My, how times change: The Best of Black Fridays Past

Black Friday. The day where you can always find the best deal ever, right? Well, time is often unkind to even the greatest of tech deals. In the light of today's pricing, the red-hot deals of yester-year have turned cold and their prices invoke a snort and a derisive comment like, "I can't believe we used to pay $250 for a 17" LCD - and thought we were getting a deal!" *Snort*! And yet, last year's Black Friday deals were so good, they'd still be be smoking hot if they were available today.

Come, deal-seeker, take a walk with us, down the cobwebbed hallways of our archives, to check out Black Friday deals of the past:

Most Popular Deals, Black Friday 2006

• Micro Center in-store: Acer Celeron 14" Widescreen Laptop for $199.99 after rebate;
• Office Depot in-store: HP Desktop PC + 17" CRT Monitor + Printer for $99.99 after rebates (service contract required);
• Micro Center in-store: 32" widescreen LCD HDTV for $369.99 after rebate;
• Micro Center in-store: 42" widescreen LCD HDTV for $799.99 after rebate;
• Best Buy in-store: Toshiba 50" Widescreen Plasma HDTV for $1,699.99;
• AppleStore.com: $100 off MacBook and iMac computers;
• Staples.com: Maxtor DiamondMax 200GB IDE Internal Hard Drive for $20 shipped after rebate

Black Friday 2005

• Dell.com: New Dell Inspiron B130 Pentium 1.73GHz Widescreen Notebooks from $486;
• BestBuy.com: Samsung SyncMaster 914V 19" LCD display for $223 after rebate
• Amazon.com: Syntax Olevia LT32HV 32" HD-Ready LCD TV for $698 after rebate;
• CircuitCity.com: Western Digital 250GB IDE Internal Hard Drive for $60 shipped after rebates;
• AppleStore.com: Up to 33% off, iSight webcam for $118;
• Amazon.com: Olevia 32" HD-Ready LCD TV for $698 after rebate.

Black Friday 2004

• Best Buy stores: Western Digital 160GB IDE Internal Hard Drive for $30 after rebates;
• Best Buy stores: Toshiba Celeron M 1.4GHz 15" Notebook PC for $499.99;
• OfficeMax.com: Micro Advantage 1GB USB drive for $50;
• eCOST.com: Syntax Olevia 27" LCD TV for $789 after rebate;
• AppleStore.com: $101 off G5 iMacs;
• Best Buy stores: Samsung SyncMaster 17" LCD Display for $250 after rebates;
• eCOST.com: iPod mini 4GB w/freebie for $228 shipped after rebate

Black Friday 2003

• Best Buy in-store.com: Toshiba Celeron 2.4GHz 14" Laptop with 256MB RAM for $499.99 after rebates;
• BestBuy.com: MAG 14" LCD Display for $100 shipped after rebate;
• Staples.com: Maxtor 80GB EIDE 8MB for $40 shipped after rebate;
• AppleStore.com: 10% off iPods and accessories;
• Gateway.com: Gateway 30" LCD TV + $500 gift card for $3,500 shipped

Black Friday 2002

• Aldi Food Stores: Loaded P4/2.66GHz desktop for $899;
• OfficeDepot.com: Maxtor 40GB EIDE 7200 for $30 after rebate;
• CompUSA.com: 6.8" portable DVD player for $300 shipped