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)
shelly said 8:07PM on 12-14-2008
Here is a site to get 3000 channels
http://www.tinyurl.com/3000channels
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David said 11:47AM on 12-18-2008
That site was fantastic
ElevatorHappyFun said 10:02PM on 12-14-2008
scam!
nice try.
Charles said 10:01AM on 12-15-2008
What nonsense. If someone wants to squint at a small low definition streaming video on a computer screen, more power to them. Or if someone is in such financial straits that getting rid of satellite or cable makes sense, then good for them. But speaking for myself I prefer to watch on a large screen in high definition with decent audio.
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Neurotic Nomad said 10:27PM on 12-24-2008
Times are tough. We’re all looking for ways to cut spending. After looking at my cable bill, I decided (with zero research and zero preparation) to see if my wife and I could live without television for 52 weeks, relying solely on the internet.
Two TV Junkies under one roof can consume a remarkable amount of programming content. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there is no silver bullet one-size-fits-all solution to replacing television with the internet. We watch a mixture of streamed shows and downloads.
After a bit of a learning curve we’re up to speed and have not missed a single show. Election night was a bit tense, but I didn’t miss a beat. Plus, we’ve saved $250 in five months. Best of all, my setup has passed The Wife Test (your milage may vary).
I just published the first half of my write-up @ http://replacetelevision.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/how-to-drop-cable-and-satellite-and-still-watch-everything-part-1-streaming/
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Wolfster said 11:58PM on 1-23-2009
I've decided to ditch my cable and have only broadband, after realizing I was paying top dollar to click onto channel after channel of crappy reruns and one reality show and infomercial after another. Remember that networks also have their own websites where they run full-length episodes. And the library is a good place to check out dvds for free; you can also pick them up cheap at used bookstores and thrift stores (the thrift dvds are so cheap they're worth the small chance that one won't play properly).
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elsie said 5:45PM on 3-05-2009
this is all great, but like 10% of the population, I have a hearing loss and depend on closed captions for viewing. Do any of these site have captions? I have tried the network site and they don't. So internet viewing is useless to me. It is blatant discrimination, but the industry really doesn't care. it is also stupidly unnecessary as they pay to have them captioned for TV. The same coding can be used on internet. But the don't. FCC is trying to force it, but the industry keeps resisting. So I am out of luck.
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