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)
rattyuk said 1:02PM on 1-08-2008
Yeah, like people buy Apple's RAM. Most users buy aftermarket RAM at better prices...
But hey, let's not spoil your windows driven FUD, make the price what you will. But any chance you could pop over to the Dell site and spec up something from them first?
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pondhopper said 3:30PM on 1-08-2008
yeah, otherwise it is totally useless right of the box eh?
I am certain this article was written by a gatezoid fanboy.
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Michael said 5:13PM on 1-08-2008
The Mac Pro starts at $2,299 not $2,799.
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Ben said 5:15PM on 1-08-2008
I saw this post and have to vent about a recent experience with Apple. As a fan of OS X, right now I'm sick of apple and their condescending ads. Dad was in need of a new computer last november, so we visited the mac store and I showed him their line. He was sold, liked the idea of mac how it was easier than the MS world, and the damn thing just looked really nice. SO far, I can honestly say that this thing hasn't been easier than a comparable Vista PC. Every time I see one of those damn ads from their website I wanna punch the little girl on the right. First, the store didn't install 10.5 after advertising it, we had to do that ourselves, and the punk didn't even inform him. Fine for me who's been doing this for awhile, others need a little more hand holding. Second, I've never had so much trouble getting a printer to work, even back in the days of DOS an lpt ports. All the print options he had on his PC weren't on OS X. He tried calling the store for tech support and what a freaking joke. By the time he got a human, they told him to call apple's main number. He called apple waited for 20 minutes to get some call center that didn't speak english and you could hear about 20 people talking in the background, like some telemarketing firm. We gave up on this route and looked into it myself, turns out you had to install extra drivers off the CD. Fine, but nothing I expect from Apple. After we do this, printing on his fairly new HP still isn't working right. HP says we're using the latest drivers, but still can't utilize all the options on his printer that were readily available on his older PC running XP! No options for color quality, B&W, tray type, paper type, printing photos on the 4"x6" paper was a nightmare. This is still unresolved. Isn't anything graphics related supposed to be easier on a mac? That's what all the artsy people tell me. He gets a new scanner last weekend, and what a surprise, after installing the software and reboot (pretty lame for all your windows bashing), HP devices still don't list the scanner as installed. He called the store again and was talking to someone who had the nerve to say "there are no driver issues with lepord." Then what are all these posts on apple's own forums about then? Retard... Not only that but started to get angry with him. After more research, I see a driver update that fixed it for someone else. Going to install that tonight and see how it goes. Not against driver updates, but as long as you play these ads and tell people how much better it is over Vista, do your homework first.
Shitty tech support, lack of drivers well after release from hardware vendors, and a staff that doesn't seem to care about doing whatever it takes to ensure their customers are satisfied.
I'm calling the store tomorrow and speaking with a manager about returning this well after the 30 days. I've had enough, he didn't spend $400 more than a PC to get the same quality.
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Kevin said 1:55AM on 1-09-2008
I read this article and then headed over to the Dell website to configure a machine comparable to the standard Mac Pro (the one with 8 2.8 gigahertz cores). The machine I came up with cost $5,125. And the Dell still didn;t have the dual gigabit ethernet ports the Mac Pro comes standard with or 2 Firewire 800 (which come standard on the Mac Pro) and has no optical digital audio TOSLINK ports. Adding those would probably boost it close to $6,000. I could configure a $20,000 dollar Dell as easily as I could a Mac Pro but it wouldn't have as much on it as for the money as the Mac Pro. Once again a journalist didn't do research. It only takes a few minutes on the internet to come up with truthful articles. But I guess if all you want is hits it doesn't really matter how truthful something is.
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