With the biggest shopping weekend only a couple of weeks away, we have curated a list of the hottest tech deals across the major retailers. Even though Black Friday officially begins the day after Thanksgiving, these deals start as early as Thanksgiving evening. Make sure to shop early to take advantage of the lowest prices on all your favorite devices! (Note: These prices may be subject to change, and some of these deals are limited to a supply.) 

TVs  

Black Friday has always been the start of a huge weekend to buy the newest, best quality TVs at a great price, and this year is no exception. These TVs are equipped with 4K resolution, providing more than 4 times as many pixels as a traditional HDTV. The Westinghouse Smart TV listed below also has HDR which delivers wider color, enhanced brightness, and improved contrast. For $140, this is a great price deal for a very good TV. The Samsung NU6900 Series TVs are also 4K but they also support the newest HDR technology, as well as having a faster Game Mode setting that is optimized for gaming by supporting minimal input lag. Available in 65″ and 75″, either of these TVs will be perfect for any user.  

• Target: Westinghouse Roku 4K UHD HDR 50″ Smart TV – $139.99 | Reg. Price $309.99  
• Best Buy: 2019 Samsung NU6900 Series 65″ Smart TV – $479.99 | Reg. Price $549.99  
• Best Buy: 2019 Samsung NU6900 Series 75″ Smart TV – $749.99 | Reg. Price $1099.99  

Streaming Devices  

Streaming devices are becoming less common as Smart TVs have become a new industry standard. Typically, they are used to add “smart” capability to an otherwise standard TV. Some locations in your home may offer standard (not “smart”) TVs, such as your kitchen or bedroom. But even if not, there are still reasons to buy streaming devices rather than relying on a Smart TV. For example, certain partnerships between service providers and manufacturers prevent some apps and services from being installed. Hypothetically, a partnership could make Samsung-manufactured TVs the only Smart TVs with the ability to support the Spotify app, meanwhile, a streaming device would not be subject to this same restriction. All the devices below support 4K HDR streaming to any TV you have, and the biggest thing separating these devices is a personal preference of the interfaces. It is also to be noted that the Google Chromecast 3 is the only device that does not come with a remote, which may be undesirable.  

• Amazon: Fire TV 4k w/ Alexa Remote – $24.99 | Reg. Price $49.99  
• Target: Roku String Stick+ – $29.99 | Reg. Price $49.99  
• Walmart: Google Chromecast 3 – $35.00 | Reg. Price $49.99  

Voice Assistants  

The latest devices supporting voice assistants are all available for record-low prices. Both the Google Home Mini and the New Echo Dot are small devices that can add a digital voice assistant to any room. And at this price, why put them in only one room? Finally, the Echo Show 5 is equipped with a 5.5″ display that supports video calling, streaming, web apps, as well as support for Amazon Alexa. You can also use this device to manage calendars, create to-do lists, check the weather, or track shipped packages.  

• Target: Google Home Mini – $19.00 | Reg. Price $49.00  
• Amazon: New Echo Dot – $22.00 | Reg. Price $49.99  
• Best Buy: Echo Show 5 – $49.99 | Reg. Price $89.99  

Audio Devices  

Audio has always been a hot topic on Black Friday, and 2019 is set to follow suit. This year, many large audio manufacturers across all categories are participating, making it a perfect time to grab quality brand-name products. For users who live a more active lifestyle or prefer in-ear solutions, JBL will offer a pair of their Free X true wireless earbuds for half off, making them a steal compared to $140+ solutions such as AirPods. They offer a wireless charging case and long battery life, without compromising on loudness or quality. If a more work or home appropriate solution is needed, Sony will discount their WH-CH700N headphones to less than half price, granting superior sound quality and unparalleled noise cancelling at an affordable price. Finally, for purely home listening needs, TCL is selling a 2 channel soundbar for just $50. This bar can pair with Bluetooth, but also supports three varieties of cabling to connect to most TVs. It provides superior bass and crisper sound compared to most TV speakers. 

• Target: TCL Alto 5 2.0-Channel Soundbar Bluetooth Enabled – $49.99 | Reg. Price $79.99  
• Target: JBL Free X True Wireless Earbuds – $74.99 | Reg. Price $149.99  
• Target: Sony – WH-CH700N Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones – $89.99 | Reg Price $199.99  

Tablets  

Tablets have become cheaper replacement devices for laptops when it comes to web-browsing, streaming, and reading. They are small and portable, and generally cheaper than comparable laptops that will be used for the same purpose. The Kindle Paperwhite is a wonderful E-Reader that displays e-books using the paperwhite display technology that makes reading more comparable to reading off paper than reading from a screen. It is backlit, waterproof, incredibly light, and boasts a battery life of up to six weeks. This is a perfect buy for anyone who wants to be able to carry hundreds of books with them to read anywhere. Walmart has the Samsung Galaxy Tab A available for a heavy discount as well. This tablet is more appropriate to use for streaming, web browsing, and gaming. You can also download apps to work on documents while on-the-go, and multitasking is made easy with the Android operating system. Finally, the iPad Pro is the option to choose if you are looking for the power of a laptop in a thin tablet. The Liquid Retina display is edge-to-edge and displays brilliant colors, and it is equipped with an incredibly powerful AX12X Bionic processor. This is the best iPad Pro price ever seen on this model, so now might be the time to purchase if you’ve have one on your Christmas list. 

• Amazon: Kindle Paperwhite E-Reader – $84.99 | Reg. Price $129.99  
• Walmart: Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1″ – $149.00 | Reg. Price $219.00  
• Amazon: iPad Pro 12.9″ 256GB – $949.00 | Reg. Price $1149.00  

Laptops  

Black Friday has also allowed for some of the biggest price drops on laptops this year. The Samsung 11.6″ Chromebook with 2GB Memory is now available for $100 off its original price, making it a great gift for young kids and older relatives. Chromebooks are very easy to use and setup, and support many great privacy, security, and web-filtering options that can keep either of these demographics safe as they browse online. The IdeaPad 1 14″ Laptop comes with Windows 10, has a processor clocked at 1.50GHz, up to 2.20GHz Max Turbo, has 4GB Memory, and 64GB eMMC Storage. With a battery of up to 8 hours, this is a great budget laptop for students. Though it is a good price, the specifications of this laptop are less-than-ideal for anything but document writing, web-browsing, streaming, and other basic office work functions. Finally, the Dell Inspiron Touchscreen laptop is also shipped with Windows 10, has an 8th Gen Intel processor, 8GB Memory, and 256GB SSD Storage. Being marked down by $250, this touchscreen laptop has fantastic specifications that make it a perfect laptop to accomplish anything from art and design to more complex data processing and virtualization.  

• Best Buy: Samsung 11.6″ Chromebook Intel Atom x5 2GB Memory – $89.00 | Reg. Price $189.99  
• Best Buy: IdeaPad 1 14″ Laptop – $129.99 | Reg. Price $229.99  
• Best Buy: Dell Inspiron 15.6″ Touchscreen i5 8GB 256SSD – $349.99 | Reg. Price $599.99  

Gaming  

As the end-of-life for the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 approaches, the prices of these consoles are the lowest they have ever been. The Microsoft Xbox One S All-Digital is available to be bundled with a variety of games for a very low price. It is to be noted that the All-Digital Edition of the Xbox One is not equipped with a disc reader, which makes reading Blu-ray discs and physical game media not possible. However, it can play games bought online, and Xbox’s Game Pass makes thousands of Xbox games available for a low subscription cost, starting at $10/month. The most powerful gaming console released, the Xbox One X, is also available in a bundle with the new Star Wars game for its new lowest price of $350. Sony’s Playstation 4 is also at its lowest price ever, additional can be bundled with a variety of games for a low price. The Playstation 5 is coming out next year, but if you haven’t played some of the biggest Playstation exclusive games, this is the best opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, the Nintendo Switch hasn’t seen a better discount than Black Friday last year, but $300 for a console that can be played on a TV, as well as on the go, is still a fantastic price. For a more competitive price, the Nintendo Switch Lite was released earlier this fall for $200. This version does not support the ability to be “docked” on a TV and is purely a handheld console.  

• Best Buy: Microsoft Xbox One S All-Digital Bundle – $149.99 | Reg. Price $249.99  
• Best Buy: Sony Playstation 4 1TB Bundle – $199.99 | Reg. Price $289.99  
• Amazon: Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle – $299.99 | Reg. Price $349.99  
• Best Buy: Microsoft Xbox One X 1TB Jedi Bundle – $349.99 | Reg. Price $499.99  

Gadgets  

While skimming through hundreds of pages of Black Friday ads, there are some devices that we took note of that were too good of deals for us to not include on this list. With the addition of Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS or GPS + Cellular), the price of Series 3 has been driven down to a new low. From coffee makers to a home security bundle with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro (capable of recording 1080p video) and an Echo Show 5, these deals certainly made a strong impression and are incredible deals. Target: Keurig K-Mini Single Serve Coffee Maker – $49.99 | Reg. Price $89.99  

• Walmart: Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) – $129.99 | Reg. Price $249.99  
• Amazon: Ring Video Doorbell Pro + Echo Show 5 Bundle – $189.99| Reg. Price 328.99 

Authors: Grey Ruessler, IT User Services & Quinn Johnson, IT Tech Assistant 

References: 

2019 Black Friday Ads & Ad Scans. 2019, November 14. Retrieved from https://slickdeals.net/blackfriday/ads/ 

Neikirk, Lee. 2019, April 24. Five reasons even smart TV users should own a streaming box [Televisions]. Retrieved from https://www.reviewed.com/televisions/features/5-reasons-even-smart-tv-users-should-own-a-streaming-box