'Twas the Week Before the Week of Black Friday

theodp writes: It's almost time for America's answer to the Running of the Bulls (YouTube), kids. So, if you're dreaming of a cheap tech Christmas, it's time to peruse the 2015 Black Friday ads and make your game plan. Get lucky at Best Buy this year, and you could score a $299.99 Dell 15.6" touchscreen laptop (i3, 8GB memory, 1 TB HD), a $399.99 Microsoft 10.8" Surface 3 (Atom x7, 2GB memory, 64GB storage), $899.99 MacBook Pro 13.3" laptop (i5, 4GB memory, 500MB HD), $99 Acer 11.6" Chromebook (Celeron, 2GB memory, 16GB storage), or, for those on a tight budget, a $34.99 7" Amazon Fire tablet. Fight the crowds at Walmart, and you could snag a $199 HP 15.6" laptop (Celeron, 4GB memory, 500GB drive) or $199 iPad mini 2. And for stay-at-home shoppers, Dell's Windows 10 price-breakers include a $149.99 14" laptop (Celeron, 2GB memory, 32GB storage) and a $229 15.6" laptop (i3, 4GB memory, 500MB HD). So, in your experience, has Black Friday been like a claw machine — suckering you with big prizes, but never delivering — or have you actually walked away with a great deal?

Comments

Isn't anyone bored of being a consumer yet?

[MrKaos]

Maybe we can have a 'White Friday' where people get together and hack up some really interesting thing you can only make. but not buy buy bye. It just seems like the same shit in a different bucket all the time and just a bit boring. Can we skip christmas this year - but keep the holiday?

Re:*Yawn*

[evilviper]

Black Friday is only worth it if you're extremely poor . . .

The lines outside stores on black friday are probably SHORTER than the lines outside stores when the latest iPhone comes out... Who said anything about it being "worth it"?

good quality decent stuff is never on sale on that day

Of course it is. I got a Samsung smartphone for half-price (just a month or so after it debuted) in a black friday sale. Of course I only bothered because the deal was good for the whole weekend, so I ordered online and picked it up before closing on Sunday. This year I see a 49" Toshiba TV going for $150 instead of $400. Amazon Fire 7" tablet for 30% off.

There are certainly savings to be had, just as much on name brands as generic imports. I certainly wouldn't waste my Thanksgiving camping outside a store, but it might not be as much of a loss for others.