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)
Erik Craig said 12:49PM on 12-21-2008
Ah, our human hubris rears its head yet again. We still have not even close to understanding the mysteries of the simple thing we call the human mind, the extraordinary capacity for expeience and thought, especially creative, imagistic thought that comes with being a human being. We are really just beginning to understand the brain, its functions, capacities, components, etc., but these all together do not a single mind make.
Although I actually believe we may replace our own humanity with robotics and so-called artificial intelligence someday, that carbon-based oxygen demanding human nature's only lasting progeny may be humanoid and not human, again a humanoid no human is.
This achievement is not even on the order of something like the discovery that round objects roll and can be used to move things. Indeed, it is not clear that all the computer science in the world could have discovered, in the true intuitive sense of the word discover (i.e, autonomously - vs. programmatically - apprehend the meaning and implications of a phenomenon) the meaning of a wheel.
On the one hand, since the human species will not likely survive the next 1 million years, let alone the next 100 million, we'd better keep on discovering as much as possible about ourselves and about the mysteries of life to keep ourselves or our robotic progeny extant for as long as possible. On the other hand, at the rate the humans species seems intractably inclined to destroy life, its own and other, for its own gratification, keeping ourselves alive may be the most destructive thing we can do not only to ourselves but to our planet.
Hubris, hubris: if only we could put our scientific inventiveness to the task of understanding and enhancing ethics, morality, beauty, creativity, kindness and the like,, and do so with the humiltiy of the ant, we'd likely be better off.
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