Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Alicia Satterfield said 8:26AM on 5-17-2007
Both Netflix and Blockbuster take up to four sometimes 5 days to send you a movie and four or five days to receive the movie back before they send you another one.
You pay more than you would renting them at the Video Store.
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Dave said 2:46PM on 10-17-2008
I agree with you, it only makes sense if they are using the same postal service that everyone else is using.
Julie said 8:38AM on 5-17-2007
I LOVE, LOVE Netflix! I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone. I always get my movies fast and I save a ton of money! They have a great movie selection too.
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shzusuziq said 9:04AM on 5-17-2007
I love Netflix. They always get my returns the next day and mail my new movie out that same day. When I moved they even let me put my account "on hold" for no charge! Alicia must live far away from the closest netflix location to wait so long for her movies....
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cyclops said 9:12AM on 5-17-2007
I use Blockbuster. I get my movies in a day or two. I don't have to mail the DVDs back either. You can drop them off at a Blockbuster store. I save tons of money! They have a huge selection of hard to find movies, new releases, games, and TV series. I get free rentals at least once a week. I highly recommend it.
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Michael said 9:38AM on 5-17-2007
I have been a Netflix user for almost 6 months and I have to say that my experience with them has been stellar. I have never had to wait more than three days for a movie, except when the mailing was around a holiday. Most of the time, I get the movie within a day or two. We have so many movies lined up to watch that it will be a long, long time before we run out, so it is worth it for us.
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h said 9:16AM on 5-17-2007
I use Blockbuster online and Love it. I get unlimited rentals 2 at a time for $15 a month. Plus instead of sending them back through the mail if you take them into A store you get a free rental for every movie your sending back. I take my 2 rentals in on Fridays get me 2 free in store rentals and by Monday like clockwork i have my next shipement. I wouldnt consider changing, I m hooked.
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Kelly Engler said 9:49AM on 5-17-2007
I have been using Netflix for almost a year now and absolutely love them. As for the post that said it took 4-5 days to get the movies and then 4-5 days to send it back, I wonder where she lives-the North Pole? I send in the movie, takes about 1 to 2 days for them to get them, then about 1 to 2 days later I get the next movie. In total, it's about 4 days(maximum) in between movies. I can watch two movies a week if I send it back the same day I watch the movie. That's two a week, 8 a month, for $10. Not bad, $1.25 or so a movie! If I'm busy, I pay no late charges and in the past I paid so much for late charges I wasted a huge amount of money and it made me sick. Now I might waste a buck or two if I'm late watching the movie but that's nothing compared to before Netflix.
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sean said 10:30PM on 5-17-2007
had blockbuster online for over 2 years...never had a prob with them....always had about a 2 day turn around for my movies...if i sent out movies on monday i would get new ones on weds.the only thing they did was send me dup movies once in a while...
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Kim said 10:21AM on 5-17-2007
I have no problems with NetFlix infact I live in 100 miles away from a "real" town and it takes 2 days for them to recieve my movies and 2 days for me to recieve movies from them so a total of 4 days. But I get 3 or 4 movies at a time watch one send it back and have a new one by time Im sending another movie back.Unless you sit home and do nothing but watch TV and Movies all day the amount of time it takes the POSTAL service(not netflix) to get you a movie isnt bad
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bwilliams5 said 10:43AM on 5-17-2007
I used to use Blockbuster, but their customer service was the pits! Was paying for the three movie service and getting 1 movie at a time. After complaining for over 2 months, canceled service and now use Netflix. Much better!
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Maureen said 10:56AM on 5-17-2007
I'm in a large town next to a big city and I've seen that Netflix DOES play games by slowing things up. I've mailed the movies back the same day, yet it sometimes takes two additional days for them to get one of them. This has been a problem with them for years.
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Westlake Willy said 11:01AM on 5-17-2007
I subscribe to Blockbuster Online, unlimited rentals 3 at at time. They have an excellent catalogue of hard to find films and classics. I take each mailed one back to the store, they exchange it for any other DVD movie or game in the store and they log my returns in on the spot. Within 1-2 days Blockbuster Online has shipped me my next DVD(s) from my queue and so I have up to 6 DVD's at once. I usually get a brand new release right away, often before it's generally available in-store. I just return their in-store DVD's within their grace period, no late fees, one flat fee. Also, the DVD's I've received by mail as well as in-store have been flawless.
Friends who use Netflix have found Netflix just slows down their delivery if they average more than 3 DVD's a week, as though they were put on "an S-List" at Netflix. Maybe that's what happened to Kelly above...
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Manny S said 11:04AM on 5-17-2007
Blockbusters program is AMAZING! I get movies in 2 to 3 days and much faster if I return them to the store. And I get an additional movie FREE at the store with the one I return. It's an awesome program. I pay for 3 at a time and I get to watch as many as 8 movies per week!!! Amazing! P.S. Great customer service too!
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perki60 said 11:57PM on 5-22-2007
Alicia, many people had the movies coming slow like you did. They found out the mailmen were enjoying them first. Now they are required to immediately put them in a metal box. Complain to Netflix and they will monitor your account. Mine now come every couple of days. I love Netflix.
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Rick D said 11:39AM on 5-17-2007
I belong to the Blockbuster Online 9.95 plan which allows one movie out at a time. Between turing them in at Blockbuster and the ones they send, I average about 4 movies a week. As long as I turn it by 11 each day, my next movie always arrives the next day. Course I guess it also helps in that the local distrubtion center for Online in my area is only about 60 miles away.
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Wanda said 12:22PM on 5-17-2007
I have never had to wait more than 4 days for a movie to come back from Netflix.That is From the time I drop the old one into my mailbox until the nest one is back in my hands.If I were to rent from the local video store, It would cost me approx. $3.99 for each rental. I get at least 4 rentals a month from Netflix for less than that. If you need to have more than that, Netflix offers you other packages to rent more than one DVD.
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robz said 12:00PM on 5-17-2007
I used to belong to Netflix, but never again.
If you watch a movie and return it fast all of a sudden they slow down your shipments so you can't get more movies than they deem normal I guess.
They even admit to what is called throtteling. Go with blockbuster.
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kim in cincinnati said 11:56AM on 5-17-2007
Blockbuster will donate old movies to our Veterans. Netflix will not. I perfer to support the businesses that support our Troops! Thanks Blockbuster for your generous and thoughtfulness! Keep up the GREAT work!
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MSAR said 12:09PM on 5-17-2007
I use Blockbuster and they receive my movies in one day and I get new ones 2 days later. I have 6 movies at one time when I take the movie back to the store and walk out with 3 and then receive 3 in the mail.
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