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)
Greekie said 4:30PM on 2-04-2008
You won't believe this, but QWERTY keyboards are pretty much the standard because they are more efficient. I know that another type of keyboard is out there, and is mostly used to kill keylogging (hackers use it to track what you type and then steal your passwords) and to stand out from the crowd. I type at a 60+ wpm speed with QWERTY, and I can type mentally with a QWERTY. I simply can't switch without a little time, and that is what's happening now. I agree that we need to view every option, but most people will not come out of their "safe" shell where they know everything. Linux might become popular after Microsoft goes bankrupt or when it advertises. I've heard of Linux, but I don't know anything about it. I agree that we need to change keyboards and OS's and everything else. Did you know that the flying car was invented in the 50's and actually inspired the Jetson's car? Yeah, but nobody will fund it, so it's just a prototype. Also, that colony on the Moon could have happened before the Y2K generation was born, but NASA was cut from funding. Should we blame the government for these cuts from important materials? Well, think about this: Scientists have been able to genetically engineer DNA for a century, but what has stopped us from doing it?
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John Goldsmith said 9:16AM on 8-09-2007
I'd be very surprised.
You know when hi-def TV was ready to rollout? Try 25 years ago. Old habits are very hard to break, for many reasons. Heck, I'm typing this on a QWERTY keyboard developed just after the typewriter was invented to slow-down human fingers that were able to move faster than the mechanical parts could fly. It is still the standard. 99% of those tired of PC/Windows flaws will (as I have) migrate to Apple which (judging by the iphone) has all sorts of user-friendly products in the pipeline.
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RumorBreaker said 7:15AM on 11-13-2007
Fine with most what you say but please don't propagate rumors/urban legends. The QWERTY lay out was not designed to slow typist down. It was designed so that letters which were normally typed together were spread out so they wouldn't bind and thus SPEED up typing.
BTW - Nippon developed HiDef in 1969
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clear4takeoff73 said 9:38AM on 11-13-2007
Per Wikipedia...you're both right...The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document.[1] A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together. The effect this rearrangement of letters had on maximum typing speed is a disputed issue. Some sources assert that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing speed to further reduce jamming.[2] Other sources assert the rearrangement worked by separating common sequences of letters in English. Ostensibly, the hammers that were likely to be used in quick succession were less likely to interfere with each other.
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