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 1)
Robin said 5:30PM on 5-03-2007
This is okay when you are just running basic stuff, if you need anything more, use Windows. Also remember that there is not a lot of software for Ubuntu. Don't try to run a school on this stuff. Most if not all educational software is either windows based or Mac based. I work in a charter school and students and staff have to use this system.
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SHARON HODGES said 10:01AM on 5-21-2007
HOW DO YOU GET INTO THE FREE SITES
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John said 7:19AM on 5-19-2007
Robin,
Your networking people either don't yet know Linux very well or just don't provide you with good information.
Most anything that can run on any Linux can be compiled and run on Ubuntu - this includes clones and freeware versions of most all types of popular software; 99% of Linux software is as free as Linux itself. There is even a clone of MS Office called Open Office, which can deal with all the file formats which MS Office produces.
And even if you cant find a clone or Linux port of your favorite software - there is still wine. Wine is a windows emulator, which can install and run windows software on Linux machines. Wine doesn't work with 100% of windows software, but it is very effective with most stuff.
There are also other free flavors of Linux, not just Ubuntu. Fedora, Debian, CentOS, and the advanced user might enjoy the aggravation of Slackware Linux ... Then there are the open source Unix clones - FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc., but they are not as friendly as most Linux operating systems.
And I have to flatly take issue with the "basics" remark - Linux is more powerful, more scalable, more secure and fathoms more stable than Windows.
Lets see your windows machine pull this off:
uptime
07:11:10 up 453 days, 17:49, 1 user, load average: 0.05, 0.05, 0.00
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Dave said 2:09PM on 5-22-2007
John,
Why should the average user have to learn how to "compile and run" on Ubuntu"? Who ever heard of anyone but developers "compiling" on Windows? The average user doesn't even have to know what it means, let alone how to find the proper compiler and learn how to use it.
In my office I use MS Office 2000 and my associate uses Open Office, which I had already tested and rejected for a major client. Why? You say "Open Office... can deal with all the file formats which MS Office produces". By "deal with", you must mean MANGLE. Yes it might even be able to display a few very basic documents "closely" to the way it would appear in MS Office, but try printing or editing and saving the document and "Watch out Nelly!". We have spent several times the cost of getting him an MS Office license, just in the wasted time reformatting shared documents over and over.
Bulleted and numbered paragraphs have their bullets and numbers replaced by Zapf Dingbats, Wingdings and and other weird symbols, and the rest of the formatting all goes to hell.
As much as I despise a monopoly, I'm forced to admit that MS Office is the standard and NOTHING is as compatible with it as necessary for problem free sharing of files with MS Office.
Wine should be spelled whine, because that's what it causes the user to do. It's slow. The compatibility is FAR from 100% and it only adds one more unnecessary layer of complexity (read: bugs, conflicts & problems). If you want/need to run Windows programs, simply run them on Windows, that's all. They aren't designed for Wine.
You just illustrated another of Linux' reasons for failing to overtake Windows already, the multiple, confusing and incompatible flavors.
You also completely twisted the "basics" comment. Robin was referring to the apps, not the OS. I fully agree with the statement you made "Linux is more powerful, more scalable, more secure and fathoms more stable than Windows." But you missed the point. You can't run PhotoShop or other complex (not basic) apps on Linux because of the extent to which it is dependent upon the Windows architecture. There are 10s, if not 100s, of thousands of Windows applications for which there is no equivalent on Linux or the effort to match the Windows app on Linux simply isn't worth it. By "basic" I clearly understand that Robin was referring to functions, such as web browsing and email.
However, you can't possibly claim that Linux is more friendly, popular or useful to the novice user than any recent version of Windows. These users will accept an occasional reboot, long before they try to tackle a compile.
Kudos on your 453 day uptime, but for the average user, it's irrelevant.
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