Every year it seems that customers anticipate Black Friday earlier and earlier. This means creating budgets, doing research online, camping out at stores, and of course, taking advantage of the hottest Black Friday laptop deals.
While many products are on sale for Black Friday, laptops are especially affordable and are included in all kinds of deals that are unique to Black Friday.
In this article, we walk you through some of the hottest Black Friday laptop deals each year, emphasizing the perennial bundles that customers can expect each November. In each section, we discuss a new way that customizers can maximize Black Friday laptop deals. Finally, we offer our thoughts on the future of Black Friday.
It’s important to note that the niceties of these deals might change come November. We have stressed very general deals that laptop companies usually offer. You shouldn’t rely on these deals, but you can certainly use them to prepare for Black Friday.
Apple’s Black Friday Laptop Deals
Each year, you can expect Apple to offer many deals for Black Friday.
Usually these bundles include a $25-$150 gift card when customers purchase a certain Apple product. When customers purchase a laptop, they typically get at least a $100 gift card.
This is an important deal to keep in mind when going over Black Friday laptop deals ahead of time. If you are planning on purchasing more than one device, then perhaps you can kill multiple birds with one stone and buy them all from Apple. This would allow your devices to not only seamlessly connect but you would also be able to use gift cards towards your purchase as long as you purchase a laptop.
Remember that it’s important to be strategic when spending money during Black Friday. Many Apple stores will not let you purchase a laptop and another device together and still use the gift card promotion. Essentially, you will likely have to purchase the laptop first in order to receive the gift card, and then spend your gift card later on.
Additionally, Apple sometimes offers special deals geared only towards college students during Black Friday. Many of these entail gift cards with the purchase of a laptop as well as discounts on laptops if you can prove you’re a student. However, sometimes Apple offers additional deals, like temporary subscriptions to Apple Music or discounts on other products like a music player or Apple TV.
The key here is to remember that Apple will likely offer many different types of deals come Black Friday. Try to stay balanced and grounded, remembering that the perfect deal is out there for you as long as you’re patient enough to find it.
Some customers get a leak that Apple is offering some new laptop deal and they put all their chips in that basket. Then, come Black Friday, they learn that this laptop is not actually on sale. Then, these customers are confused on how to proceed, not having done any research on other products.
In order to avoid these situations, remember to take in the all the available information as November approaches, but remain detached from it for the moment. This doesn’t mean you can’t do research and imagine what products you want, only that you shouldn’t make all your decisions before the day actually arrives. Leave some mystery for the hotly anticipated event, the beautifully dark blackness of Friday.
Amazon’s Black Friday Laptop Deals
Amazon might be the most popular company when it comes to Black Friday laptop deals.
Amazon doesn’t manufacture laptops. Rather, they consolidate them from many manufacturers, which allows them to feature products at such low prices. This is especially the case on Black Friday, though customers must truly prepare ahead of time to take advantage.
Many of Amazon’s Black Friday laptop deals will be transient, meaning you have to be diligent if you want to capitalize. Amazon is usually very good about advertising when certain deals start and end using tickers on their website.
Some of these deals are simple, like saving money on a laptop or getting a case for free with the purchase of one. Other times, these deals are more unexpected and include anything from an additional speaker, headphones, a subscription to Amazon Prime, or even an Amazon credit card.
Since Amazon is such a massive company, there are able to offer many different deals throughout the Black Friday weekend, which typically starts 12am on Friday and extends over Saturday and Sunday and into Cyber Monday, a day in which customers can sometimes find even better laptop deals.
When navigating Amazon’s deals, it’s important to be focused but also intuitive. When it comes to products that are expensive, you want to be more cautious generally, making sure that you don’t take advantage of some lightning deal simply because of good advertising. Some customers do this but then end up with a laptop they later regret, losing hundreds of dollars when they have to purchase another as a replacement.
When it comes to products that are cheap, sometimes it can be beneficial to be a bit more spontaneous. We don’t mean buying everything that catches your eye, but rather trusting your gut and not being too thrifty. Sometimes laptop deals that surprise us can be offered, making us so in awe that we forget to even buy the deal. During Black Friday on Amazon, if you don’t act quickly, sometimes you can lose out.
In this sense, you might be able to get several types of laptops on Black Friday using Amazon. Many customers like to save money on a personal laptop while also buying much cheaper laptops as gifts for their kids. If you set your intentions ahead of time, this will be easily possible come November.
In-Store Black Friday Laptop Deals
Most retailers that sell electronics will offer significant Black Friday laptop deals, and many will do so by opening their stores many hours earlier than usual.
This is most commonly the case for high-traffic stores like Best Buy and Target. If you are interested in purchasing a laptop from one of these establishments, consider how popular the laptop you are considering is.
Some laptops are so popular that they fly off the shelves, but manufacturers have only provided the local store with a fixed number of models. This means that only a lucky few customers can take advantage of that laptop deal.
To avoid missing out on a deal come Black Friday, there are several things you can do.
First, make a list of all the products you plan on buying in-store. Then, determine which stores offer the best deals. Once you’ve narrowed down where you plan on buying the products, try giving the store a call. Many stores will be able to tell you how many units they will be getting of a certain product, allowing you to anticipate the odds that you will be able to buy one.
Sometimes one store might be uncertain about how many units they will get in, while other stores can provide more information. This means that you might have to call several stores in the area that carry the products you want.
In some rare cases, you will have to camp out the night before or, in some dire cases, weeks before, in order to guarantee that you have access to the best Black Friday laptop deal. This is usually with product releases that coincide with Black Friday, as customers are excited to both take advantage of some deal as well as interact with the product for the first time.
In these situations, remember to genuinely reflect on how important material items are. While they certainly enrich your life, they are likely not worth losing sleep over. Every now and then, a laptop deal will come around that is truly worthwhile to camp out for. But, these are few and far between. Most of the time, camping out for a product will leave you worse off than when you started, even if you have your cherished product.
Most stores will offer the same laptop deals that Apple and Amazon offer. Sometimes, since these stores carry other kinds of products as well, they will offer even larger savings if you spend a certain amount of money. It might be savvy to get other kinds of shopping done on Black Friday, as this could result in more savings.
For example, many customers realize if they buy their laptop at Target they can also get discounts on a new backpack, couch, and desk. Keep these possibilities in mind when you shop for Black Friday deals from local stores.
Online Shopping for Black Friday Laptop Deals
While Amazon is the king of the online marketplace, the playing field is somewhat leveled during Black Friday.
This means that customers can sometimes find comparably good deals on other websites with less traffic. This can be an effective approach to take if you’ve experienced some setbacks related to the volume of purchases that occurs on Black Friday. Sometimes Amazon’s website can be slow or can malfunction, or other times the perfect deal just isn’t available.
In these cases, it can be helpful to consider Amazon the mecca of Black Friday. Even though it’s worth the trip daily to admire their deals and possibly take advantage of one or two, sometimes it can be better to assemble at the margins, away from the hoopla and fuss, where there is some peace and silence to pray and think and make a more rational decision.
What we mean is that sometimes it can be prudent to take a break from Amazon during Black Friday and peruse the websites of lesser-known companies. This can act as a break in order to prevent you from burning out, becoming overwhelmed, and making irrational buying decisions. Some popular destinations include E-bay, Overstock, and Newegg.
Many customers even find better deals on these websites. While many customers are distracted on Amazon’s website, it seems that some customers can slip in unnoticed and claim unimaginable deals on other websites.
While you shouldn’t expect to get these kinds of opportunities, it’s still a testament to how the rest of the internet should not be ignored in favor of Amazon.
Sometimes customers spend their entire day just trying to buy some product on Amazon, and this can be exacerbated when the site is slow or inefficient. Yet, this can mean that the customer loses out on other deals.
All of this is to say that you should avoid being so myopic during Black Friday laptop deals. Just because you’ve claimed your precious laptop for half-off doesn’t mean you’ve accomplished anything. Perhaps you have a laptop, but now you aren’t able to purchase that toilet paper bundle or the set of towels that was only $5. Many of these everyday items can be found cheaply on other websites during Black Friday, so don’t miss out on these because you’re too focused on a certain laptop deal.
Extended Black Friday Laptop Deals
As we mentioned above, some companies will extend their deals well beyond Black Friday, usually into the weekend and ending on the following Monday. Some companies will have Black Friday laptop deals for the entire week after Black Friday, whereas some companies will offer deals both beforehand and after.
The key is to remember that Black Friday starts way before Friday actually arrives. Sometimes you can find more practical deals before the chaos formally begins. For example, while some company might offer you a free laptop if you buy 5 laptops on Black Friday, that might not be relevant to you even though you would save hundreds of dollars.
Before or after Black Friday, however, customers might experience deals that are worthwhile but not as extreme. For example, a company might offer you a free wireless mouse with the purchase of a laptop.
Sometimes it can be prudent to wait several weeks after Black Friday before buying a laptop. Some products will be unpredictably priced following Black Friday, being on sale one day but regularly priced the next. You shouldn’t rely on these products, but they can be worthwhile if the price is right.
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Remember to Stay Patient Throughout Black Friday
The best approach is to just stay patient. Unless you need a laptop immediately, it can sometimes be effective to use Black Friday more as a gauge for the current marketplace rather than the day of the laptop apocalypse.
Some customers admire the day from afar, using it to give them perspective on some product they have been long considering. This allows these customers to build their strategy over a long period of time, which will optimize their final selection of the product.
Many companies engage in manipulative marketing tactics, so it’s important to breathe and stay calm throughout this process. This can prevent you from making rash decisions that you might later regret.
Many companies will release new laptops near Black Friday, featuring a high price even after significant discounts. because they know customers will still buy the product. Then, over a period of time, the price for this product fluctuates, sometimes dropping, sometimes climbing. If you are patient, you can analyze these fluctuations and purchase the product when you think the time is right.
While this approach might not yield the most savings, it will prevent you from being duped and will allow you to make a purchase out of your own volition, not because it happens to be Black Friday.
Our Final Thoughts on Black Friday Laptop Deals
We think Black Friday is only going to increase in popularity in the future, as the marketplace becomes more competitive and customers become more desperate to get every product they desire.
In the future, we see Black Friday deals as being featured most prominently online. Eventually, we think buying anything in-store will become obsolete, in which case we think all Black Friday deals will be online.
Furthermore, we see digital personal assistants playing a more significant role in Black Friday in the future. One of the most frustrating parts of Black Friday is having to spend so much of the day hunting for deals. Digital personal assistants of the future will be much smarter than they are now, allowing us to program them to watch deals for us and to even take action if a certain deal is desirable.
While this might seem like an unrealistic prediction, we think it’s just around the corner. We think Black Friday’s of the future might be dominated by our robots, allowing us to spend the day with our loved ones, not glued to our computer screens or our spot in line at the local electronics store.
In the present, however, Black Friday does entail some effort both before, during, and after. Sometimes it takes customers buying 5 different laptops on Black Friday and returning 4 of them later on in order to get their dream product.
Prepare for some level of sacrifice but also remain calm, collected, and detached. Remember that you are in control at all times, not the seductive advertisement offering you two computers for the price of one.
Do you really need two computers? Does your Great-Aunt Jane really want a hybrid laptop with touchscreen functionality? If you feel overwhelmed or dazed at any point, just go for a walk, letting the scenery remind you that no laptop trumps the beauty of the natural world – at least, not yet.