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 3)
David said 6:52PM on 2-23-2008
I just purchased a new HP Pavillian computor with windows vista home premeum os. I am finding out that none of my hardware is compatible with this system. When I purchased the computor I was never told about this problem if I was I would of purchased one with windows XP. Thats what my old computors OS had and I never had a problem.
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Susie said 4:05PM on 1-08-2009
Hi David,
I too purchased an HP with Vista and none of my sofeware
works with it. Also, no one told me of the problems either when I purchased the computer at Office Depot...shame, shame on them!!
It's just been a nightmare for me. Hope M/S will come up with something soon to fix all these problems!!
tleonard said 6:24PM on 1-08-2009
Amen, David, my expensive HP laptop is almost unusable due to the fact Vista is on it. They should replace this system with a free upgrade to what ever system they come up with that is new and improved.
T/
Jim said 2:28PM on 1-08-2009
I purchased a new computer in 2008 wth Vista --- in my opinion VISTA is quite deserving of the "crap " references I see others labelng it with -- I absolutely hate it and would have never purchased the computer had I known in advance of the difficulties this system carries with it - everyone that purchased a computer with this system should get a free new computer with a new system and apologies for providing us with a lemon...like with the cars - there should be a lemon law
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Leah said 3:57PM on 1-08-2009
I agree 2000000000000000000%
Leesa said 5:24PM on 1-08-2009
I agree, what can we do about being compensated for the Vista we purchased.
Roy said 2:59PM on 1-08-2009
I guess I am one of the few. I bought a new note book computer in 2008 and it had Vista on it. I have had no problems with it. My last computer had XP and I was having a lot of problems with it. Granted, it took a little while to get used to some of the Vista differences, but I have had no problems so far. I do agree that if they are going to keep changing things on us, problems or not, there should be a free update or replacement in the works.
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Wayne said 2:55PM on 1-08-2009
Same here, Couldn't say it any better,bought mine at
best buy, Question the vista issue. Just got a good b.s.
story. Have had to take it back three times, Finally
got lucky found this guy in Geek Squad that knew what he was
doing took him 3 hours to get it to work right.
Keep in mind i am not the smartest person with computers.
but shouldn't have had to go though all this.
And yes the 64 bit thing forget your soft wear. I had yet to find
any soft wear for 64 bit.
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WALTER REED said 3:13PM on 1-08-2009
First, get the word in your headline "disapointing" spelled correctly! Obviously your spell-check doesn't work. I have two computer one with Vista and one with XP and the applicable Microsoft Office software for each. It is beyond my understanding why modifications were made in the basic operating design and format other than to confuse and make the user's life difficult. Microsoft should replace, at no charge,their useless software --- Vista and 2007 Office --- or perhaps we should launch a class lawsuit? Terrible product(s) design that should be trashed.
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Charli said 5:53PM on 1-08-2009
Walter, I'm with you on a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for Vista and/or HP. I have an HP Pavilion m9000t.I bought it last year. It was touted as one of the best. My problem is that I can't tell if my issue is with Vista or HP or both not being compatible. I have spent an extraordinary amount of time with online tech help, phone tech help, and my own troubleshooting. If something works today, it may not work later in the day...software and/or hardware. The USB ports are usually not working, my microphone doesn't work with it (it works on my XP OS computer), my webcam which was supposed to work with Vista- guess...doesn't work-well I get a lovely picture but no sound when using Skype. I recently purchased a Mac Book, (I finally got the message) oh, how I wish I had listened to the person who told me to buy a Mac desktop. Keep me posted on a class action.
Ruth said 7:55PM on 1-08-2009
Hey, I'm for the class action lawsuit! We should get compensated for the loss!
R.
Calif.
Summer said 3:50PM on 1-08-2009
I have vista now for a couple of months, no problems... yet!
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Tom said 3:52PM on 1-08-2009
I too have many problems with Vista and perhaps Walter Reed has a point if they don't replace Vista with something else then perhaps a class action lawsuit is necessary...Any thoughts out there?
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Yvonne said 4:02PM on 1-08-2009
Vista is nothing but trouble, I hate it. A lot of programs will not work with Vista, not only that, when Microsoft sent upgrades for Vista, my computer crashed trying to do the upgrade, I'm am so pissed off about this, not only did it happen to me, it happened to my sister's lap top, and she only had it for about a year. I had to take my computer in to get it back up and working. I made a back up disc when I first got the computer, and it would not put the system back. I am still having problems with this computer, I hate Vista, it's a bad operating system. My sister is still trying to get Microsoft to help her get her computer back up and working. They need to get rid of Vista, and go back to XP, it's a better system.
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oneplaidass said 4:07PM on 1-08-2009
Vista isn't even half as good as XP. It's got najor compatability issues.
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Rudolf said 5:42PM on 1-08-2009
I've had Vista running on a desktop for over a year and have had no problems. It boots faster and more reliably than my previous XP or 95 OS systems. It has exhibited no compatability problems with any application software or accessing on line sites. In sum: No Complaints
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Kim said 4:39PM on 1-08-2009
I purchased a Dell Laptop with Vista software and sat on the phone with a customer service rep for almost 2 hours for him to tell me, Dell cannot do anything about it because it is not a hardware problem but a software issue!!!! Are you kidding me?? We spend this kind of money and get help from noone!! WHo stands behind their products anymore?? I think even the BIG companies are just out to make a buck and forget all about the consumers!! I cannot even find a Vista update to download that will help with my problem!!! Because my computer will NOT upload the current and crucial updates that are out there now, my system continues to tell me reconfiguring or re-verting back because it will not accept the updates!! Then the computer will shut down right in the middle of any interent browsing if I have not attempted to update the updates! I've only had it 1 YEAR!!! SO frustrating!
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Lorraine said 5:47PM on 1-08-2009
I can relate, I just purchased a laptop computer with the Vista operating system also. The same day I opened the box and set it up I found that I could not access my AOL email account. Browsing the internet for other things was not a problem but every time I logged into AOL mail the system froze up. After a long call to Sony for tech assistance and then another long call to Best Buy, I was told by their Geek squad that it was a software issue not a hardward one. They told me that they could fix the problem for $178.00. I was outraged. I told him that I did not spend $1200 on a laptop to only have to spend another $200 to fix a problem I shouldn't have. Absolutely crazy.....I've had to resort to using my crappy and very slow desktop to continue to access my email.
dora said 4:35PM on 1-08-2009
vista sucks it not what is was suoopse to be and finding thing on vista is really bad i hate it and i hope they dump it fast and go back to microsoft
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Adriaan Vandersterre said 5:18PM on 1-08-2009
I just purchased a HP Pavilion with Vista. I just do not know enough about it to know if it is a problem. Can anyone of you give me specifics for me to ascertain what the problems are. Thanks
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