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.
Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, has looked into the crystal ball hidden deep inside the company's headquarters. Besides plenty of dollar signs for Google, Schmidt envisions a drastically different Internet five years from now than the one we know today. 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
anthony vignocchi said 3:13PM on 10-28-2009
does that mean we will need to learn chinese
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villierj said 6:33PM on 11-09-2009
Yes please let me know what's happening.
Villier
RV said 6:03PM on 10-28-2009
No. It simply means we'll now have to press "F1" for English!
trakker22 said 3:28PM on 10-28-2009
Wow! You mean I'll be getting web pages in a language that serves me no purpose even FASTER?! Sign me up!
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newyorkmba said 4:13PM on 10-28-2009
Great, my ISP is already raping customers at 7 MB per second; so let's go to 100 MB per sec so they can charge us $1,000.00 per month for home use?
I would have thought that economies of scale (over the last 5 years) would have lowered monthly ISP costs, but greed is king.
Seriously, what's all this about more chinese content? Why is this an issue to an American audience in Orlando? I guess that's where the big bucks are so screw the american user.
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Jules said 5:44PM on 10-28-2009
It's bad enough that in AMERICA, where ENGLISH is the main language, that whenever I make any business phone calls I immediately get a voice recording requesting whether or not I want English or Spanish. It gets frustrating and time-consuming. The Asians actually already own a lot of prime commercial realty in America, yet our government and even other U.S.-based companies like Nike,etc., still continues to outsource jobs to companies outside of the U.S.A., instead of keeping them here and making more jobs readily available to our very own American citizens. Yet, these same companies expect us to pay 10X more than the cost of manufacturing, and it just becomes absurd. No offense to any nationality, but if I wanted to speak Spanish or see Chinese on the Internet, then I would visit one of those locations.
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alexanderokeefe said 6:07PM on 10-28-2009
I know the whole pressing "1" or "2" gets SOOO tedious. How dare people speak another language in America!
Sam said 5:25PM on 10-28-2009
The only thing you can count on happening to the Internet is the small guy, who now has a fighting chance, getting pushed so deep into the search results as to become invisible and accordingly, out of business. The days of a level playing field on the Internet will soon be gone and only those businesses and other interests with the money to pay for placement will benefit from the web. Maybe someone will come up with a new platform to compete with an Internet owned and controlled by Google and a few others and catering only to those who can pay the most.
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emzgold said 5:49PM on 10-28-2009
omigosh! THIS IS AMERICA PEOPLE! WE SPEAK AMERICAN! if asians want t live hear, let them learn our languagee
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wavechaser said 6:07PM on 10-28-2009
Hung....you witty devil....... Let me guess.....when Rush is on the radio
( which by the way in the future will be one part of the big global internet world )....you say.......Ditto !....Ditto !........oh great , fearless leader.....tell me what to say, think and do...show me the way master....you are Lord
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Alice said 6:32PM on 10-28-2009
I would rather the Chinese take over the WEB instead of Obama type people who only want to look at porno. They say that Obama is so illiterate that he cannot use the internet now and requires someone to read the screen for him. At least Bush could read and understand items without thinking there is 57 states. I just watched Glenn Beck on Fox news and he says Obama will not last long since there will be proof of his forged birth certificate.
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Marianne said 6:48PM on 10-28-2009
I just watched Glenn Beck and I didn't hear anything about forged birth certificates. I could have missed it I suppose but I have never heard Glenn talk about Obama's forged birth certificate.
Ed said 7:45PM on 10-28-2009
Alice= whats wrong w/America
jagdon17 said 6:52PM on 10-28-2009
Thats right Alice.... WHAT ROCK DID YOU CLIMB OUT FROM UNDER!!! His birth certificate was settled in my state a year ago!! Real smart!! We are talking about the internet!! Go troll somewhere else!! I myself cant wait until the changes in the internet! I love it now, but that will be great even faster! As for chinese, well, i think with all the different languages we have we need to have a choice.. People stop being sooo racist!!
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robtheblogger6 said 6:52PM on 10-28-2009
I foresee another .COM bubble bursting with the saturation of the internet. The chinese outnumber us 5:1; they are the future since americans have become too lazy to keep the edge so start learning your mandarin.
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rclariana said 6:55PM on 10-28-2009
Alice,
your kidding, right? Obama lived on his blackberry until they took it away when he was elected; because as a wireless device, it is not secure enough and could unintentionally broadcast vital security info. You really need to read/listen/watch other media outlets that may give you some balance.
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lovebug3585 said 7:00PM on 10-28-2009
hey alice, how did obama graduate from harvard if he couldn't use the internet? Did you actually read what you were typing and how insane the things you claim actually are? Rumors people! Use the internet to do some research.
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k3rojal said 7:01PM on 10-28-2009
Obama have have held a blackberry but he certainly was not reading wht was on it. He cannot read simple sentences and requires a teleprompter written in easy to understand short words. If Obama had his way, he would want the web to be in ebonics which he does understand smoewhat. I was watching Glenn Beck on Fox News and he said Obama still believes there are 57 states in America. He is a very phoney person and is only a token for his type people.
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katyangello said 7:20PM on 10-28-2009
Hey Alice,
Maybe you should spend some time brushing up on your own grammer skills, rather than dissing the President.
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Justin said 8:41PM on 10-28-2009
Wow Alice could you really be that dumb?
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