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)
francas said 6:50PM on 7-29-2007
I am 59 years old ,, and destinctly remember electric UPS truck as a kid growing up in Brooklyn it is about time they have revived them and the concept is probably the same,, I also remember stories about how fast the electric trollys were in Brooklyn , they would race the cars from 0- 60 and the cars always lost..of course these were overhead electric connected trollies
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Clive said 5:27PM on 10-16-2007
When something sounds too good to be true, then mostly it is. The Hi-Pa Drive™ from PML Flightlink Ltd that powers the Lightning is rated at 120Kw PEAK each (not 240 KW). One for each wheel means a total of 480Kw equivalent to 680Hp. So where does the additional 20+Hp come from? Well the marketing department decided that 700+Hp sounds better than 680Hp. Anyone in the car business should know that it is easy to talk big power and a bit more difficult to actually make it. Same for Tesla. The AC Propulsion motor in the Tesla roadster is rated at 150Kw peak. As soon as it gets installed into the Tesla it magically becomes a 180Kw peak motor.
Another point of relevance is that electric motors have two power levels raings of major importance, the PEAK power level and the CONTINUOUS power level. The UQM motor that powers the Phoenix cars is 150Kw peak and 100Kw continuous. The Tesla motor is 150 (180?) Kw peak and only 50 Kw continuous. The Hi-Pa drives powering the Lighting is 120Kw peak and I'm guessing only about 30Kw continuous, when considering the mass (25Kg) of the motors. Strangely the continuous power ratings of the motors are not widely advertised.
The final and I believe killer point (that no-one seems to mention or even know about) is that the electric motors can be run at their peak power levels for a very short time, I'm talking 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the cooling system. UQM motors are water-cooled and the Tesla motor isn't. Not sure about the Hi-Pa, probably not. The point is that you can only use the electric motor so that the average power usage over time does not exceed the continuous rating.
So comparing a 700Hp (680Hp) Lightning to say a 650Hp Aston Martin is like comparing apples with lemons. The Aston can run it's engine (theoretically anyway) continuously at 650Hp whereas the Lightning can run it's engine at 700Hp for maybe 2 minutes (probably less). It comes down to the duty cycle. The ICE vehicle can use it's power at a 100% duty cycle of it's maximum power, wheras the electric motor vehicle can only use it's power at something like 30% of the peak power rating.
Well this short time that you can run the electric motor at peak rating is long enough to run a short drag race and beat Astons, Ferraris and Porches, and impress ignorant people tremendously. But put them on a road track for a race of say 10 laps and in a very short time (after the first or so lap) the electric cars will start to look utterly ridiculous. If you should put the electrics on a high speed oval, they would only be able to run at their claimed top speed for a minute or two, whereafter they would have to slow down to something probably in the order of 80 mph.
In fact the Lightning is really a 120Kw car that has the capability to put out 480Kw for a very limited time. Same for the Tesla, it is a 50Kw car that can output 150Kw for short periods of time.
I drive a very slow car (BMW Z4M @ 250Kw) but around a road track or a high speed oval for a few laps the BMW will beat both the Tesla and the Lightning quite easily - well probably after the first or second lap.
I have never in my life seen such marketing hype and spin as is now happening with the electric cars, that portray the performance of these vehicles to be much higher by a factor of 2 to 3 times, than they really can deliver. It is really a shame because the truth will come out eventually, and this could be a big negative for electric cars.
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Enric said 9:07PM on 11-10-2007
This message is for Clive:
How can you be so sure of those comments? Have you at leastr seen videos of the Tesla Roadster running at 130 mph during long periods? (much longer than 2 minutes)
It doesn't slow down to 80 mph.
And even if electric cars don't get 200 mph, what about the pollution? You don't care about the global warming? Don't you see that gas is destroying the world?
That's more important that stupid races at 200 mph in oval circuits.
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charles healy said 12:38PM on 12-10-2007
what we need is what we had, an all electric commuter car that was crushed by GM, Ford, Honda back in 2002 It was the best around with super batteries that gave the car a 300 mile range. Now GM is coming out with the Volt still a hybrid of sorts with a gas engine to charge the batteries because they only have a range of 40 miles. Why? Because they sold the patent to the super battery to Texaco. But this is old news. Here's a suggestion: put two alternators behind the grill with louvered impellers that will turn by wind power and make the electric car a virtual perpetual motion machine
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zega said 6:14PM on 1-02-2008
Read about it, inform yourself before writing, http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_drive.html
it is water cooled, 50KW per wheel continuous...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid377000833/bclid452310430/bctid1312350978
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be1Nnj_Zrag
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tomking said 8:15PM on 1-02-2008
someoneshouldgetaholdofelmerfordofstlouismowhoowendredgiantbatteryhegavemeabatteryin1957thatiusedinmyracecarthatiranwithoutageneraterformonthsatatimewithoutachargefromwhathetoldmeheusedheavywaterinthemidontknowifthiswastrueornotbutitsureworkedhasanyelseheardofthisifsoletmeknow
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