The Best of the Black Friday Ads: The Final Roundup

Published November 22, 2011

By Louis Ramirez, Lindsay Sakraida, and Jeff Somogyi

dealnews presents to you our last, most epic roundup of the best Black Friday ads. We'll continue to see leaked ads after this, but at this very moment, these are the most notable deals we could find while sifting through the hundreds of offers that are already available. We've got all-time low laptops, reasonably-priced washing machines, cheap Blu-ray players with Netflix, and more. Dive in, see what entices you, and start planning!

Laptops:

If you're after raw power in a laptop, then nothing will top the horsepower you'll find in a desktop replacement. Our Black Friday ads are showing some aggressive discounts on these systems, and the one that grabs our attention the most is the Dell 17.3" Laptop with 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD for $700 at Costco, which is $20 under our Black Friday prediction. Another noteworthy deal is the HP G7-1281NR 17.3" Laptop with 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $350 at Office Depot. That's the least-expensive 17" HP laptop we've seen. As far as confirmed ads go, there's the Toshiba L775-57307 17.3" Laptop with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD for $350 at Best Buy, and if you're more so an HP fan, you can pay just $30 more and get the HP Pavilion 17.3" Laptop w/ 4GB RAM & 320GB HDD for $380, also at Best Buy.
For basic 15" to 16" laptops, we've yet to see a better (confirmed) deal than the Lenovo AMD E-300 Dual-Core 16" Laptop with 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD for $180 at Best Buy. That price exceeds our "basic laptop" prediction by $9 and is the least-expensive 16" dual-core laptop we've seen. Equally impressive is the (rumored) Asus X53URH11 15.6" Laptop w/ 3GB RAM & 320GB HDD for $250 at hhgregg, a new low for an ASUS laptop of this size. Alternatively, for $100 more the ASUS X53E-RH92 15.6" Laptop with 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $350 doubles your RAM and is still just $25 shy of our Black Friday prediction. Finally, the Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5332 AMD Dual-Core 15.6" Laptop with 3GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $300 at Radio Shack is slated to be one of the least-expensive Satellite laptops we've seen.
If you want a smaller laptop, the HP HP2000 14.6" Laptop with 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD for $300 at Staples remains our top choice, but if you need your 14" notebook to pack slightly better specs, then we suggest looking at the ASUS Intel Core i7 14" Laptop with 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD for $700 at Best Buy, which will be the least-expensive 14" ASUS Core i7-based system we've seen with this much RAM.

HD Televisions:

The Sharp LC-42SV49U 42" 1080p LCD HDTV for $200 at Best Buy could be the killer HDTV deal this Black Friday. Not only is it the lowest price we've seen for a 42" 1080p LCD HDTV, but it's also 37% lower than our prediction for a TV of this size and the lowest Black Friday price we've seen for any HDTV of this size (even beating out prices on third-tier TVs). Simply put, this is the deal you want if you're looking for a 42" HDTV. If you can't make it to Best Buy, a close runner up is the Element ELDFT404 40" 60Hz 1080p LCD HDTV for $265 at Target. While not a name-brand TV, it's still a low for a TV of this size.
Not to be outdone, Target is offering the Westinghouse VR-4625 46" 1080p LCD HDTV for an all-time low of $298. That's the lowest price we've seen for any 46" HDTV (and it's $101 under our prediction for 46" HDTVs). Honorable mention goes to the Hisense F46V89C 46" 1080p HDTV for $400 at hhgregg, which is just $1 shy from meeting our Black Friday prediction of $399. If you want a name-brand 46" TV, BJ's will have the Vizio 47" 1080p LCD HDTV for $490, an all-time low for any Vizio TV of this size.
Unfortunately, no 55" LCD HDTVs have come close to hitting our Black Friday prediction of $549. However, this Dynex DX-55L150A11 55" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV for $600 at Best Buy is so far the least-expensive 55" HDTV we'll see this week. That model is closely followed by the Hisense F55V89C 55" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV for $700 at hhgregg. In an interesting turn of events, Walmart promised the least-expensive name brand 55" HDTV this Black Friday with the LG 55LV4400 55" 120Hz 1080p LED HDTV for $898. However, Best Buy has stolen their thunder and is already offering it for that price (which could mean we'll see this model for less when Black Friday actually arrives).
On the 60" front, Best Buy and hhgregg are neck and neck with their Black Friday offerings. The former has the Sharp LC-60E79U 60" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV for $800, whereas the latter has the Sharp LC60E69U Aquos 60" 120Hz 1080p HDTV for $800. The difference between the two models is that the LC-60E79U has 4 HDMI ports versus the LC60E69U, which only has 3.
Last but not least is the Samsung 51" 600Hz 720p 3D Plasma TV with Four Pairs of 3D Glasses for $599 at AAFES.com. Although we just saw the TV alone for $99 less, the above-mentioned Black Friday bundle includes four pairs of 3D glasses. Not a fan of 3D? There's also the Samsung 51" 600Hz 720p Plasma HDTV for $498, which is a buck under our latest mention.

Gaming Consoles:

Nintendo fans should check out the Wii consoles for $99 from Sam's Club, Meijer, and Walmart (for $100), which tie an October deal as the lowest price we've seen for a new Wii. (Typically, only refurbished consoles hit this price point.)
Also notable is the Xbox 360 4GB console for $100, which is by far the best price we've seen on that item. It's only available at AAFES.com though, which serves the military community. Otherwise, the deal for $140 at Target is the next best deal we've seen, beating a $200 offer we saw that came with a $50 gift card. (We've also seen the console for $200 with a $50 gift card and two games, but it was only available for pickup at Fry's.) If you're looking to get the Kinect sensor as well, Walmart has the Xbox 360 4GB console with Kinect and a $50 gift card for $200. Assuming you use the card, that's an all-time low, beating previous mentions of this bundle for $300 with a $100 card. Deals on the 250GB Holiday Bundle for $199 at Sam's Club and $200 at Best Buy are also all-time lows.

Electronics / Hard Drives:

Hard drive offers are pretty unexciting so far, and not a single ad has met our predictions for 1TB and 2TB offers. That said, there were a few somewhat notable deals: Office Depot will offer the Seagate GoFlex 3TB Home Network Storage System for $150, which would be an all-time low by $20. Meanwhile, BJ's Wholesale Club could potentially offer the most notable deal in the bunch with the Seagate 3TB External Hard Drive for $90. If it pans out, that would be the lowest total price we've ever seen for such a drive from Seagate, as well as the third cheapest 3TB external HDD.
As for electronics, Best Buy will offer the Apple iPod touch 8GB MP3 Player with a $50 gift card for $195; assuming you use the card, that's the lowest total price we've seen for a new unit. Or, grab the 6th-generation Apple iPod nano Multi-Touch 8GB MP3 Player with a $15 gift card for $125, also at Best Buy. Again assuming you use the card, it's the best deal we've seen since April, when it was briefly a buck less. While there, you'll also want to check out the $100 iTunes Gift Card for $80, which is the best discount since June.
The most notable Blu-ray offer comes from Best Buy, which will carry the Toshiba BDX2150 Smart Blu-ray Disc Player for $40. That's $5 under our prediction for a Netflix-enabled player. Note that hhgregg is rumored to offer the same player for the same price, but after a $20 mail-in rebate. (The store will have 40 per store as well, instead of Best Buy's 20.)

The Best of the Rest:

While $5 T-shirts can be exciting, the most notable items in Old Navy's ads are the winter coats; adult puffy jackets sell for $29 and pea coats for $25. Meanwhile, Express is rumored to be offering a 40% off storewide coupon for shoppers before noon, which would be the largest percent-off discount that applies to all merchandise we've seen in more than a year. (After noon, the discount drops to 30%, which is the largest storewide discount since December.)
Macy's offers markdowns on numerous house-brand items, as well as modest discounts on designer coats, while Sears offers women's boots for as low as $15. (See two pairs you like? Sears is rumored to offer a coupon for $10 off apparel purchases of $30 or more.)
As far as large appliances go, there are numerous dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers advertised for $200 to $350, which is generally the lowest price point we've seen for brand-name machines in the past two years. It might be worth checking out the ads now, as several of the appliance deals are actually already available online, notably from Lowe's, Best Buy, and hhgregg. (However, some prices from these vendors aren't activated yet.)

Keep in mind that several of the offers above are still unconfirmed. Be sure to check the information on the ad itself to see whether it's rumored or confirmed. Moreover, we're constantly unearthing new ads, so keep an eye on future ones by bookmarking our Black Friday page.

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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