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)
cee said 6:13PM on 2-12-2009
I dpwnloaded adawaqre last time AOL had this advixce. It is a bad program that you can;t get rid of, not a virus but DO NOT use it if my experience was any indication. Everytime I ran my Mcafee scan it picked up adware Pro, in the last time they gave this advice, and had to remove it as spyware.
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Lora said 11:07PM on 2-13-2009
Aol. Is my first problem, Anythime I down load something new they tell me 25 times, to download, my computer freezes up and or Aol's program clashes with somethin I already have and the computer crashes.
carol said 11:45AM on 2-13-2009
Honestly I would not still have aol if I didnt need to keep my emaill address.,
melissa said 7:37PM on 2-12-2009
it's funny that the article mentions using avg anti-virus to fix your computer. i downloaded a virus that totally froze my whole computer, just wiped out the whole thing. there was just one screen with big red letters and guess what it said, avg anti-virus over and over and over. it was the only website i could access before the whole thing froze up.
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Concerned said 4:29PM on 2-13-2009
AVG figure it out?
It can't figure out that it is running with a date months in advance from now, which began with a recent update. Again and again, it just continues to report everything is fine and that there are no problems...on its own screen that clearly shows its own problems immediately next to that - yet, nothing is wrong?
How can it find anything else that shouldn't be on my computer when it can't even connect that there is a very concerning issue with itself?
So far nothing I have done is fixing that it reporting it is forever scanning (never finishing) for a date in April 2009, as if every day is THAT day?
And every time I fill out something like this, trying to fix it, I wind up with dozens of emails wanting to sell me "enhancements."
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jim said 3:59PM on 2-14-2009
excellent suite of basic computer maintenance tools to clean up and improve sub-par comoputer performance......probably $1,000.00
worth of programs here.....thanks to Switched and AOL.....
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bill said 10:47AM on 2-17-2009
aol software on my computer does not work very well and i think it is a bad investment.
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bill said 11:04AM on 2-17-2009
i have had nothing but trouble with my aol software for weeks now i tried everything customer support reccomended, even reinstalling the software and it says aol (not responding) i cancelled my service but they ironically bill me the same day i cancel. there should be a class action lawsuit against them if many other people are experiencing what i am.
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Gene said 12:33PM on 2-17-2009
Re: Carol you don't need AOL just download
firefox and you can get all your email off it.
Good luck.
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sal said 2:27PM on 2-17-2009
wow this is strange, as soon as I started reading about how to speed up my computer.........it's slowing down. weird????
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