Best Buy's "Black Friday" shaping up nicely with $200 PC
By Paul Miller 
posted Nov 11th 2007 10:13AM
posted Nov 11th 2007 10:13AM
Sure, Wal-Mart's $100 Toshiba HD-A2 is going to be a little hard to beat this holiday season, but Best Buy is proving no slacker in the Black Friday price war. Turns out they've got a $200 eMachines desktop on offer, complete with 17-inch LCD. Unfortunately, it'll cost you a fair bit more to get an HD player: Best Buy will have a Philips Blu-ray player for $400, but you can nab an Xbox 360 and a copy of Guitar Hero II (with guitar) for $350 at a more significant level of bargain-ness. Yeah, nothing's blowing our mind like that HD-A2, but it looks like there's going to be plenty of cheap-as-free electronics for adventerous shoppers to fight over in a couple weeks.[Via The Boy Genius Report]
I wouldn't shop at BB if they were giving it away.
Same here.
Over price bastards selling crap for more than it’s worth, I will stick with Fry's Electronics
i know what you're saying. i got approved for a best buy credit card, spent about $1,000 at random places to get a $20 gift card, and then when i went to use it they said the price of the product had to be over $20 to use it.
lame
Frys FTW! If I can't get it on newegg or need it immediately, Frys is the place to go. Just be sure you don't need to ask their salespeople for help since they usually don't know what they're talking about, in my experience. And if you watch for their loss-leaders, you can get some good stuff. The case for my computer, an Antec, came with PSU for $60 in a weekly ad, whereas it was usually ~$95-100 online. Just watch for the loss-leaders!
I'm typing this on the Gateway ML6720 I picked up at BB for 399.00 last month, and I couldn't be happier with it or them. Then again, I live in Alaska where we get raped by the little guy on shipping costs, and BB is one of the few places that can do specials like this because their volume allows them to so my opinion is probably skewed by that. The rest of you living in the "continental US" and can get everything shipped for free or next day for 15 bucks probably have a different opinion.
Speaking of the 399.00 laptop, BB is also going to be selling a pretty decent Sony Vaio for 399.00 on Black Friday. Dunno what the proc speed is, but it's probably the same 1.46ghz Dual Core my Gateway packs, with 120gig HDD and a DVD burner too. For a hundred bucks more, that gets kicked up to 160gig HDD, plus a free all-in-one printer, mouse and antivirus software (uh, yay), and a 30 dollar slim carrying case. Dunno why this story didn't mention that. Here's the link to the scan http://bfads.net/Sony-Laptop-1GB-DVDRW-120GB-at-Best-Buy
1 word for the best prices on new or used electronics: eBay.
From time to time, Best Buy does have some killer deals that are rare to even find online.
In general though, everything is overpriced b/c of the "convenience" factor.
I do make it a habit to check their weekly ad and once in a while something will catch my eye as a crazy deal that I can't find anywhere else....not even newegg.
I stood in line ONCE for a sale and will never do it again.
Scary.
The TV lasted about a year and a half.
you are aware that BB doesn't make tvs right?
What do you expect for 99 bucks dude?
Manuel,
Best Buy DOES have their own brand of tv's...
Piece of shit Insignia
dumb shit, they don't make tvs. Insignia and all other house brands are made by other manufacturers. In fact, panasonic has made a few of their insignia sets.
I work at Best Buy. It's gonna suck.
If you work at Best Buy, it's a fair bet that everything already sucks.
Stay in school, buddy.
I am still in school =D And it's a fairly good second job. 10 dollars an hour and 35 hours a week is not bad for a high school student.
I hate going to retail. ill b doing all my shopping online.
1.xbox360 HDDVD
2.Surround sound ONKYO
3.hddvd MOVIES
yup, way better.
[Feels for Kyle]
I used to work at Frys...I know what youre feeling dawg
Circuit City's is better. 1TB Western Digital External HD for $199. Plus, Gizmodo had these posted 2 days ago.
Wow a $400 BD player, now that is a deal... oh wait...
Come on, give me a $200 (maybe $250) profile 1.1 BD player and I will ready to pull the trigger.
What's with the Best Buy hate? Their prices aren't that bad for regular consumers. If you're buying PC components, you're stupid if you don't use Tigerdirect anyway.
Tigerdirect? Who seriously uses Tigerdirect?? I think you meant to say 'you're stupid if you don't use *newegg* anyway.'
Oh God please tell me that was sarcasm. Please. PLEASE. Tigerdirect is the absolute worst place to buy from online. They are worse than Best Buy in my book.
Newegg, Zipzoomfly, or GTFO.
Yea they're not THAT bad. i got a 160GB HDD for $40 once.
im talking about best buy
I agree on using tiger. I think newegg is just a reformatted TigerDirect, though. Seriously, same stuff, same price. (if buying multiple components, it all comes down to the same price.
I wish the online guys participated more on the black friday hoo-hah. I'd stay up all hours of the night waiting for a $300 laptop. And I might be sleep depraved enough at that point to pay for the overpriced bag that goes with it as well. *hint hint to the online guys*
Newegg? Sorry, don't have the love for them at all. I usually use them as a LAST RESORT. Crummy return policies, scam fees (extra to ship your order today), and they run on MS software (ASPX) so I know my data won't be safe.
No thanks, I scramble the 'egg.
I only use tigerdirect if I need a part in a day or 2 cause it's in my state but if I want to be cheap Newegg all the way since I won't have to pay state sales tax
"Newegg? Sorry, don't have the love for them at all. I usually use them as a LAST RESORT. Crummy return policies, scam fees (extra to ship your order today), and they run on MS software (ASPX) so I know my data won't be safe."
Wow, it would seem as though NewEgg had done something bad to your or you pet.
Wasn't that TigerDirect that was caught doing price scams or something of the sort?
NewEgg is just fine, no one is perfect.
I also find the pot shot at MS just pointless. While it wouldn't be my first choice if I was running a web site like Newegg or TigerDirect, but it gets the job done. In fact, we use it at work and have to meet DoD and other security standards, we have not had a problem yet. It is as much the admin and code as potentially the software. Even *nix with apache, php, mysql, etc... isn't 100% secure.
@ ^^^^
I'm not really sure what your talking about. Newegg has been excellent to me, and weather I pay the $3.99 fee or not, my order always arrives within at least 4-5 days.
Hey... That's the same PC as mine! Though the specs are better...
Who cares how cheap the PC is when all you can run on it is crappy Windows.
You could downgrade it to linux....
you mean UPGRADE to linux right?
dont you mean upgrade?
i would think the fact that it's eMachines brand was an easier pot shot than windows.
i mean, COME ON.... eMachines? really?
vista?
You know the price of the PC doesnt really matter. They normally have an extremely limited supply of those super cheap items. Meaning only the first 10 people who camp the line at midnight or earlier will get those items (then ebay) while the rest of the customers destroy the store looking for advertised items that they were too "excited" to read the small print.
E-Machine == Complete shit. Anyone who buys this computer as a gift doesn't love you but is trying to make your blood pressure go up in frustration. Its poorly designed SHIT. Buy ANYTHING other then E-Machine.
Or they are sold to Grandma, who just wants to check her AOL e-mail and play online card games, or sold as a homework computer for young Billy, who already has a 360 and doesn't need a powerful PC. Just because their specs suck for gaming or high end photo and video editing doesn't mean somebody could get good use out of the computer.
Yeah. As a former Best Buy employee I can vouch for the limited supply of these items. It's really not worth getting all frothed up over-- These things will be gone within 10 minutes of the doors opening, leaving everyone else with normal prices.
What pisses me off is that Black Friday hype is something that is very much invented by the major retailers. I've been in retail for 15 years, and in my experience people wouldn't be any more likely to do their XMas shopping the day after Thanksgiving than they would the day before or the week before if it were for retailers making these sorts of "one day only" sales. Yes, the retailers make more that day than any other day of the year-- They also offer more enticement than any other day of the year. Coincidence?
If they did sales like this in the middle of August, the result would be the same. There are not hordes of people holding off their XMas shopping until after Turkey Day. I've seen people do their shopping for XMas all year, and once Halloween ends, the store traffic increases steadily.
Don't bother shopping-- or even going out-- on "Black Friday". Don't buy into the corporate myth. Stay home and sleep. Do your XMas shopping later, or earlier. Stay the hell out of stores on Black Friday, because you WON'T get a better deal unless you're a complete maniac.
Ahem-- I meant "If it weren't for retailers making up these sorts of "one day only" sales."
It doesn't say which 360 this is. If it's the Arcade (nee Core), it's not that much of a deal.
On the other hand, a 40GB PS3 w/NBA08 is most definitely NOT a very hot deal.
Aren't days like this good for the American economy (if people actually spend money they have instead of just plain credit)?
I'm sure it's all corporate hype and I appreciate the insight you give, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just my $.02, good for the people who get deals. Best Buy won't be the only place having deals too.
No, he means downgrade it.
There's nothing there that even begins to excite me. There's no must have item this holiday season I guess. A HD DVD player is about it and unless it stays at $100 I won't be interested. The canon DSLR was nice till I found that I can get it cheaper on amazon. now that's something that has made a price drop. A 8mp dslr used to be $800 now you can get the body of that one for $424 leaving you $120 to buy lenses.
that computer is a POS, id rather spend the money building a good one.
Orangebox for $24.99! now thats a pretty good deal.
I agree that best buy is way overpriced but sometimes you can get a good deal out of it. I just got a 2.1 THX klipsch speakers for $110 bucks which were way cheaper than any online store. But usually I do not shop there, I go there to check stuff out, come home and buy it on New Egg.
and for the record, f*** waiting ouside in the cold for black friday.
Best Buy is really the Worse Buy. They sell everything at FULL RETAIL prices!!! Unless it's on sale. I just got myself a Brand New Harmony 1000 Remote for $269, at Best Buy, it's still Full Price at $499! Blu-Ray and HD DVD Movies, they sell for $24.94 Generally. When you can go just about anywhere else and get them cheaper. I can get the same movie from Amazon for $17.95 and no tax and free Shipping.
Best Buy is a place to good if you want to touch or look at a product, and then go home and find it just about anywhere els cheaper.
The biggest laugh I got was looking at the price difference between a Canon telephoto lens and its image-stabilized brother. The price difference online anywhere is about $50, Best Buy decided that image stabilization was worth an extra $200!
are you serious?? best buy is a retail store thats why the price IS going to be at full retail price unless its on sale %100 of the freakin time.
look so you can understand:
retail stores =(have) retail prices
easy concept.
you cant compare a website with a retail store, stores are more convenient and have way more overhead to run, therefore need to make more money to stay alive. but i guess you're unaware of this.
How come Wal-Mart, Target, and other stores don't generally charge FULL RETAIL PRICES? If they did, No one would shop there and they would go out of business. I don't expect Best Buy to be as cheap as online, but when your name is BEST BUY and yet they charge FULL RETAIL for everything, that's just a flat out lie! That Retail price can be anywhere generally in the 30-50% over the cost Best Buy Paid and are selling it for. They can't just knock off 10% from everything. At least it would be a BETTER BUY store, but it sure isn't a BEST BUY.
Best Buy is good to look around, Touch, feel, see, and then leave and get what you want anywhere else, Retail store or Online that has it. Whatever you do, don't lessen to the B.S. the store employee's tell you! I think they must make up 50% or more of what they are telling you about something. I guess it's better then "I don't know". Try and tell you anything you want to hear to get that sale, and then after sucker you to getting a Warranty.
Yeah, but not everyone in line is going to want the same thing you are possibly.
I'm going to be standing in line for the 399 Sony laptop for my sister, but I'd be willing to bet a good amount of people in front of me will be there for the 999 42" HP 1080p LCD tv etc. That's how it went last year... I had around 20 people in front of me but only half of them wanted the same item I did so it worked out. Now if you were there for a PS3 or a Wii and didn't show up until 2am or so then yeah, you got hosed.
Does anybody have any more details on these items? "eMachines Desktop Computer" and "Jabra Bluetooth Headset" don't really tell you much.
Can I get the specs on the $200 PC?
vista home premium
intel celeron 420+
1 gig
160gb hardive
With specs like that, it is really only worth $200 anyways.
It's Crap Buy, not Best Buy!!!
I got my Wii at best buy.
I haven't had a bad experience yet.
Hey if people are still looking for the Toshiba's HD-A2 at a cheep price, check out your local Sears. If they still have any in stock they are only $98.87. Also if they have the floor model in stock it is 10% off of that price.
BB is overpriced but my ex-wife just haggled the GM down $200 on a Gateway laptop and a HDMI cord for free. Just tell the GM you are going to CC or Sams and be prepared to leave.
I was stupid enough to go to BB few years back to get a DVD Burner and such. Got there late because I went to Staples first. Found a few items to buy pretty quick and then stood in line for TWO HOURS just waiting to check out. I won't go there for any reason on BF.
What a joke.
Hahahahha you're comparing a PC (even with a crappy sempron) with a HD DVD player? you have issues.
I believe it should be mandatory everyone work retail once in their lives. Then you will see, no one is over priced when you're dealing with 10% and lower margins. With that knowledge you'll be able see why the store can not lower prices by huge chunks and why they can't pay someone who has expertise.
Jump into a sales position with your current company and Best Buy will seem like they are giving the stuff away for cheap.
With that said, I scored two tv's last year on black friday and have been happy every since.
Such a wonderful time of year. I went once with my uncle when I was on vacation and was in a much bigger city then where I live and let me just say it was scary. So many crazy people. We didn't even end up buying anything either.
Idk, I kind of like tigerdirect they have good deals. While there not as good as newegg in terms of price, if you live in the midwest there shipping is extremly fast, ive orderd cd-r/dvd-rs and had them deliverd the next day with normal shipping. Thats why i use them for the fast shipping mainly.
If i im going to be buying something serious like a fair amount of computer gear, ill use newegg.
I dont think tigerdirect is as bad as some of you are making it out to be. There weekly specials also are actually pretty good.
You can get some good deals at Best Buy. I don't really trust buying a large TV online. Too many things can happen during shipping.
I got a 42" Philips 1080p TV for $1350 with 2 years no interest after I haggled. Regular price was $1899 and the interest was with Geek Squad installation but I got them to give it to me without the installation.
It's safe to buy price controlled items at any reatailer, but you are dumb to buy any individual component. Hell Best Buy is still trying to sell 7600 GT video cards for $200.
That is a terrible site for Black Friday ads Engadget. Try this one, it actually links to the actual ads where you can get much more info.
http://bfads.net/Best-Buy
$199 for a Desktop, Monitor and Color Printer is not a bad deal at all. I've been looking to get another 17in monitor to run dual on my home built PC. Also, you can easily take Vista off of it, run Ubuntu or XP and use it as a web server, network storage and print server. I've dealt with enough eMachines to know that it can handle that.
A better eMachines PC is the T5234 which comes with AMD Dual-Core Processor 2.1GHZ with 1GB RAM and a 320GB Hard Drive. It comes with a DVD Burner
Just to comment on the Best Buy haters...Price Match! Unless the store near you is run by douch bags, the BB policy states that they will price match most all competitors. I find that most people that work at BB actually know what they are talking about, and I would rather go there and price match something than go somewhere, where people don't know what the hell they are talking about.
I got up at 5 and went to BB this morning and got the 360 with the free guitar hero II. It looks like you can only get the slightly older 360's without the HDMI output if you want to get the free Guitar Hero. That's slightly disappointing.