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)
El Taco said 11:16PM on 7-03-2008
"founder and CEO Steve Jobs' determination to come up with innovative and attractive products"
innovative: Sometimes (iphone) but usually not
attractive: yes
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Ikari said 9:43AM on 7-04-2008
The web "designers" who keep using this shitty slideshow format are pretty stubborn. They're also talentless, overpaid hacks. Pay a high-school kid the $50 to design you a better template.
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sunny beach said 3:17PM on 7-05-2008
Nice find. This was an interesting read.
Stubbornness can be an asset in certain situations.
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Tim B said 10:41PM on 7-09-2008
"...and the iPod crushed Microsoft's Zune." Okay, and the Zune only arrived two years ago and is a different business model, subscription service via the Zune marketplace while iTunes is 99 cent downloads. Makes me wonder how many other facts the writer will slant to make his point. And I'm an Apple fan, but the Zune comment is just bad journalism.
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helluri said 2:41AM on 7-10-2008
I don't know if you really believe that paying for music really makes the difference, but in case you do, I've got news for you; less than 0.05% of the world pays to listen to music on their handheld. That is why both Zune and iPod have a broken feature, in the sense that they are really utopian about making money from music in electronic media. If someone doesn't come up with a viable solution ("viable" is the word here.. DRM is worse than most computer viruses out there) to selling music online, people just won't care to pay for their music. The funny thing is, most people want to.. Most people want to support their favorite artist/band etc. True, most of that money goes to the corporate fatso, but it still makes a difference for that gifted person who made their day with his/her music. Corporations do all kinds of idiotic moves to prevent people from paying up.. The rust will eventually wear off and the heads of production companies will be people who are better tuned with today's needs.. Until then, I'm not paying a single dime (I haven't for the past 5 years) to the music industry..
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black said 3:34AM on 8-10-2008
Well on Apple, one thing I did notice while playing Metal Gear Solid 4 is that there is quite a bit of Apple products getting placed in the game, so yeah they are targeting console gamers now, too.
And please if you doesn't hurt you guys, get a different presentation...
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