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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sanskrit said 9:44AM on 10-22-2009
wow.
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CK said 10:33AM on 10-22-2009
it is obvious that all this computing power is a MAJOR cause of GLOBAL WARMING. The Government must step in now to CONTROL THIS ABUSE and cut internet usage to levels acceptable to the masses.
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KarlW said 10:50AM on 10-22-2009
Computing power doesn't cause global warming; polluting electricity generators do. There are plenty of ways to generate electricity without contributing to global warming.
definndesign said 1:14PM on 10-26-2009
Global Warming is an Earthly Trend not caused by a bleep like humanity. Do your research and stop listening to Al Gore! You will find the truth.
jeff2590 said 1:23PM on 10-22-2009
I agree with KarlW, There are many ways of making electricity, for the web to run.
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James said 10:00AM on 10-23-2009
Man there's some horrible grammatical/spelling errors in that infographic :0
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mick1e2 said 10:04AM on 10-23-2009
6 billion + people world wide, just over a buck a person, bargin (ok maybe a billion with web access - make that $6/year) oh yeah and a little CO2. Big deal, I spend more than that on petrol a day.
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lessthan16chars said 12:09PM on 10-23-2009
Not to mention that this info graphic does little to explain what size data center is being referenced, what type of servers other than the obligatory small, medium, and large.
@CK - Do your own math, come up with your own conclusions vs listening to what somebody else tells you.
Trust me, great leaps and bounds are being made by Intel and AMD daily to try and shrink the die sizes in their fabrication methods, just in the last 5 years alone we have gone from 90nm to 35nm dies, which is leaps and bounds smaller than 10 years ago, what that does for us? generally less power used because the processors are more efficient, heat generated is wasted energy, also because the heat is generated that means bigger AC's are used to cool these data centers.
It isn't the actions of one group of people, its the collective of the entire industry that will bring the change.
Trust me, we are working on it...
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lol said 1:01PM on 10-23-2009
So.. 7 billion dollars a year worldwide.. that's like a dollar per person. The average person probably pays over $300 a year, just for access to that network. Considering only 13% of people on Earth have internet access, that works out to 210,000% (or 2100x) mark-up, just to connect to the internet. Obviously this doesn't cover the cost of employees, software, and infrastructure, but it's still interesting.
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