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 3)
JUST A NAME said 11:52AM on 12-24-2008
Passing and MCSE test doesn't mean you're a Microsoft employee, switched needs to hire someone new for the headlines that actually knows stuff.
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Brian said 12:58PM on 12-24-2008
Where does it say she is employed by Microsoft?
This is like saying I work for A+.
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Bob said 3:36PM on 12-24-2008
Brian's right. An MCSE cert is just that: a certification. It's not Microsoft employment. It's too bad there isn't some sort of certification or IQ test to write articles for AOL or Switched.
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Fay said 11:22PM on 12-25-2008
Actually she is working on the MCSE it says so. she is now officially an MCP.. NOT MCSE. that one is a lot harder. first test you pass you get MCP. you have to take and pass like 6 tests to get the MCSE. and for 9 yrs it is an absolutely fantastic accomplishment. MCSE is Micrsoft Certified Systems Engineer. For anyone who doesn't know the class is very very fast paced. and definitely not easy. the class I went to we lost over half the class when we got to thebinary ip addressing math.
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Chris said 7:48PM on 12-24-2008
Great, just what the IT world needs, another body with an MCSE certification that can't apply any of the knowledge.....
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Anna-Marie Overend said 1:43PM on 12-25-2008
AOL's writers seem to be studying at the school of PEOPLE, InStyle etc journalism. The content seems to be aimed toward a market of junior high school students. Any chance this is going to change or am I going to have to find another internet connection?
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borderraven said 6:52AM on 12-25-2008
There is book smarts, test smarts and tool smarts, but passing the CompTIA A+ and any Microsoft exam, does not get you a steady pay check from Microsoft. A six year old child may sing "Over the Rainbow" perfectly, on a talent show, but not win a recording contract. I want to extend best wishes to all young students of technolgy, and I wish them sucess in their path of education and employment. I suggest parents allow their children to grow up enjoying childhood for their first 11 years.
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carol said 8:03AM on 12-25-2008
oh great! so we not only have a language barrier when calling customer service, now we have to deal with children. But hey........dont have to pay them more than what .....a buck a week right? sheesh!
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Dawn said 11:50AM on 12-30-2008
Do you even know what you are talking about? These people, Indians, are very INTELLIGENT people who have a right to earn a living like you do. A dollar a day is like a fortune to them because they don't live where you have to spend your whole life savings to survive. Let the kid alone, obviously she has an awesome family who supports her and a great country that has at least taken advantage of the economic boom that our country has given them.
Adam said 5:10PM on 12-30-2008
Before you start bashing this girl lets see you do what shes done
Bagman520 said 6:08PM on 12-25-2008
Right on, Anna-Marie!!
I am sick to death of having to weed through a lot of mindless fluff just to get to a "real" news story. And a lot of "stories" are full of mis-spellings and grammar errors that would give a 5th-grade English teacher a heart attack. Come on, folks. If you want your ideas taken seriously, at least write them in proper English and spell the words right. Don't write like someone who slept through elementary school, high school, and college. Yes, college. I could show you blog posts written by college graduates that a 5th-grader would get a failing grade for.
AOL, you publish the written word. That makes you a guardian of the language. If you publish a mistake, people are going to see it. They will say "Well, the folks at AOL are professional writers. If they wrote it that way, it must be correct." And the next thing you know, the mistake spreads and becomes "correct" itself. And that is wrong.
I don't know what else to add. Any comments are welcome, whether you agree with me or not. I am signing my real name to this so that you know I am serious about this issue.
Bernie Zuccarelli
Seattle, WA
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Mark said 12:35AM on 12-26-2008
And most alleged college graduates don't a sentence with a preposition.
Bagman520 said 12:05PM on 12-26-2008
Mark:
You did *exactly* what I was talking about. You didn't read what you wrote. You didn't type "end" the way you intended. Your sentence should have been "...don't end a sentence with a preposition." You missed it. And my guess is because all you did is run your response through spell-check. Spell-check is useless. It doesn't tell you that you used the wrong word or that you left a word out. All spell-check does is tell you that you spelled the words you used right. To be sure you did everything right you have to proof-read what you wrote.
This is my entire point, and I thank you for proving me correct. What you wrote is the perfect example of what I am saying. Bloggers don't proof-read, they don't know even the basic rules of grammar and sentence structure, and the more they write the worse blogs get because everyone just copies the other writers' mistakes. And yes, that apostrophe is in the correct place. Look it up in your 5th-grade English text.
Again...I'm asking those who write. Please...proof-read your work. Make sure all your words are spelled right. Your opinions and views can not be taken seriously if you write like someone who failed 5th-grade English.
Keep writing...your opinions and views are indeed valuable to the rest of us. Just clean up your act...ok??
Bernie Zuccarelli
Seattle, WA
Former sailor said 10:30PM on 12-27-2008
Hey, Bernie: thanks for posting what I feel every time I read through a series of posts. A great part of the demise of the English language is the knowledge that if enough people make the same mistakes enough times, eventually Webster's throws in the towel and accepts the change. This is not a natural evolution (of the language), but, rather, the result of laziness (im sur u no wut i meen) and the difference between the teaching community of today and that of fifty years ago, when students actually had to learn, to advance from one grade to the next. This leads to another entire discussion (the lack of quality teachers today), but suffice it to say that you and I have to either go with the flow (I refuse!), or keep fighting the good battle to resurrect proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure. It would help if AOL retained a couple of editors/proof readers, and started requiring their writers to observe the five Ws and an H. We were taught these basic precepts of journalism in grade school, but today's journalists and bloggers seem to have never heard of them. Maybe AOL should insert a new poll after each of its articles: "Was this article well-written and researched?" Response: "(a.) Yes" "(b.) No." or "(c.) I don't no, cuz I nevr got past fith grade, but hey, who cares, cuz know i r workin for AOL." By the way, Bernie: did you mean to say "(and) My guess is that you missed it because...."? And: "All spell-check does is tell you that you correctly spelled the words you used."?
MissNewEngland said 9:00AM on 12-26-2008
Excuse me, Bernie... don't you mean "for WHICH a 5th grade student could get a failing grade." Ahem. I agree w/ you, but practice what you preach, huh?
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Bagman520 said 12:45PM on 12-26-2008
Miss New England,
Yes, in the strictest sense "for which" would be correct. But as we all know, English is always evolving and adapting itself to an ever-changing world. Certain rules that used to be "iron-clad right and wrong" have softened. One is the rule that says not to end a sentence with a preposition. Modern spoken English does not lend itself to what is actually a clumsy construction.
I'm sure you know the famous quote from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He was criticized by a journalist for saying "This is something I will not put up with." The journalist pointed out that he had ended his sentence with a preposition. Mr. Churchill re-phrased his comment. "This is something with which I will not put up." The journalist *again* pointed out that the sentence ended with a preposition. An exasperated Mr. Churchill finally said: "This is something up with which I will not put." So...for the sake of clarity and brevity, English has allowed us to "bend the rule" a little. We can indeed end sentences with prepositions, we can use less stilted and clumsy constructions such as "for which" and we can split an infinitive if we find that to actually do that helps make the meaning of our sentence more clear. (That was a joke, by the way)
I love English for its flexibility, for its colorfulness of expression, and for its very ability to paint vivid word pictures and images.
I welcome discussion with whomever would like to explore this issue further, either here at this venue or by individual email.
I look foreward to any comments anyone may have.
Bernie Zuccarelli
Seattle, WA
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Cindy said 9:02PM on 12-27-2008
Bernie...I think you have way too much time on your hands! Why not put your efforts into something worthwhile. You are not going to change how people write on the Internet. If you're trying to prove your'e educated then you've succeeded. Although, when someone corrects what you have written you "bend" the rules, yet you tell someone else to check out a 5th grade English book. Please, get real and get a life. By the way, I didn't use spell check. So if it gives you pleasure, knock your socks off at criticizing anything I've written, but don't forget to "bend" the rules.
gariadea33 said 9:51PM on 12-27-2008
Bernie, I left you a reply on the 27th. :)
Kristin said 11:29PM on 12-27-2008
Bernie,
I have to say I enjoyed reading your comments more than the actual story. That's saying a lot about AOL.
Anyway, about the Churchill quotes. On his first revision, "with which I will not put up," is the word up really functioning as a preposition? No, because it is not describing a noun phrase; therefore, making it gramatically correct.
This is my way of calling that journalist an idiot. :)
Kristin
HenryS12 said 2:28AM on 12-28-2008
Are you the same BagTheMan who posted on the AOL relationship boards several years ago? If so, welcome back! It's great reading your posts again.