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)
Kat said 11:48AM on 3-18-2008
To see many studies offering definitive proof about the harmful health effects of cell phones, go to www.powerwatch.org.uk. There are many such sites on the web, but this is one of the best and easiest to use. France, Germany, and England government officials have all stated that cell phones should not be used by teenagers. Only in America are we so ignorant about the research, due to the power of the industry and their influence on the media. Statements such as the above, that "Unfortunately, there have been many medical studies on the issue and they still don't offer any definitive proof," are blatantly uninformed at best or written to deceive at worst. Wake up and educate yourself, please.
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whitney said 8:31AM on 3-23-2008
Cell phones emit the lowest signal strength of most every radio frequency device being used; their signal sterngth is measured in milliwatts (.001 Watts), not Watts. The towers that "talk" to the cell phones typically broadcast between 35 to 150 Watts, depending on their height above the terrain and the location of the next tower (typically between 2-1/2 air miles to 5 air miles). The internal intermediate oscilator of the old vacuum tube radios and TV sets in our homes put out more signal strength than the modern portable cell phones. Many times you can't get reception on your cell phone in the basement of your house, but you can receive a TV signal on your TV set with a whip antenna; why, because the TV tower antenna puts out 50,000 Watts of energy and so do the clear channel AM radio stations. Even the "local" FM radio stations put out 5,000 Watts of signal strength; their reception ability is limited not by their power output, but by the fact that their higher frequency, megahertz (million cycles) as opposed to kilohertz (thousand cycles), and their higher frequency signal can't bend down to follow the curvature of the earth, so they pass into space. So why don't all the folks that live near the radio and TV stations get cancer? How about all the construction workers and soldiers in the military who use the handitalkie radios (walkitalkies are caried on the back not held in the hand), and all those performers that use wireless microphones, they don't seem to have any cancer problems. THINK ABOUT IT!!! Written by a US Army Signal Corps officer & Electronics Engineer.
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Katherine said 1:41PM on 3-24-2008
Part of the problem when investigating this subject is that the rate of cancer is actually low. If it were only 2%, for example, then a 50% increase would be 3%. Still low. There are so many variables, so many possible causes of cancer, it is difficult to decide what constitutes acceptable risk. A lot also depends on the intuition and attitude of the researcher. The 'gold standard' double-blind study just doesn't work very well in most cases of medical research.
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