TazErase

Same here. 2 Years ago the line started at 3PM, last year about 12PM, this year I plan to be there at about 9AM, 10AM the latest. I keep track of what time others arrive and base my next year on being earlier than that, lol. Always get the the ticket items, and always one of the first, if not the first in line.

I think Best Buy would be ok with it, but it's in a mall and mall security won't allow it. Mall security caught someone taking a leak in the parking lot (on one of their cameras, not even in person) and they came over and said if they caught anyone else they would have them arrested. Luckily I live near by but for some people they are out of luck and there is no way to make it on lne as long as myself and many others do without going to the bathroom. Especially with all the coffee, lol. I brought a laptop to watch movies and it was too loud so I gave up that idea too.

The ads are legit or they wouldn't be posted with the actual photos from the circular. The companies all get the items printed weeks in advance, the ads on here either come from someoneat the printer or someone that happened to get a copy of the ad. I saw the ads last year on here first and when they finally did come out I already knew what I wanted based on these ads and found the actual print ads to be exact matches to the ads posted here. The peopl at most of the stores probably aren't even aware of what items are going to be on sale yet so they will tell you not to trust anything you saw online. Look at the deals posted and if any of them prove to be wrong feel free to post it but I'm sure you will not find that to be the case. It it wasn't correct I would not be back here if they gave wrong info last year.

My son wants them too. I'm not too sure of how safe, but I'm sure they would be a lot more cautious before coming out with another product that will be recalled and lose any reputation and profits they might have made had the item been safe to begin with.

Walmart usually has a few of these deals but especially if it is a 24hr Walmart it is next to impossible to get the tickets for the items for when they go on sale. They don't tell when they are going to give out the tickets and even though I was there real early for the sale last year, they didn't have any tickets left, and of the 40 they did have, 19 went to employees (I stuck around to see if I could get one of the unclaimed ones from people that didn't return at midnight to pick it up). Your best bet at getting a good cheap laptop (by the way Toshiba is better than the Compaq at Walmart) would be get on line REAL EARLY and get the $229 Toshiba at Best Buy which although not yet announced I'm pretty confident it will be. I have both the Compaq fom last years Walmart sale and the Toshiba from last years Best Buy sale, and even though the Toshiba was $229 and the Compaq was $398 at Walmart, the Toshiba can run circles around the Compaq (which didn't even have a DVD writer, this years does).

The reason is BB's past practice. Everyone forgets that the best deals are the ones they put on the website on Thanksgiving. At this time the ad looks decent but not great, but I count on the fact that they will have the cheap laptops, but like you said, they will be sold out within the first 3 minutes of them giving out the tickets. Great laptops BTW, I got the Toshiba for $229 and the Emachine desktop for $199, both running great and excellent deals. The only downfall on the Toshiba laptop is the video card was only a 32 bit so I am looking to upgrade this year to the 128 bit $379 or $479 Toshiba laptops. I'll still grab the $229 one though for my kids, and probably another Emachines desktop.

I'm counting on the $229 Toshiba. If they have the Dell that someone mentioned earlier with no cd/dvd for $209 - $229 it's really not worth the price IMO. I'm going to be at Best Buy regardless since they have some other good deals but the best deals are usually kept hidden until Thanksgiving Day when I'm already in line just anticipating them. With CC pretty much out of business I wouldn't count on the same type of deals from BB in the future, this could be their last good ad if they have no real competition. In fact the Toshiba Laptop BB has for $379 (reg. price $649) appears to be the same one in the CC ad for $649, which would not even be a sale price.

Well after seeing the ad, Iguess I can cross Target off my list even though it is right next door to Best Buy where I will be all night, and day, and night.... lol. Doesn't even look like sale prices, looks like they are just offering their normal items at regular prices, with a few exceptions. Maybe Target is doing so well they don't need the BF business this year.

Some ok deals but nothing great at any stores. I'm hoping for some super deals on the additional ads that Best Buy usually has. Usually I spend about $5000 on Black Friday, this year it looks like maybe $1500 tops, and not because I don't have money already saved (been putting a few hundred away each week for the past few months) but the good deals just aren't available like they were a few years ago. Any guesses as to longer lines at Best Buy to get the few good deals they have, or less lines due to people just not having the money to buy them? Just looking for some opinions from others out there.

Tried bringing a generator, I was told it wasn't allowed, tried bringing a tent, nope, they dn't allow that either, tried a BBQ grill, not allowed. All they allow here is a chair, small table, blankets, and sleeping bags. This year I'm bring my wife's hightop van with a double bed. She won't go any other way, lol. She doesn't like getting cold so she'll probably spend a good part of her time in there. I've been doing this for about 12 years and have stayed in all weather and conditions. Worst is heavy rain or snow in under 10 degree weather. Last year was actually one of the best at about 50 degrees. I alrdy know where I'm setting up, right in front of the door that they use to let the people in. I'm usually one of the first 25 people at the location, this year I plan to be about 5 hours before the first person showed up last year. I have a feeling that Best Buy is going to get more business and earlier lines this year since the ads all seem to suck. Than again, if they don't have some good stuff in the additional ad they post I think a lot of people will just stay home. Where I work this is our busy time of year and instead of UPS hiring helpers they are laying off drivers. Come January anyone with under 10 years will be laid off at my location so with all the financial problems in the country I'm sure a lot of people would need a real good reason to buy anything at this time of year. Post office is laying off 40,000eople, DHL is shutting down all but the air operations. Tha's a lot of people out of work in my field alone when this is our "busy" time of the year.

As with any purchase do your research before buying. That's why seeing these ads early helps so much. I can compare items and prices and determine where I plan to go after my normal Best Buy sleep-over.

I totally agree. The best so far is Best Buy and that's not even too great. With Circuit City filing bankrupcy I didn't expect too much from them, it was actually a little better than I expected bu still no place as good as last year. Unless these stores do something to get people to come in I can't see too many people rushing to the stores with the deals posted so far, which accounts for the major ones.

I guess that's one place not to go looking for a laptop, lol. So far Best Buy has the best deal, and I'm sure they have their secret items which will include at least 1 laptop, probably 2.

You could always ask the other people what they are getting if you wind up being number 25. Most people don't mind telling you, but watch out that no one tries cutting in front of you before they give out the tickets. Last year wasn't as bad as 2006 here in :::location left out to avoid additional competition, lol:::. Besides, where I go if you get there early enough there is a covered awning and the wind is blocked on 3 sides. The year before I was a little late and froze on the line rather than in a semi-sheltered area. Only 500 people on line? Dang, I should go to that location, lol. The line here stretched from the entrance through the entire parking lot and around past other stores that didn't have any lines (TARGET, lol). Like I said though, not nearly as bad as other locations. Besides, if you stand there all night, have a backup plan of a second computer you are interested in getting. I'm planning to get the $379 or more likely the $479, but I'll take either (or both) and I'll get the $150 laptop (rumored to be announced Thanksgiving Day) and possibly the Sony (also rumored to sell at $300 but not announced yet). You really can't go wrong with any of those deals.

I'm planning to pay cash. If they ask I'll just tell them I'm George Washington

Yeah there always is, they just do that to keep people like us from finding out too soon. I'll have to make phone calls to find out though since I'll probably already be on the line at Best Buy by the time the internet ad comes out. They don't post it until Thanksgiving, maybe late Wednesday at earliest.

True, I was looking at both the $379 and $479 deals. I have a Toshiba now and it's great but I can't play games that require more than a 32 bit graphics card and many of the newer ones require a 62 bit. Based on what I could find out it looks like these have a 128 bit graphics card which would be great, I could finally get rid of my desktop and still have a lot of power. I download a lot and have almost 4TB in external hard drives but I could always use the 250 rather than the 160g. Also if I get the 3g memory, I know I'm going to wind up upgrading it to 4 any way. I'll probably get one of these for myself and get the cheaper ones for the kids. Rumor is a $150 laptop (rumor is Compaq, hoping for Toshiba) and $300 Sony Vaio. I'll grab them both for that price. Get rid of all the desktops in the house then, except for when they play their games they'll have to go to the desktops which I'll put in the basement.

Someting I don't remember from the past ads, it says "1 Per Household", didn't it use to say "1 per customer"? In the past they never gave me a problem letting me get 1 and my wife get 1, is this year going to be different? Anyone know?

Not too crazy about the deals that were just posted. The only hope is that they do what they usually do which is post a few secret items the night before. That's where the usual $229 laptop and $199 desktop come in. They are never announced on the printed ads. Do not dismay my fellow Best Buy Tent City Buyers, the best deals are still coming.

I was ready to get in line today but my wife stopped me since it's over 2 weeks away, lol. She's getting sick of hearing about BF already, although she's been making a list of what she wants at the same time. Once you start doing BF shopping it's addictive and hard to stop (although I've never tried too hard). Each year I just keep starting earlier, and I'm aleady looking forward to BF 2009, lol.

Get a good set of football gear before setting out for BF, lol. My usual strategy is when I see people cutting near the front is to go further back and find the biggest guys on the line that have been there for hours and tell them who cut in front of them. Works quite well and they either leave or go to the back of the line usually, or cut in someplace further back. Happens every year that someone tries that but they don't usually try to cut to the far front where I'm always standing.

Staples here usually doesn't have a line until shrtly before opening and unless you are looking for the doorbusters they usually have a lot of the item in stock. I usually try to hit Best Buy first and then go across the street to Staples next. I'm probably one of the luckiest SOBs around, lol, I have almost every store that has BF deals within 2 miles of my house except for Home Depot about 4 miles and Walmart about 7 miles away. I get the paper early Thursday on my way to Best Buy and figure out what other stores while standing on line for the next 20 hours.

Sorry, the "quote" didn't work, I was responding to that post.

Looking for a 2TB external HD, I know they had the 1TB last year and the 500GB. Hoping to get rid of all my other smaller external drives for once, looks like a Christmas tree whenever I turn them on, lol.

At $229 they were losing money any way. I don't think they are going to worry a little about the rise in costs, it was the same price in 2006 and 2007. They may also want to put a nail into CC coffin and get rid of them once and for all. They smell the blood and may try to force them out for good. I would expect to see some deals at CC but not as good as years past due to their financial situation and as I said before they lose money on each doorbuster they sell.