The best Black Friday tech deals at Best Buy, Target and Walmart
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — the time when you can buy the sweet gadgets you’ve wanted all year at deep discounts. That’s right, it’s nearly Black Friday, and that means retailers are cutting prices on everything from TVs and video game consoles to smartphones and tablets.
There are certainly plenty of seemingly “good deals” you should avoid, but you’ll also encounter a boatload of fantastic sales you really shouldn’t pass up.
These are the best tech bargains you’ll find at Best Buy (BBY), Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) this year.
Best Buy
The big-box retailer is dishing out some serious price cuts on Apple (AAPL) devices this year. The 64GB iPad Pro 10.5-inch — that’s not the same as the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros Apple announced in October — is marked down from $646 to $524, while the 256GB model, which normally costs $799, is marked down to $674.
The 6th-generation iPad, that’s the latest version of Apple’s standard iPad, is also discounted from $429 to $329 for the 128GB model.
Apple’s MacBook Pro line is also getting a price cut of between $150 and $250 depending on the model you choose. That includes the MacBook Pro 13-inch and MacBook Pro 15-inch, both with and without Touch Bar.
Then there’s the Apple Watch Series 3, which is $50 off its normal starting price for both the 38mm model or 42mm version.
There’s also the Samsung Chromebook 3 with an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage on sale for $129 down from $259.
Target
I’m not the biggest proponent of shopping for TVs on Black Friday, mostly because you can often get better deals around the Super Bowl and, well, any other time of year when you don’t have to worry about being trampled by your neighbors.
That said, Target has a handful of TV deals this year including a 55-inch Samsung TV marked down by $130 to $399, and a 55-inch 4K, HDR TCL television for $349 down from $449. It’s important to note that these TVs might not have the kind of image quality or features of pricier sets, but they should be quality buys for most people.
Target is also selling a Sony (SNE) PlayStation 4 Slim with “Marvel’s Spider-Man” for $199 and the Kano Make Your Own Computer kit for kids for $99. The retailer also has discounts on Amazon’s (AMZN) 2nd-generation Echo, which is $30 off, as well as the 3rd-generation Echo Dot, which is about half off, at $24.
Target’s also discounted the Apple Watch Series 3 to $199, and is offering the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max with a $250 gift card if you sign up with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. You can also get the Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL with a $200 gift card. You’ll have to sign up with Verizon to get that one. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 is also available with a $300 gift card if you sign up with AT&T (T) or Verizon (VZ).
(Verizon is the parent company of Yahoo Finance.)
The Roku (ROKU) Ultra Streaming box is also on sale for $49, down from $99, while the Roku Streaming Stick is down to $29 from $49.
Walmart
Walmart has two televisions that are worth checking out. First there’s a 55-inch Samsung 4K HDR Smart TV for $398, which is a great price for a TV that size with those features. The one caveat is that it doesn’t support the Dolby Vision HDR standard. It does, however, support HDR10, HDR 10+ and HLG. Yes, annoyingly, there are 4 different HDR standards.
Then there’s Vizio’s D60-F3, which is marked down $100 to $498. That TV offers 4K resolution and HDR, as well as 3 HDMI ports.
Walmart is also selling the same Samsung Chromebook 3 as Best Buy, but for $99 instead of $129. Like Best Buy, Walmart is selling the 6th-generation iPad for $249, an $80 savings. Then there’s the Fitbit Versa smartwatch, which at $50 off, will cost you just $149. Walmart is also offering the Google Home Mini for $25, a $24 savings.
If you’re shopping for a smartphone for your spouse or child, Walmart is offering a $300 gift card with the purchase of an iPhone XR, iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max. Opt for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X and you can get a $400 gift card. Similarly, the retailer is offering a $300 gift card if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, S9, S9 Plus or Note 9. The catch, though, is that you’ll also have to activate those devices on an AT&T, Sprint (S) or Verizon service plan. Sorry, T-Mobile (TMUS) customers.
As for game consoles, Walmart is selling Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox One X for $399 down from $499, as well as a PS4 Slim bundle with “Marvel’s Spider-Man” for $199. Controllers for both consoles are also on sale for $39.
A version of this story was originally featured on Nov. 15.
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Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, andLinkedIn.