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)
zephead said 7:22PM on 7-24-2008
Fail.
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kim said 6:48AM on 7-25-2008
OH GREAT, I WASS WONDERING WHAT WASS IN THE NEWSS THISS MORNING. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT TOMORROWSS TOP STORY ISS!
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jbjg24m said 7:35AM on 7-25-2008
wtf? who cares??
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Keith J. Mohrhoff said 8:25AM on 7-25-2008
When my father became a police officer in Jersey City, they issued all the new officers their I.D. cards. At the top they read, "Jersey City Police Depratment". When these new officers questioned this, rather than admit there had been a mistake made their superiors said, "That's how we'll know it's an 'official' police identification card."!!!
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heather said 1:46PM on 7-25-2008
lmao
Tigerlily said 8:31AM on 7-25-2008
What a waste of time that was. Who cares? Typos happen. I guess there's nothing happening out there since we have this as a headline. Stupid.
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crys said 8:42AM on 7-25-2008
I hate when typos like that happen. Yes, it should've been caught. Editing a newsletter, there are just times things slip past you. Sometimes a person might look at a newsletter or newspaper so much that they see it as correct, even when it isn't. One typo we had once on our newsletter nbody caught for months. Right on the front page, we had our phone number typoed. Duhhhh
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pschei6821 said 10:19AM on 7-25-2008
Given that the Telegraph is reporting this, it's amazing they didn't mention the Guardian newspaper, perpetually famous for spelling mistakes (including its own name) and colloquially known as The Grauniad!
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Keith J. Mohrhoff said 10:29AM on 7-25-2008
Having worked in the computer graphics field myself, I am surprised that 'Valley News' is typed text (that could potentially be mispelled.
Since the name on a newspaper always appears in the same space on the same page, it should have been a graphic element--not a text one.
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Keith J. Mohrhoff said 10:32AM on 7-25-2008
And leave off the last 'S'--for savings!--LOL!!
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John said 11:49AM on 7-25-2008
If they had listed their paper on TypoBounty.com, I could have told them about that error and made $2.50 for it. They wouldn't have been embarrassed and I would be $2.50 richer. They probably have a lot more errors and I could have made the money. Crap Ha Ha
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John3M said 11:52AM on 7-25-2008
If they had listed their paper on TypoBounty.com, I could have told
them about that error and made $2.50 for it. They wouldn't have been
embarrassed and I would be $2.50 richer. They probably have a lot
more errors and I could have made the money. Crap Ha Ha
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Ed said 12:29PM on 7-25-2008
It's not as bad as Missouri's new license plate with the wrong spelling for "Show-Me State". No one caught the missing hyphen until production started. So until the next redesign, all our vehicles will show how dumb the Governor was for agreeing to keep it incorrect.
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XSemper Idem5 said 12:46PM on 7-25-2008
Spell check anyone?
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bgatlake said 12:49PM on 7-25-2008
Proof of our poor quality education and ability to proof-read. Have you heard poor grammar on TV from people and among news media?
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Will said 2:44PM on 7-25-2008
No, but I have from your comment.
mjmelrose said 1:32PM on 7-25-2008
Nobody proofreads anything at newpapers anymore -- all they do is run "spellcheck" and apparently not on headers. Articles, captions and ads are rife with spelling and grammatical/syntax errors. The keepers of our literacy are asleep at the switch and have been since they began using Word Processors.
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Jiggy said 1:57PM on 7-25-2008
As Trump would say-- YOUR FIRED !
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Cindy Dyer said 2:37PM on 7-25-2008
What's odd is, why should the nameplate change AT ALL from issue to issue? When I set up a header on a newsletter or magazine, it will NEVER get changed. Pretty bad editing, considering the point size is 70+ or more!
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Big Ang said 12:15PM on 7-26-2008
You know, perhaps it was a way to sell more papers?
"Hey, look at this, it's spelled incorrectly! Let's all buy one for keeps!"
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