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)
Hope said 8:21PM on 2-17-2009
This is a stupid article. Not everyone in this country needs hi-speed when they only use the internet for emails. Senior citizens use the internet to send emails and connect with grandchildren. As a small business owner, I still use dial-up for a flat rate of $25.95. The only reason I switched to hi speed starting in January was AOL shut down my acct claiming I had violated their TOS but no one could explain what exaclty that was. My customers thought I went out of business so I had to contact at&t, combine all the phone bills and set up a new email address so my customers could get in touch with. I for one cannot see any difference between dial up and high speed. Then just as suddenly AOL activated up acct and it is is still in use until I can make sure all my customers have my new email address on file. Dial up may take couple extra seconds but works just fine. The old adage ... "a penny saved is a penny earned" now more than ever applies to all of us in these hard times so don't throw away or discount the dial up.
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SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) said 8:53PM on 2-17-2009
now i understand about the money thing but if you honestly can't tell the difference between dial-up and high speed you are either a) delusional b) have some kind of mutant fast dial-up c) have the worst high speed ISP out there or d) have an old as dirt computer.
seriously, i live more than a mile out of my town so they won't run high speed cables out here but i was able to find a satellite internet ISP that could serve me. i would get like 8kb/sec on dial-up and i can get about 90kb/sec on satellite. and lets not talk about when i go to my friends house who has Comcast high speed, i get consistently upwards of 900kb/sec and some times around 1.5mb/sec. so again, i understand the money issue, $500 is alot of money, but please don't say dial-up is close to high speed in terms of speed cause that's just ridiculous.
Dom said 12:08AM on 2-18-2009
Dial-up may be slow,
but not so fast,
if no place else to go,
when money's got to last.
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ckzx2 said 1:28AM on 2-18-2009
The service may be cheaper, however you still need a POTS line, service there can be $20-40 per month. If you've "cut the cord" and gone completely cellular its likely cheaper to still just do the DSL/Cable route than stack services.
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JSams4131 said 10:04AM on 2-18-2009
yea there is ABSOLUTELY a difference between dial up and high speed. but yes using 56k to check email is perfectly fine (for mainly just non-HTML formats)....if anyone has the oppurtunity to get high speed, Ditch AOL ( i did many years ago, and did not look back), and if your have Verizon FiOS, or any kind of FiOS around you get that...you will be amazed how fast your internet is for less than 120 a month with tv and phone.
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