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.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brad said 6:57AM on 2-20-2008
knobjob says:
"why does it take 3 years to get this vehicle on the market when they can build a whole car in something like 20 hours? i wanna save some money now!"
Knobjob, have you ever seen a diesel Honda before this? It's probably a new engine design which will take development time to work out things like timing, injection programming, an effective exhaust catalyst system and other things which will allow the new diesel Honda to drive as nicely and be as reliable as any gas-engined Honda. Also, it may very well be that they want to introduce it in the next generation Accord, rather than the current line which was just redesigned this year.
Even the quickest car releases from concept to showroom usually take a minimum of 18 months. Three years is probably about average and some take as long as five or seven years.
Good for Honda, though. I hope they consider bringing us a diesel Civic hatchback at some point.
Reply
Steve said 4:08PM on 3-12-2008
Steve Thompson,
For every gallon of diesel fuel refined from a barrel of oil in the US, nearly three gallons of gasoline are refined. Since the vast majority of American autos run on gasoline, diesel gets short shrift. Therefore, diesel is always in short supply - thus higher cost.
Diesel cost less in Europe becuse European countries tax gasoline at a higher rate per gallon, and it doesn't hurt that 40% of European cars are diesel power.
Reply
September said 9:04PM on 4-17-2008
The reason why diesel fuel is so expensive in the US is because of how many taxes are tagged onto the price. In general, the gas station only makes 5 cents a gallon, almost 40% is in taxes, the rest to the manufacturer. It is amazing that it is higher since it is just the leftover of making conventional gas. It's great to see the strides in emissions being taken care of, but if they can make a diesel car go up to 60mpg, why does a diesel truck that hauls freight still have to put up with 5-7mpg? I own a Peterbilt and it costs us $1,200 just to fill up the tanks that takes it 800 miles. My husband runs an average of 2700 to 3200 miles per week, you do the math in how much it is costing us. All our money goes to the truck payment,which is $2100.00 a month and our current 2007 model cost us $20,000 more than our 2004 model, and it has a smaller sleeper and is lighter. But with the new EPA mandates on the diesel motors, the cost went really high. It is a huge trickle down affect and don't think going all train in hauling freight is going to solve the problem, you still need a truck to haul from train to distribution to store. In all reality, technology with saving gas should have been addressed over 20 years ago in the pace it is going now. We wouldn't be hurting as bad now. You also have to remember, this is an election year and the world likes to play with us and influence us on who we elect. As long as a Democrat gets in there, the terrorists will win. With a Republican, they won't. You also have to remember who enacted the NAFTA agreement that we are living in right now, Clinton. I knew this was going to happen. Clinton took credit for his term in office because he was in during the affects of Reagan's term. I miss Ronald Reagan, he was a good president. I promise you, if a Dem gets in office with a Dem house, we will be in for a world of hurt with taxes raised and all of Bush's tax cuts abolished!
Reply
will said 6:45PM on 8-07-2008
republicans have controlled congress for the amount of time Reagan did. Gas was $1.57 when they took over.
cant blame democrates for gas
no way no how
connor said 12:22PM on 7-31-2007
This is a much more intelligent way to go than the last attempt to stray from the standard Accord. I hope they fired the genius who came up with the Accord Hybrid. Its mileage wasn't much different from the standard Accord. The hybrid technology was used just to boost performance--hardly the reason anyone pays the extra money for a hybrid. Dismal sales told the story. It was slated to have a brief shelf life the moment it rolled of the assembly line.
The new diesel technology (like Bluetec), coupled with low sulfur fuels, means that we'll be seeing more and more diesels on American roads, minus the diesel clatter and clouds of black smoke we all hated to get trapped behind. We are all in for a pleasant surprise when we see and smell how clean this new generation of automobiles will be.
Reply
usbseawolf2000 said 4:41PM on 11-27-2007
This diesel Accord address oil independant issues where Prius solves both fuel economy and emission issues.
Even bio diesel is dirtier than non-hybrid gas. Diesel fuel has more energy than gasoline. I'd love to see what this Accord diesel get from the new EPA rating.
Reply
Ken said 10:55PM on 8-09-2007
About Time !! Europeans have had the luxury of having diesel auto's for years. In the 80's you could get 4 cylinder diesels in small pickup's that got 40 mpg. I know,I know since then there has been the sulfer issue with diesel fuel.Thankfully this has now been taken care of which opens the door for diesel engine again!!. I've been waiting for this for so long,,,, Can't wait until they will be available !! Gotta have one !!
Reply
knobjob said 3:26AM on 8-10-2007
why does it take 3 years to get this vehicle on the market when they can build a whole car in something like 20 hours? i wanna save some money now!
Reply
Andrew said 10:17AM on 8-14-2007
I've been enjoying 46-50 mpg the past six years with a VW Jetta diesel. The car just turned 200,000 miles and it's still running beautifully.
Reply
Steve Thompson said 3:28AM on 8-28-2007
This is all wonderful but the U.S. has got to get the price of diesel lower than unleaded. In Europe it is lower. It is cheaper to extract diesel fuel from the refinery than unleaded yet oil companies continue to charge higher prices at the pump or charge their station owners!! Anyone have an answer?
Reply
Tom said 1:19PM on 9-05-2007
I too have a Jetta diesel ... in terms of clean, diesel has arrived. Think also in terms of TWICE the fuel mileage, with the hidden bonus of half the refineries, tankers, foreign payments ... I also think the old diesel engines need to go ... if it belches black ... replace it.
Reply
Joshua said 2:46PM on 9-05-2007
This is great news!! Ever since I bought my TDI Jetta 4 years ago I've been sold on diesels. Getting as high as 56 mpg, and 760 miles on one tank of diesel is hard to beat. Even if I drive it like I stole it I get around 48 mpg! (Plus I don't look like I'm driving a spaceship ::cough::Prius::cough::). I'm looking forward to the American manufacturers coming out with more and more vehicles equipped with diesels. This should help bring down the price of diesel powered vehicles. Plus I can look forward to getting a bigger car since I have two kids now.
Price of diesel isn't really too big of an issue. If you think about it, if you're getting twice the distance on a tank, then you're really only paying half the price for that gallon of diesel than joe smoe is for that gallon of gas. Then when diesel is cheaper than regular unleaded you're really saving!
I have 87,000 miles on my Jetta and I'm just getting it broke in! No major mechanical problems and I hope to see 200,000+ miles like some of the other TDI owners are. Not too many gas car owners can claim the same.
new clean burning diesels are supposed to put out very minimal emissions (comparable to, if not even better than, gas burning engines). That is why they’ll be able to sell them again in CA and NJ. Then to run bio diesel on top of that, you would be hard pressed to find any gas, or even gas/electric, car that could beat its emissions.
Reply