Black Friday, the nickname for the day after Thanksgiving, is finally here. The start of the 2009 holiday shopping season will begin with a mad rush to malls, retailers, and online stores. Bargain hunters from all parts of the United States will be closely monitoring their favorite stores for basement-level prices and any great deal they can jump on. Many big chain retailers have already leaked out their Black Friday advertisements in hopes of building hype and a huge line the night before. Our favorite company, Apple, is also letting us know that there will be deals on Black Friday. But what are they going to be and what other items should we be keeping our eyes out for? Read on!
The Apple Store has posted a green, white, and red flyer that states, “The special Apple one-day shopping event. November 27.” The message on the basic web page says to come back to the Apple Online Store on Black Friday, when people will find lots of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas, all with free shipping. There are no promises of a sale or discounts, but the rumor mill is already spinning at full speed.
Tech website Gizmodo.com has two rounds of posted rumors. The latest, which looks pretty legitimate, isn’t quite the sale that many people are hoping for. The rumored deals include:
– $100 off MacBook Pro Laptops
– $100 off iMacs
– $20 off iPod Touch devices
– $20 off iPod Nanos
– $20 off AppleTV devices
There is a note at the end of the post saying there will be minor cuts on accessories like AirPort routers, wireless keyboards, and the new Magic Mouse. These deals are supposedly for the online store only.
On Monday, sites Computerworld.com and Boy Genius Report noted that entry-level iMac and MacBook Pro models will be priced at an 8.4% discount. Some of the beefier hardware like the top-end quad-core iMac will see a 5% discount. Best Buy has cut the price of Macs in a sale that runs through Wednesday. Its website states that the low-end iMac is $1,099, which would be a dollar more than the rumored Apple sale price. Other Best Buy discounts include the $100 off the 27-inch iMac and $200 off the price of the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
There is a flip side to these sale prices. For example, in the Apple Store, the 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz iMac runs for $1,499 at regular price. However, if you log into the Student Edition of the store, the same item is $1,399. It’s the same $100 discount, but given to the general public. Shoppers should note that if you purchase from the Education Store on the Apple Store website, there is no verification of whether you are a student or not.
There’s a Black Friday ad for popular Apple wholesaler MacMall.com that can be found on its website. Some of the software, such as Apple OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), is $5 off, while Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 has been discounted by 24% to $64. MacMall.com’s biggest discount went to the 13.3” Apple MacBook Air, which was slashed 25% to $1,349.
As mentioned before, Best Buy has a pretty good Black Friday ad going that Apple users should check out. Beyond the previously mentioned discounts on Mac hardware, there are two great deals on external hard drives. The best deal goes to the Western Digital 1.5 TB My Book Home Edition external drive that’s been discounted to just $119. For those of you who like to edit video on your Mac, this drive is a godsend. If you want to enjoy the best that wireless networking can offer in the 802.11N protocol, the Linksys Ultra Range Plus is discounted to $59.99.
For some of the smaller accessories, you actually might want to hit up Staples. The company’s Black Friday sale will include a really good deal on Sony CD-R media with a 100-pack going for $16.98 and a 50-pack of jewel cases for $4.99. If you want to add a monitor to your Apple experience, they have an Acer 23” Widescreen LCD going for $139.98.
The best thing to do as a shopper is to do your research now on the various Black Friday websites and shop around. You might find a few deals you just can’t pass up and can easily map out your shopping day. Happy hunting!
Comments are closed.