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.
First off, we'll warn you that these reports are currently unconfirmed by the suits in Redmond, but word has it that Microsoft is working with at least one OEM to have the Windows XP "downgrade" deadline pushed out from January 2009 to at least July 31, 2009. That's according to an e-mail sent from Microsoft to an unspecified partner company, which purportedly details a plan to work with other buddies in pushing that deadline out another half year. Given the results thus far, we suppose we're not too surprised to hear that firms are still clamoring for the XP option, but one wonders when this madness will ever end. Will folks really be opting for XP on new machines after Windows 7 is out? 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dan said 4:31PM on 10-06-2008
Well it seems to me as long as consumers are requesting XP on new systems it should be available. As a small business owner I dread having to shift to Vista. In addition to having to spend money for the new computers I will also have to spend money in training and lost production while everyone figures out the new system. I also have many other programs we use that do not function well on Vista and would have to relace those as well. Maybe to a larger company it's no big deal but for a small startup it's a major cost when taking everything into consideration.
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Don said 11:57PM on 10-06-2008
"Will folks really be opting for XP on new machines after Windows 7 is out?" IMHO XP is the best OS MS ever made and would like to get another one,IF Intel processor,upgradable motherboard were available.
Who's to say that W7 will be any better than Vista.
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northrnltspd said 12:27AM on 10-07-2008
I own 7 computers, and use them in the home, and for my business.
The newest , a mini desktop Acer came with Vista, 4gb ram, Athalon 64 processer, hd video card etc... What a useless Operating System on that machine. I though Win ME was bad - Vista is crap. It is way too demanding of resources, wayyyy too overbloated with doo dads... Totally unsatisfactory, especially if you allow Microsoft to run their automatic " updates ". After it crashed for the third time and froze, I had Windows XP Home installed on it - AT MY EXPENSE !!!! . It now runs all my software, and is reliable. All the other machines have either XP Home or XP Professional on them. They all work well as long as you do not install Service Pack 3. In my opinion, Microsoft better listen to us - their customers, and quit trying to ram VISTA down our throats. We can choose to NOT purchase new computers, can they survive long with falling demand for a product few people want?
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xsemperidem5 said 12:38PM on 11-14-2008
I had the option of installing Vista or XP on my MacBook Pro and I went for XP. I will keep using it. And yes, as long as people are requesting it, it should be available. Microsoft, you want to maintain a good profit? Give the people what they want. ;-)
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Kyle said 4:12PM on 11-14-2008
If Microsoft actually gave people what they wanted, they would have fixed Win 98.
Gimme a break, Vista requires almost 1GB of Ram and it goes 10x slower than Win98 on the same machine.
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