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)
Athena said 3:32PM on 8-30-2007
What about people without computers? Not everyone has one yet. The service should still be available for that 16% of people who need them. I'm all for saving the trees, but this isn't really fair.
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B said 3:48PM on 9-03-2007
people without computers still have options. Such as, calling a friend, family member, neighbor and asking them to do them a favor. They can go to the library and do this. More over, the airports have kiosks where this can be done. The kiosks have staff on hand to assist if help is needed. It is time to get out of the dark ages. Don't sweat the small stuff. It will be better off in the long run.
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mark said 4:07PM on 9-03-2007
Save the trees? Try wiping your ass with an owl then, tree huggers. Al Core can be the first to experiment.
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duane said 4:18PM on 9-03-2007
save 50,000 trees? How many could we save if we blew our nose in a hankerchief instead of tissues or toilet paper? I agree with Mark try wiping yourself with an owl and maybe we could save more trees. Then the animal right lunitics would scream. Get real people and get a life!
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MARY said 6:09PM on 9-03-2007
ALL WOOD IS SUSTAINABLE, IT GROWS BACK...AND WHO IS "WE" AS IN SAVING SOME OF YOUR BRETHREN? ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE ENVIROMENTALIST WACK-O'S THAT WE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC/TAXPAYERS ARE AWARE OF... AND, RESPECT NATURAL RESOURCES, BUT THATS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM. SPARE NATURE!! BUT TO HELL WITH HUMANITY AND THEIR NEEDS... IS THEIR MOTTO.
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D.J.Galate said 9:27PM on 9-03-2007
The airlines are really speaking with forked tongue when they tell you about the advantages of their electronic ticket. When all is said and done, they still print a paper ticket to give you to board the plane.
Want to know the most underhanded,anti customer feature they now provide with the electronic ticket. It used to be that with a paper ticket,if your flight was cancelled, you could run to ANY airline ticket counter and jump on another plane. All airlines accepted the paper ticket. Guess what? Now if your flight is cancelled or delayed you can't run to any other airline with an electronic ticket or electronic ticket receipt and jump on their next flight. No other airline will accept the electronic ticket. This is strange. You would think an electronic ticket would be even easier to administer between airlines, especially since most use the same ticketing system. Instead they want to force you to get into their line,call their reservation number (which is probably busy if a flight has been cancelled) and wait for THEIR next flight (they don't give a dam about your connections, travel or vacation plans).
And you wonder why people at airports get so upset?
We need government to go after these guys about their ANTI customer and travel agent policies, especially their leader, Delta.
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Dj said 9:50PM on 9-03-2007
Athena you are correct.
The airlines are moving totally towards CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE,they don't want to provide REAL Customer Service. They are even trying to drive travel agents out of business (these people only book the best airlines and connections for their customers and the airlines don't like that). Airlines don't pay travel agents one cent for the real customer service they provide. The airlines goal is to force you to book direct with them (because you really don't know how bad they are) either on line or at the airport.
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Tina said 3:11AM on 9-04-2007
Mark, Duane, and Mary :
I know there are people as dumb and misinformed as you, but it still blows me away every time I actually read the tripe you write. The three of you probably still have "W" stickers on your cars.
Mary, Since you are so ALL CAPS about wood being sustainable, I think you should get one or two trees to supply you with all of your paper needs. For the rest of your life. It grows back, right? So what if you'd have to wait twenty years to wipe your ass.
I'm not even really all that "green", but at least I know that saving 50,000 trees a year is a good thing. If you made it past 5th grade, you would have learned about the importance of plant respiration to human survival. Geesh, open a science book.
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Dj said 7:22PM on 9-04-2007
Hey Beta news,
Your comments say that the airlines save $9.00 per passenger by eliminating the paper ticket.
Do you know that when you ask for a paper ticket today, most airlines charge you an extra $25 or more. It looks like once again the airlines "screw the customer,the planes are full" business philosophy is being applied to their pricing.
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linda said 7:06PM on 12-05-2007
It doesn't matter how you get on the plane - but once they start allowing people to talk on their cell phones during the flight - I really stop flying... can you imagine 150 men screaming out how important they are and 150 women screaching at the neighbor that they are on the plane and can they hear them now?
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prasad said 7:43AM on 12-06-2007
Since it saves airlines $9.00 per ticket, make it a federal requirement for the airline companies to pass on that savings to the customer since everybody has to have an e ticket from june 08 onwards.
let the general masses feel the advantage in a little way .i.e. thru savings of $9.00 for each ticket they book .
At the same time the airline personnel should make every attempt to help out the elderly and not so tech savvy people to get on their flights without any problem.since the only form of ticket they understand is a paper ticket .
Besides all airlines should be forced to honor the electronic ticket in case of a transfer or a flight delay rather than being forced to wait at the airport for hours in case of a procedural mess up for a particular airlines.
I am all for saving the 50 000 odd trees because it means more oxygen in the atmosphere contribution but under no circumstances the customer service be sacrificed.
But Hey who is listening and who cares
I think nobody.
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