Best Buy is offering a Sony Vaio laptop for just $399.99 dollars. If you’re looking for a best laptop brand, at a great price – this is it. The laptop features a 15.5 inch screen. The retailer is anticipating a great deal of interest and will open its doors at 5 am. However , they will be passing out tickets for the laptop beginning at 3 am. This practice has become more commonplace as retailers attempt to prevent a mad rush when they open their doors.The people who receive tickets will be guaranteed to receive a laptop. There will be a limit of one per person , so purchasing multiples will not be possible unless you have someone with you.

Good laptops on sale can also be found at Walmart who will be opening at midnight.Walmart opted to change their opening time to lessen some of the madness that occurs when they open at 5 a.m. This will also allow customers to be at another store for their 5 a.m. opening time. They are offering a HP laptop with a 15.6 inch screen and 250GB for $298. Their ad was leaked by the cable news channel CNN.

The retailer is hoping that offering great deals like this one will jumpstart holiday sales. Many retailers are suffering with the country in such a deep recession. Consumers have pulled their spending back , but are always open to a great deal. Electronics are always a strong seller and Walmart is hoping that this deal will encourage people top spend.

There are also some small laptops for sale , known as netbooks. These smaller laptops are ideal for teenagers. They are lightweight and can be tucked into a backpack or bag very easily. If you are in the market for a laptop, Black Friday is the perfect time to make your purchase. You should take the time to do some legwork and research to determine which of the laptops being offered on sale will meet your needs. For example, if you’re buying a laptop for playing games, read a variety of gaming laptop reviews before you head out shopping.

It is also important that you determine if you will make your purchase in store or online as part of your laptop comparson. If you do opt for an online purchase , you will want to see if the retailer is offering a shipping incentive. Many will give free shipping if your purchase meets a certain threshold. This is a great way to avoid crowds and long lines that are so common on Black Friday.

Also take a look at television shopping channels like HSN and QVC, they also offer great deals on laptops. Each channel allows you to make easy payments, breaking the payments up over several months. The laptops are normally fully loaded with a great deal of programs that you would normally have to purchase separately.

No matter how you choose to make your purchase , there are a number of deals to be had. Do not be afraid to ask for additional discounts or incentives, as retailers are all fighting for your business. It could mean the difference between a good deal on a laptop and a great deal on a laptop !

Such deals are usually available all year long, especially when a new line of devices is announced and retailers try to get rid of old stocks. However, the best sales offers can be found during late November and December, the period officially called “Winter sales season”.

Regular laptops now run from around 400 bucks to as high as 3 to 5 thousand bucks, for the highly performing gaming rigs (like Alienware). It’s a vast range and anyone can find something suitable in between. Expensive laptops might get price cuts from time to time (significant I might say), but they’ll still remain pricey.

Standard and cheap laptops however can drop from their regular $500-$600 bucks for instance, to as low as $350-$400. I am expecting the biggest drops on November 27th this year, during Black Friday 2009 day. You might be able to get some very good Black Friday laptop sales offers that day, especially as early birds (products only available early in the morning, as “baits” to lure people in stores) . These deals however run out incredibly fast, and you might have to get in lines early in the night and fight some angry shoppers to buy the most popular laptops for sale.

Online webstores offer good bargains on laptops too. I would suggest scooping Dell’s or HP’s homepages on Black Friday and the week just before Christmas if you want to profit from the price cuts. Keep an eye out for cheap Dell laptops as they’re usually a good bargain.

Also, if you want, there’s the alternative of the smaller cheaper notebooks called netbooks. You could get some of the best such netbook computers for around $300 bucks, and they are good enough for most standard applications, while being very light and offering incredible battery life (around 6-7 hours).

Last but not least, you can go for refurbished laptops. They are usually 20 to 40 % discounted, but might have minor scratches and faults and come with only up to 6 month warranty.

In the end, I’m pretty sure there will be some very very good deals on laptops in the following two months. It will be just up to you to be able to profit from them and get the desired product for the desired price.

*This is a guest post on Laptops On Sale. *

I know many of you are saying “I can get a laptop for free?”, yes you can, but at what cost? There a marketing programs out there that will ship you a laptop for nothing as long as you jump through a few hoops first. Right now you’re thinking that it may be worth it. Think again.

You have to go ahead and sign up with their program first which won’t cost you anything. Then you have to fill out a lot of personal information. After you get that done, they will ship you your laptop. Wrong.

Nothing in the world is free and sooner you realize that, the better off you will be. Everything has a price and this is no different. How can a company that gives away free laptops stay in business? They can’t and that’s why they work with affiliate programs.

You need to subscribe to something if they want to get paid from those sponsors. it may be a credit card company or another type of business. You say, “so what, I’ll cancel it after I get the laptop”. Wrong again. There are cancellation fees that apply. If you think that just because you get turned down for the card, you’ll still get your laptop. Don’t count on it. In the fine print it states that you must qualify with the affiliate to get the freebie.

There are some companies out there that are legit, but remember it’s a free laptop. Do you really think the quality of it is going to meet your needs? I doubt it.

Remember, you get what you pay for so if you’re wise, you’ll go out a pay for the laptop that you need.

The first place I’ll talk about is Dell.com where the site is easy to navigate and won’t drive you crazy in the process. The first computer that I ever bought was done this way though Dell. At the time I didn’t have any true knowledge about computers and laptops, but the site made it a lot less painful for me. Let’s fast forward ten years and look at the site that it is now. The choices now seem to be endless and even easier than before to use. You have the option to build your laptop the way you want it and that even includes choosing the color. To help keep the price down you can alter certain options to fit your needs as well. Cheap new laptops are not impossible to fine if you don’t add all the bells and whistles.

Gateway is another laptop and computer maker that has their own site. Their site is also easy to operate. As with Dell’s site you can also build the laptop of your dreams, but if you read my last post, you’ll know that I’m not to pleased with their products. No that I mention it, their post-purchase customer service wasn’t too good either. To each their own, this is only my opinion.

If you want you can also go to the “big box” stores that offer a website that you can purchase laptop or notebooks on sale but since they sell many different brands and you are dealing with someone that you can’t see, it’s pretty hard to know if they know what they are selling you. For all you know they might be reading off cue cards to get though the sale.

Last but not least, there are some small mom and pop’s websites out there that are very good (as well as some that are real bad) that will take good care of you. I have one colleague who has used a couple of these places to buy his laptops and said that he gets great service from them. I won’t mention their name or their site, but believe me there are some small sites that will give you a great deal because they want to get your business. You might also be able to rent a laptop if buying one is not in your budget.

Circuit City is one of the “big box” store that you can go to for laptops for sale. They offer many different brands like Dell, HP, Toshiba laptops, and much more. Their staff is average at best. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good guys who will try to help you, but remember that you are dealing with a big box mentality company that will hire people who have most of their experience from their personal use of the computer. Some do have advance training, but not all of them. I’ve bought one of my laptops from them and when the laptop crashed on me, they had to send it out to their service department. I didn’t get the unit back for four weeks and then three weeks later the wireless program locked me out and again it was sent elsewhere for another three weeks.
Update: In 2009 Circuit City liquidated its retail stores following a bankruptcy filing. The “Circuit City” brand is currently owned by Systemax, which uses the name to sell electronics as an online retailer.

Best Buys is another of the “big box” outlets that will help you quite a bit. Their staff (The Geek Squad) have a little more to offer than Circuit City. It seems that Best Buys has a higher standard when hiring techs for those positions. Since they also sell many brands, it hard to find someone there who knows everything about every brand. Sometimes they have good deals on laptops under $300 if you check frequently.

If you what a knowledgeable employee to assist you then you need to go to a Dell store nearest you. Unfortunately they don’t have one in every city, but if there’s one in your city then consider yourself lucky and take advantage of going to them. The product is great and the staff is well versed in their stuff. I’ve never had anything happen to my Dell computer and I wish that I bought their laptop before I bought a Gateway.

The last place that I will talk about is Gateway stores. Again there’s not one in every city, but they have more knowledge about their units than going to the “big box” stores. The staff is only trained to know, sell, and repair their laptops and computers. In my opinion though their product leaves something to be desired. I know many people who praise their computers and laptops, but I’ve not had any good experience with Gateway.

Finding the best laptop for you takes some time and research. but the end result is worth it. Rushing into your purchase is usually not a good move, expecially if you’re buying your first laptop.

Update: One of our earliest subscribers at this site, Johnny Deel sent us this quick list of his top five places to look for sales on laptops.

1. Walmart or other “Super Store”. They might not have the best laptop brand on the market with the most bells and whistles, but the super centers can typically offer the best deals on lower end and middle of the road laptop models. If your computing needs are basic and you aren’t looking for a specific brand, it’s a good idea to check out the deals on cheap laptops on sale at the super centers!

2. Amazon.com. Of all the online sites, Amazon.com offers by far the largest bank of reviewers comments and frequently offers free shipping. I got a good deal last year on Acer laptops there. If you’re looking for a wide-variety of selections and you’re fairly knowledgeable about computer, Amazon.com can be a good choice!

3. Consider purchasing a refurbished model. Many laptop manufacturers have outlet stores that offer refurbished laptops for sale at a much, much lower cost, sometimes close to a 75% savings on the original. If you’re good at troubleshooting and want a fantastic deal, check out a used laptop.

4. Best Buy. Best Buy remains one of the best sources of laptops. You’ll find quality service and technical support, a wide price-range of products and big sales on laptops throughout the year. If you’re looking for a laptop but still need some technical support, Best Buy is a great option.

5. Apple. There’s always someone who needs to walk against the crowds! If your laptop needs are different from the typical windows based products on the market, consider the Apple Store. You’ll find high-quality products and amazing technical support.

Reader Question: Where do you shop for deals on laptops?
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