[tomoe]

In my limited experience, Black Friday is awful...I would rather pay full price for something just to not deal with the frothing, mindless cattle as they clamor for bargains.

[Luca]

Originally Posted by tomoe In my limited experience, Black Friday is awful...I would rather pay full price for something just to not deal with the frothing, mindless cattle as they clamor for bargains.

How limited is your experience? I've always heard that Best Buy and some other places are very organized - they have ropes set up to ensure people get through the store in an organized fashion and they go through and ask people what they will be buying while they're still in line so everyone gets what they want and doesn't have to push and shove their way.

Not my experience, mind you, that's just what I've heard. I might look for a good deal on an LCD monitor this year - if I do go to a Best Buy I will see how things are.

[tomoe]

Originally Posted by Luca How limited is your experience?

Went once 4 years ago to pick up an external hard drive, and that was enough. Coincidentally, it was at a Best Buy in Manhattan, and there was none of the additional organization you mentioned. It was set up the same as any other day at that Best Buy, with the notable difference being that it was crowded as fuck.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by tomoe In my limited experience, Black Friday is awful...I would rather pay full price for something just to not deal with the frothing, mindless cattle as they clamor for bargains.

Uh, thanks?

I waited outside of one store last year (the horror!) and got all of my holiday shopping (and a good deal of me shopping) done in one go and saved hundreds of dollars. Maybe you consider everybody who doesn't make $200 an hour to be "mindless cattle," but the way I calculated it, it was a fairly productive use of my time.

Besides, it was sort of fun. Everybody in line was happy and friendly and excited. It was like a movie premiere, only with more girls, and less crushing disappointment afterward.

The only unintelligent people are the people who wake up at 10 or 11 or 12, see something on the news about Black Friday being a good shopping day, round up the gang and finally arrive at the mall at 2 and expect all the advertised specials to still be in stock.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Robo Office Max has the Brother HL-2240 laser printer on sale for $49. I got the previous model, the HL-2140, on sale for $60 last year and it has worked really well. That's a crazy good price on the HL-2240.

Amazon just (like, seriously, just now, since I posted that) listed the wireless version (the HL-2270) for $89, which is also a really good price if you want a WiFi printer. Link

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by Robo Uh, thanks? I waited outside of one store last year (the horror!) and got all of my holiday shopping (and a good deal of me shopping) done in one go and saved hundreds of dollars. Maybe you consider everybody who doesn't make $200 an hour to be "mindless cattle," but the way I calculated it, it was a fairly productive use of my time. Besides, it was sort of fun. Everybody in line was happy and friendly and excited. It was like a movie premiere, only with more girls, and less crushing disappointment afterward. The only unintelligent people are the people who wake up at 10 or 11 or 12, see something on the news about Black Friday being a good shopping day, round up the gang and finally arrive at the mall at 2 and expect all the advertised specials to still be in stock.

The two times I went out early on BF, I also found most people to be in good spirits. It's also a good feeling to be done with Xmas gift buying by 9AM the day after Turkey Day too.

This year I started earlier though. I get to pick up the slide whistles I ordered at 8PM tonight at the UPS depot, for example.

[Capella]

61% of the Star Trek: TOS movie collections on DVD and Blu-Ray today. Maybe all the Trekkies here have what they want already, but wanted to toss it out in case anybody who might want a set doesn't have it yet.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend The two times I went out early on BF, I also found most people to be in good spirits. It's also a good feeling to be done with Xmas gift buying by 9AM the day after Turkey Day too.

Exactly. Nobody gets upset that they acquired a TV for half price. People only get upset that they failed at acquiring a TV for half price, and by the time that starts happening I'm back home and sleeping (or setting up my half-price TV).

I worked retail on Black Friday three times before I ever shopped on Black Friday. I assumed I would never in a million years be able to shop Black Friday after working it, but what I learned from working it was that if you go early, it's not bad. It's busy, of course, and the lines are long, but it's remarkably easy to wait in a long line when you already have your half-price TV in your cart.

I'd rather spend time standing still (gasp!) at one store than driving between a whole bunch of stores — it's not like that's any more productive at anything other than wasting gas. There's the internet, sure, but at some point I just like having my holiday shopping done.

[turtle]

Having worked retail for the last 4 BF I can tell you I won't ever be up in the morning on Friday if it weren't for me having to be there for the job.

I can tell you that my store does line duty before we ever open the door. We even go so far as to give a voucher for the idem they want and allow them until 9AM to complete the purchase. Variance is given if the line is still that long and they contact a staff member to verify the hold. It's very civilized...until we are out of stock on the non-major deals.

[torifile]

I've been to my fair share of BF sales, but in the past couple of years, I've stopped going. There just haven't been that many things I couldn't get cheaper or the same price online (the last 2 years Amazon pretty much matched all the good deals). Last year, I did all my shopping online over the weekend. There would have to be some screaming deals to get me out there in the cold.

Then again, if there were some freakin' amazing deal, people would probably camp out from like Tuesday night to get it. No thanks.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Robo If it's the same Uncharted/Karate Kid bundle other stores are getting, there's a PSN voucher for something included as well. It's not a very big something, and it's probably something dumb like Pain, but still.

The Uncharted 2/Karate Kid bundle that Sears, Kmart &c. are getting includes a voucher for PixelJunk Shooter, which is nice. Better than Pain. (Walmart's Uncharted 2/Medal of Honor bundle does not include the voucher.)

Purveyor of gaming deals Kmart has the best console deals this side of Meijer. They're including a $25 gaming credit with the $149 DSi bundles, a $25 gaming credit with their aforementioned PS3 bundle, and a $15 gaming credit with their $129 PSP bundle. They also have Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition (DA:O + DA:O Awakening) for $35 on PS3 and Xbox. No real TV deals, though.

I've had bad experiences with my Kmart (see: the Move debacle of 2010) but if you have a good Kmart they remain a surprisingly good place for gaming deals.

[Maciej]

I'm starting to rethink buying an Xbox360... I don't even know why I'd be doing it. My first idea was to buy it for the multiplayer FPS experience, ie CoD: Black Ops. The biggest problems wit the PS3 have been a lackluster online experience, and the controller is a little too cramped for good FPS experience (IMO).

Now I'm not so sure. What do you guys think?

[PKIDelirium]

Get it. It's good for a lot more than gaming, especially if you have Netflix to use it for streaming. Can set it up to stream content from your computer as well, plus it upconverts DVDs.

Controller is great IMO. Good layout and ergonomics, never had a complaint with it.

[Robo]

Maciej, do you already have a PS3?

[PKIDelirium]

He has a point about the online experience on the PS3 though. It sucks. Live is great, even though you have to pay for it. Party system is awesome, along with the FB/Twitter/Last.fm/Netflix integration.

[Maciej]

Yeah, I've got a PS3...

[Wyatt]

Best gaming deal ever, if you have Windows: Age of Empires III, with expansions, for $0.10. Legit, from Games for Windows Marketplace. You can also use MS Points (10 points). I had 30 points in my account, so I got it for free.

[AsLan^]

Nice! Thanks

[Maciej]

I had 20 MS points left over from like 3/4 years ago! Sweet!

[torifile]

Awesome. I've got 140 points left in my ancient XBL account. I'll download it later, when I'm in Windows.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Seems that 10 cent sale is over. It says $39.99 now. Darn and I had 20 points too.

[Robo]

This one's pretty simple.

Click here for $3 in Amazon Mp3 credit.

They have tons of newish albums, including last week's new releases, on sale for $3.99 too.

[Maciej]

Thanks Robo!

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Maciej Thanks Robo!

No problem

For your convenience: the complete calendar for Amazon's TV & Movie deals week deals.

The one thing I was hoping to cheaply acquire for me this year — the Lost box set — will be a lightning deal after all...during the exact time I will be freezing my ass off trying to acquire a TV for my sister. Oh, cruel fate!

I'm tempted to reactivate my iPhone's data connection. You know. Just in case.

Oh, and Amazon will have Mad Men seasons for $7.99 on DVD and $9.99 on Blu-ray, if they get enough fans on Facebook. So.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by Robo No problem For your convenience: the complete calendar for Amazon's TV & Movie deals week deals. The one thing I was hoping to cheaply acquire for me this year — the Lost box set — will be a lightning deal after all...during the exact time I will be freezing my ass off trying to acquire a TV for my sister. Oh, cruel fate! I'm tempted to reactivate my iPhone's data connection. You know. Just in case. Oh, and Amazon will have Mad Men seasons for $7.99 on DVD and $9.99 on Blu-ray, if they get enough fans on Facebook. So.

I've got LOST seasons 1-5 on bluray I've been trying to sell. PM me if you're interested.

[Maciej]

Crap, NewEgg has a ton of shit on sale... grrr!

[Robo]

They have a tiny Atom/Ion-equipped barebone for $145 with a free external DVD burner. Oddly tempting.

EDIT: You can outfit it with a 500GB 7200rpm drive and 2GB RAM for $239. I'm not sure why anyone would buy a Google TV...?

[torifile]

I scored 2 WD Caviar Black 2 TB drives for $70 each at Target today. They were in the "Elements" external enclosures. Considering a 2TB Black drive goes for about $180 on newegg, I think I did pretty good.

[709]

Holy shit. I might need to get down there today and pick up a couple. Was that an advertised special?

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by torifile I scored 2 WD Caviar Black 2 TB drives for $70 each at Target today. They were in the "Elements" external enclosures. Considering a 2TB Black drive goes for about $180 on newegg, I think I did pretty good.

Originally Posted by 709 Holy shit. I might need to get down there today and pick up a couple. Was that an advertised special?

Need. More. Info. Quick.