Early Deals We’re Tracking

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Black Friday “the day” appears to have morphed into Black Friday “the month” and, as such, some deals are already flowing. Remember to get your ebates account going and let’s start shopping!

$100 Smart Displays

The 8″ Lenovo Google Smart Display, 7″ Google Home Hub, and 8″ Amazon Echo Show will all be $100 from various retailers at various moments this holiday season. Both platforms are compelling in their own right (and frustrating in others). For example, Google provides superior photo frame functionality and is quite versatile as a (somewhat neutered) Chromecast endpoint. By comparison, Amazon provides exceptional audio and is the sole solution for Ring doorbell video. If choosing between the Google models, Lenovo has the larger display and more powerful speaker, whereas the Home Hub takes up less counter space and is Audrey-cute while provided enhanced visual presentation by adjusting photo color based on ambient lighting.

Deeply Discounted Televisions & Streamers

While the LG OLEDs aren’t quite the deal they were last year, there will be many good options, in various sizes and quality levels and below are a couple of good values worth considering. Pro-tip: Best Buy will bring 55″ and larger sets into your home for free and take away your old projection or plasma for $20.

Smarter Home

You’re home’s not just smart, it’s highly intelligent since you’ve found all sorts of good deals – right?

11 thoughts on “Early Deals We’re Tracking”

  1. Unfortunately, I can’t give you real-time guidance via the blog – deals come and go and return again quicker than I’ll be able to update the page. Following me on Twitter is your best bet and setting up alerts in things like SlickDeals. Good luck! And please post anything else interested here in the comments that we should be looking for.

  2. I could use a new tv set to replace my LG 2013 model, BUT, I’m going to hold out until they come with ATSC 3.0 tuners in them.

    Right now I’m OTA, Netflix, (shared with my son as we don’t watch it much) and C-band FTA satellite (lots of free stuff up there) only, but I do have a Tivo Roamio basic for our local channels.

    I’m looking forward to ATSC 3.0, and hope our local stations carry a LOT more sub-channels with it!

  3. Specifically looking at the Ring video doorbell. When I click on the link it shows up at $199. Am I not understanding these deals correctly? Are they not active yet?

  6. Last year when I bought a new TV from Best Buy I took advantage of their $20 haul away service. Boy did I surprise them when it was a 165 lb 32″ Sony Wega I had hidden in a credenza.

  7. I’m looking for a new digital picture frame and maybe one of these is the way to go. Why do you say “Google provides superior photo frame functionality”? Are you referring to a Verge review?

  8. Brian, I’m referring to my experience as an owner of both the Echo Show and Lenovo Smart Display. Google does it better than Amazon in several notable ways. First, you’re more likely to have photos in Google Photos. Next, it’ll not show every photo in an album but will curate, so you don’t get dozens of the same basic shot. As far as display, Google will do two portraits side by side where as Amazon will do a single one in the middle with blurred sides – which I think looks pretty bad. Amazon has what I think is a bug in that you can’t turn off Alexa tips, which will be printed on the bottom of every photo. The Google Home Hub which I’ve seen a few times but don’t own, though ZNF contributor Adam Miarka does, will smartly adjust its screen for optimal photo display based on ambient lighting conditions. That’s the pitch anyway! And I do plan to pick one up once the sale hits – I paid about $75 last year for a non-connected Nix digital photo frame, so this is something of a bargain.

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