Meta Quest deals yesterday, I had no idea that Best Buy was about to make every other retailer look bad with an incredible offer of its own. Live and learn, right?
As of this morning, if you buy the Meta Quest 3S 128GB during the holiday sale Best Buy will give you $50 off the price along with a free copy of The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, three months of Meta Horizon Plus, AND a free $50 gift card to spend on anything you’d like. All things said and done, you’re looking at $144 of total savings. Considering that the Meta Quest 3S was already the most approachable headset on the market, this deal presents an incredible opportunity for anyone who’s ready to dip their toes into VR gaming. Why wait for Black Friday?
Of course, I’m still eagerly waiting for a Black Friday discount on the standard Meta Quest 3, but this deal is the next best thing. The affordable Meta Quest 3S boasts the same graphical processing power as its more-expensive big sibling, plus you get slightly better battery life, an improved facial interface for added comfort, and some upgraded low light tracking capabilities. Both VR headsets also share the same Snapdragon chipset and 8GB of RAM, and you’ll have access to the same library of games.
The regular Meta Quest 3 is still better than the Quest 3S in a few areas, namely resolution and FOV. The standard model also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack (which the Quest 3S lacks), and the Quest 3’s pancake lenses generally offer a more next-gen experience than the 3S’ Fresnel lens design.
You could compare the Quest 3S vs the Quest 3 until you’re blue in the face, but in my opinion, it all comes down to price. If you’re new to VR gaming or shopping for someone else this holiday season, I’d argue that the Quest 3S offers much more bang for the buck. Add on $144 of savings and purchasing the affordable headset becomes a no-brainer.
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