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)
Colin said 3:22PM on 11-02-2009
Can I ask you why "[you] hope they're little girls?"
This casual homophobia and knee-jerk gender role reinforcement is exactly what I don't need to see in a politic-neutral technology blog - which, if anything, I mistakenly expect to be more progressive because of the futurism of the subject matter.
I'd like to politely request a response or retraction, and apology to your readers. I'll be pulling Switched and it's family from my RSS in the meantime. Sacrificing journalistic credibility for snark is something the blog community does well, but I won't continue to support the AOL news network with my pageviews and clickthroughs as long as it is at the forefront of this trend.
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trademarkable said 3:30PM on 11-02-2009
Amen. Though I wouldn't ever believe technology advances are politically neutral. It's the personal, retrograde politics I wouldn't want to read. But even if I were in agreement with these noxious "knee-jerk" gender roles don't give up on Switched. Hold their feet to the fire!
trademarkable said 3:24PM on 11-02-2009
You "hope they're little girls?" As in, boys shouldn't play with dolls? Are you serious? Plenty of boys play with dolls and fantasize about being a parent. Why wouldn't we want to encourage nurturing behavior in our future fathers? Are you saying video games should remain the province of (hopefully fantastical) warmongering? I can't believe I'm reading this in 2009. How disappointing.
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Leila Brillson said 3:29PM on 11-02-2009
I agree with your statement about little girls and boys. The snark we meant to make was adults playing with a baby doll, not any particular gender statements. I've added 'boys', and kept the sass towards anyone over the age of 12 who is spending their time nursing an inanimate object. That isn't a Ropid.
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trademarkable said 3:33PM on 11-02-2009
But that's not acceptable either. Why wouldn't some adults want to play with this? There are lots of empty nesters, elderly, parents who've lost their children, etc., who might find it quite therapeutic to play this sort of game. And what if an adult isn't that good at caring for a baby? Why would it be anything but positive to have a game which develops parenting skills? Even if I believed you that the original text wasn't meant to be sexist (how could anyone miss that?) why denigrate adults who want to care for children? So sad.
Leila Brillson said 3:44PM on 11-02-2009
I'm not denigrating any adults who are trying to hone a nesting instinct, but I think I would be one of the first people to point out that child-rearing sims ALWAYS ALWAYS reinforce the gender stereotypes you are riling against and have virtually no education value. They ARE creepy, they refer to you as the "mother", pink is for girls who get to wear bows and dresses and blue is for boys who like fire trucks. If you are taking child rearing tips from a Wiimote attachment and a game that asks players to play create-an-outfit and something called "Balloons" , then you should probably put down a controller and pick up, I don't know, Erik Erickson.
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Chris said 4:10PM on 11-02-2009
REMEMBER HOW FUN TAMAGOTCHI WAS? ENDLESS HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT!
I hope this developer makes a sequel where you take care of old elderly people next. WHY ARE THESE GAMES ALWAYS AGEIST AND HAVE TO DO WITH TAKING CARE OF THE YOUNG? My grandparents need their bed-pans changed. Imagine the fun of pouring it out with the Wiimote; or scrubbing their dentures! Oh no! They've fallen! Help them up!
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