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)
Miguel Lescano said 3:58PM on 10-08-2007
This is no surprise to me.
The hardware is evolving, the same thing that happened with DVD. Recently I've heard about "Enhaced Region Coding" being added to new DVDs... which might mean your expensive DVD-based Home Theater setup can't play "Superbit" editions of some movies.
Another example: Remember when the first DVD players came out? They had only Composite video outputs; later, they included S-Video, then Component video, and in the last couple of years we’ve seen DVD Players with HDMI output, even to output good ole 480p. Something similar happened with audio: The first players supported only Dolby Digital; better player support DTS, too. Early (and not-so-early) adopters were left out of the party every time one of these perks became available.
We see history repeating itself with HD: Currently, reviewers complain that even in the crispest HD disc available today, “Happy Feet”, they see banding in gradients. HDMI 1.3 will take care of this problem with “Deep Color”, but it will take years before most devices support it. And let’s not talk about the fact that Sound systems supporting the uncompressed HDMI signal are almost non-existent. Current players load times are sluggish. And they still haven’t found a use for the network connectivity! To make things worse, triple-layer HD DVD discs are on the way, and first generation Blu-ray players did not have all the features enabled!
So… It would be foolish to invest a lot today in equipment that might be obsolete tomorrow. You better wait and see.
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Scott Hettrick said 7:49PM on 10-08-2007
How about a little accuracy in your postings?
"suffering a series of setbacks due to widespread issues with new movies freezing up older players."
"A series of setbacks?" One issue over these two titles.
"Widespread issues?" Again, one issue over these two titles. And how "widespread" is two titles limited to two older models of players?
Things are dicey enough and volativel enough out there without you recklessly fanning the flames.
Everyone is pioneering new territory. There will be bugs. Earliest and cheaper models will have issues, as is always the case with the first iterations of software like Windows Vista, the earliest DVD players that didn't play the newest interactive games, etc.
Take it easy, dude.
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JeffK said 8:19PM on 10-09-2007
I'm sorry, but saying that something being sold to the consumer not working is ok, is wrong.
If it doesn't work, return it. If my toaster doesn't toast, I bring it back. If someone makes toast that doesn't fit, I return that.
That is the way this game is played, and Fox messed up or the CEs messed up, or both messed up.
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Miguel Lescano said 1:37PM on 10-11-2007
Now I think the war should not be between HD DVD and Blu-ray, but between Radiohead and both HD formats. At the same time that Radiohead put all their confidence in their fans, HD format makers treat all consumers like criminals, even if some innocent people have to pay the price.
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MRBlue said 5:25PM on 10-22-2007
I agree with Scott in that suggesting that two titles somehow means that the entire infrastructure of Blu-Ray is somehow on the brink of failure is a bit over the top.
Okay, so two movies in a swarm of hundreds should not send a panic to anyone unless, of course, there's a hidden agenda.
If this were happening with AAA titles like "Spider-Man 3" or "Die Hard 4" then maybe you'd have something but "The Day After Tomorrow" is a 2 year+ old film and I while "FF2" was good it wasn't a box office behemoth.
Also, since this involves two films and two DVD manufacturers it should in no way imply that it's the technology's fault. When Warner Bros., Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and others start reporting errors across different players then maybe you'll have a story. While it's good news to know about it shouldn't be a strike against Blu-Ray. Just a few companies that are still learning the ropes of the technology and, unfortunately like the humans that made them, are bound to make mistakes.
Heck even baby car seats are recalled. At least the issue seems to be cleared up by a firmware update.
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