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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John Doe said 9:02PM on 2-27-2008
I work on 3 Mcs to every pc.. damn mac hardware and software suck...keep up the good work apple your putting my kids though college!
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boredwell said 6:03PM on 11-12-2007
David and Goliath...where's your sense of humor...the kid's just taking a justified shot at Big Boy's inferior products...
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John said 6:37PM on 11-12-2007
Apple people are so defensive about their chosen money sink. They ALWAYS have to point out that it is the best. So close minded. Why do you care so much about it? It's like the Hare Krsna community about a computer product. I think it must be a matter of taste and requirements that dictates the best platform. It is difficult to be credible with reflexive statements like "inferior product" about something so dominant in the marketplace. Such a sociological phenomenon.
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netzdude said 8:36PM on 11-12-2007
Sad to say all the computer experts say stay if you have windows xp......Vista is not worth the cost or the aggrivation. Leave it to microsoft to come out with software that works great provided you've bought the latest up todate computer
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John said 9:11PM on 11-12-2007
That is a great commercial, very funny. And to John's, post it is also difficult to be credible if your belief is that market dominance has anything to to with quality. Apple geeks are Apple geeks mainly because Apple's OS is superior to Microsoft's in almost every way.
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scorpionhoney said 10:55PM on 11-12-2007
MS as some "poor bullied nerd"! Get real. Think it'd be a great idea in this case if Apple *could* cause the real bully to clean up it's act. Be nice if MS could actually give you value for all the $$$ you sink into Gate's inferior products.
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jeeves said 11:14PM on 11-12-2007
MS deserves any criticism offered--shoddy OS all around. Go Apple!
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David said 1:21AM on 11-13-2007
Vista is a bloated, slow, unreliable hog of computer resources that is incompatible with much of business software. I bought 20 computers and "downgraded" them all to XP Pro so they would perform reliably. Vista appears to be the next incarnation of Milennium Edition.
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pmytherapynet said 2:38AM on 11-13-2007
How short our memories are - much the same talk about XP when it first came out. Get therapy. www.MyTherapyNet.com
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Makimaus said 4:17AM on 11-13-2007
Last April the loss of my laptop computer required a new one, and I made the mistake of assuming that Microsoft Vista was at least similar to the XP version. No such luck. Not only have the good people at Microsoft thrown out the baby and the bathwater, they've reconfigured the tub so that it doesn't fit into the bathroom, and then filled it with a load of useless sludge that gums me up every time I log on. The next chance I have, I'm switching to Apple.
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Charlie Jackson said 5:30AM on 11-13-2007
Hey Idiots at Apple. Take care of your stupid iPhone problems first and video problems on your Macs too
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Thiago said 7:20PM on 11-13-2007
Apple should shut the f*** up and look at how shi*** their products are.
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Reid Hyams said 7:41AM on 11-13-2007
I've used both Windows and Mac OS-X... I've been an Apple user for two decades. MS is simply following the leader, which is Apple and they're not doing a very good job at it. Especially, with Vista. Windows Vista is nothing than a bad copy of Apple's OS-X. Although, I do admit that MS has some great software and the prices are generally lower for the entire product. But, for the most part their OS is inferior and Vista is a downgrade from XP. Apple sets the standard in the quality department, although to be fair... Both have their problems.
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Reid Hyams said 7:43AM on 11-13-2007
APPLHAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SUPERIOR OF THE TWO!
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Mike said 8:27AM on 11-13-2007
MS arrogance is unbelievable, that's the main problem behind their crappy OS. They somehow think that if they make you will buy it, so far they have been, mostly, proven right. My next computer is going to be an apple, I'm sick of never getting anything that works right out of the box.
What was the last MS release that worked???
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D said 8:57AM on 11-13-2007
It's about time someone got the guts to say it. Well done Apple.
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Tonto said 8:51AM on 11-13-2007
Apple is only saying what we real computer geeks (Especially the Beta Testers), have known for a long time, and that is VISTA is a poorly designed OS and will go the way of Millenium. If Apple was to lower it's prices on it's products, they would out sell MS
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snarlos said 8:59AM on 11-13-2007
"It is difficult to be credible with reflexive statements like "inferior product" about something so dominant in the marketplace" (prev. comment)
What? How quickly we forget the Beta vs VHS tape issue. VHS won out because big corporations that created VHS had more more to spend to confuse the public into buying inferior technology. That is why it is so important for Apple to keep letting the public know the truth about inferior PC products and software. Just because Gates has more money to deceive the American Public doesn't make his products better--just more dominate. Don't forget--it was Bill Gates that wanted to buy Apple in the early days of computing, because in his mind, Jobs had the superior operating system.
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Ava said 9:12AM on 11-13-2007
I converted to Mac 2 years and wish I had years ago. How is it that such a defective product as Windows has made Bill Gates billions? Yes, Apple is more expensive, but think about all the money so many have wasted over the years with Windows. I haven't had one problem with Mac in 2 years. Unheard of with Windows!!!!
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Kevin Taylor said 9:48AM on 11-13-2007
I build mid to high level gaming rigs and have used Vista Home Premium 64-bit (oem) on my last four builds with no problems. There are a few things you need to do to have a successful install but nothing really difficult. Things like having all current drivers and installing using no more than 2GB of ram. The only thing I don't like about Vista is having to use Vista Ultimate for a dual processor machine. In this case, XP Pro x64 will work.
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