The Best of the Black Friday Ad Leaks We've Seen So Far

Published November 15, 2011

By Louis Ramirez, dealnews Senior Feature Writer

The countdown to Black Friday is in full swing, and whereas last week we only saw a handful of leaked Black Friday ads, this week the number of circulars has spiked with over 40 ads at your disposal. To help you separate the gimmicks from the doorbusters, we've combed through each of the ads and highlighted the most noteworthy sales below.

Gadgets are a notable hot commodity this week, as the number of electronics sales has increased. There are now more than 10 leaked Black Friday ads featuring electronics. Moreover, we can now speculate on the offerings from two of the retailers from our top five merchants for Black Friday deals. Here's the lowdown on the top ads:

Best Buy's ad has gone public, and we're keeping a close eye on its Apple discounts, which will purportedly take up to $200 off new MacBook Pro and iMac purchases. That's already better than the Black Friday discount we normally see direct from Apple, of up to 10% off. Another big-ticket item is the HP Intel Core i7 17" Laptop with 6GB of RAM for $650. Although it doesn't quite match the specs from our Black Friday prediction, it's still incredibly low for a 17" Core i7 desktop replacement. And while that laptop doesn't meet our laptop predictions, this Lenovo 15.6" Laptop with 2GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive for $180 exceeds them by $9. As does this Sharp LC-42SV49U 42" 1080p LCD HDTV for $200; if it pans out, it would be $119 under our TV prediction for a 42" LCD. Equally impressive is the Sharp LC-60E79U 60" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV for $800, an all-time low for a 60" brand-name LCD HDTV. And last, but not least, is the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 10.1" 16GB LED-Backlit Android Tablet for $250, which would be the lowest price we've seen by a full $50.
Wholesale-giant Costco is discounting a boatload of electronics according to its leak. A good number of Costco's discounts will appeal to health-conscious geeks as we noted sales on a Garmin Heart Rate Monitor, BodyMedia Fit Link Armband, and elliptical machine. Otherwise you'll find lots of house items mixed in with a few apparel deals.
For a greater selection of apparel deals, we highly recommend browsing through the Kohl's ad, which offers discounts on everything from slippers to jackets. Likewise, Macy's has deep cuts on winter coats for children, women, and men.
In addition to a sea of laptops, OfficeMax will also have the Kindle Keyboard 3G for $99. Although this is the previous model, it's still nicely discounted.
App fans won't want to miss the Apple iTunes $25 Gift Card 4-Pack for $80 at Sam's Club. That's the lowest we've seen all year for this 4-pack.
If you must travel to a store on Black Friday, we highly recommend you make it worthwhile. Old Navy will have a huge selection of sales for those brave enough to venture outdoors on Black Friday. Likewise, Staples will have two very aggressive tablet sales in-store only: The Blackberry Playbook 7" 16GB WiFi Tablet for $199 and the Acer Iconia 10.1" 16GB Android Tablet for $299 (both all-time lows).
For video games and DVDs, Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart will have a wide selection of titles to choose from, as will goHastings and GameStop.
We admit: it's not the sexiest Black Friday sale, and we're not suggesting you do your holiday shopping here, but everyone needs toiletries, and both Rite Aid and Walgreens have leaked their Black Friday specials. So why not stock up your medicine cabinet while the sales are flowing?
Finally, Lowe's and Ace Hardware offer a wide selection of gift ideas for the do-it-yourselfer on your holiday shopping list.

We're constantly unearthing new ads, so keep an eye on future ad leaks by bookmarking our Black Friday page. And don't forget to check out our Black Friday predictions, with price information for HDTVs, laptops, tablets, Apple products, and more.

Photo credit: Lauretti Plumbing

 An avid gadget lover, Louis Ramirez has covered technology for Gizmodo, CNET, Laptop, and various other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @LouisRamirez. You can also sign up for an email alert for all dealnews features. 

Please note that, although prices sometimes fluctuate or expire unexpectedly, all products and deals mentioned in this feature were available at the lowest total price we could find at the time of publication (unless otherwise specified).

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