The folks at Consumer Reports have been poring over early
Black Friday ads for several weeks now and staffers say they've found a lot of
good deals.
But some of the bargains they've uncovered on electronics
might just make it worthwhile to wake up far too early and brave the consumer
crowds on the day after Thanksgiving:
Laptops
In a doorbuster deal, Best Buy is selling a Sony laptop with
a Blu-ray drive for $500. It includes a Blu-ray video, a subscription to a
security software package, and a laptop bag. To take advantage of this
early-bird deal, you need to pick up a ticket at Best Buy (they'll be doled out
starting at 3 a.m. Friday morning), and quantities are limited to 10 per store.
Desktops
Best Buy will also have the HP Pavilion p6624y with a
quad-core AMD processor, 8GB of memory, and a 1TB hard drive. It comes with a
23-inch monitor and a wireless printer. The Black Friday price will be $600;
it's currently on the Best Buy site for $700, without the monitor and printer.
E-book readers
The best deal will demand an early morning. Early-birds at
Best Buy can save about $50 on the Nook Wi-Fi, which is selling at $99.99
rather than its usual price of $150.
32-inch LCD TVs
There are a number of deals on 32-inch LCDs. So far, the
cheapest Consumer Reports is aware of is the Emerson 720p set at Walmart (model
LC320EM1) priced at $198.
50-inch or larger TVs
Walmart also will be breaking the $500 barrier for a 50-inch
plasma with a $498 price on a Sanyo 720p set (DP50740); its regular retail
price is $650.
SLR cameras
Best Buy is offering a package that bundles the magazine's
highly Rated Canon EOS Rebel T2i with two lenses (18-55mm and 55-250mm zooms)
and accessories (an 8GB SDHC memory card and camera bag), for just under
$1,000. The bundled lenses are a plus: With an SLR generally, the more lenses
you have, the better.
Point-and-shoot cameras
If you're shopping for a child or teen, Staples is selling
the rugged Olympus Stylus Tough-3000 for $150 (originally $210). Since it's
waterproof and shockproof, it should be able to withstand some common mishaps.
Camcorders
Among pocket models, Best Buy has a Flip Video UltraHD "package," which includes a few accessories along with the cam, such
as an extra battery pack and bag, for $120 (originally around $200, without any
accessories). And Best Buy has an HD model on sale: Sony Handycam HDR-C150 for
$400 (originally $500).
Printers
For an all-in-one printer that can scan, copy and fax, the
HP OfficeJet 6500 Wireless is reasonably fast, quite economical and one of just
a handful of inkjets that printed excellent-quality text when CR tested it.
Staples has it on sale for $79.98 (regular price: $199.98).
Digital photo frames
Sears has the Consumer Reports "Recommended" Pandigital PAN7000DW 6.9-inch frame on sale for $39.99, regularly $59.99. The frame has a gigabyte of memory, and an optional Wi-Fi adapter lets you get photos from your computer and specific photo-sharing sites.
