Issue 47.11
For many years now, if you wanted really good deals on Christmas presents, you would need to get up very early on the Friday after Thanksgiving and camp out at the doors of the store selling your “superdeal” on electronics, toys, clothing etc. That is beginning to change as shoppers are being offered more great deals online and through extended superdeals that are showing up even before Black Friday. Some stores are even calling it “Black November” and offering great prices well before the holidays start.
If you have wondered why they call it “Black Friday” or “Black November”, it is because many businesses count on the buying season starting around Thanksgiving to put them “in the black” which means they are now making a profit. I have been keeping an eye on the deals that are coming up and will try to share some of the best I have seen, but many stores are keeping their best deals super quiet until they are ready to make a splash with their advertising.
A couple of weeks ago we talked about tablet computers. They are one of the big items this year. Some of the best deals I have seen are the Amazon Kindle at $199 and the Vizio Tablet at $189. A number of others are available as low as $100. As usual, the IPads are not being discounted anywhere I have seen and run from $498-$829.
I have seen indications that flat panel televisions are going to be big again this year with some brands of 32″ tvs going under $200 for the first time ever. Similar savings will be showing up on the larger sizes as well with 40″ selling near $300 and 55″ for around $700.
Canon, HP and Lexmark are indicating they are selling entry level all-in-one printers in the $40-$50 range. Laptop and desktop computers both start at around $300, but if you want the better brands and models, prepare to pay $400 or more. Some of the low-end laptops are single-core (most good ones are at least dual core) and the cheaper brands (Compaq, Emachines, etc.) don’t have as good a record of reliability or happy customers.
Cameras have really expanded their resolution quality while keeping costs low. There are 14 megapixel units with optical zoom being offered as low as $50 and the SLR type digital cameras (those with the swappable lenses and ultra high quality lenses and photo quality) have dropped to below $400 for some models.
Blu-Ray players are available in the $80 range and internal Blu-rays for your computer are now around $100. The units that record are still pricy starting at around $150, but have dropped quite a bit from last year and the recordable media is still pretty expensive at around $2 per disc.
Flash drives have dropped quite a bit this last year and we are approaching the point where you can spend around $1 per Gigabyte of storage on some units. Game systems have dropped as well with the XBox 360 going for $150 and the Playstation 3 at $200.
Remember that these prices are often for limited stock and/or limited time such as doorbuster specials only available for a couple of hours. You have to check the ads that will be coming out Thanksgiving week or check individual store website for online and doorbuster specials.
Happy hunting – and always remember to back up anything important to you.
Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 30 years, 20 years of it locally with Bits ‘N’ Bytes and Musicomp and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions you can reach him at 435-668-7118 or through his website at www.bitsnbytescomputers.com.