Black Friday is known for being one of the best times of the year to get great deals on technology products. Retailers use big discounts on in-demand tech devices to drive customer traffic -- with the hope that they'll also stock up on other items, and the competition between stores during the holiday spending rush can lead to some truly fantastic discounts.
With so many discounted offerings out there, it might seem difficult to cut through the clutter. Fear not. The following list will help you home in on five of the hottest technology deals this Black Friday.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Onn 50" 4K Roku Smart TV at Walmart -- debuting at $148, down from $250
Onn is Walmart's (WMT -0.60%) new, in-house electronics brand, and the company is launching it with a television that offers a lot of bang for your buck. The Onn 50" 4K supports ultra-HD resolutions, comes with built-in Roku player, and has three HDMI inputs -- which means you'll be able to plug it in and enjoy high-fidelity content with your favorite streaming services. Priced at just $148 for its Black Friday shopping season debut, the Onn 50" 4K looks like one of the best values in the TV space right now.
2. Samsung 65" 4K UHD LED Smart TV at Walmart -- $478, down from $798
Televisions are one of the most heavily discounted product categories during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and there are plenty of deals to sift through at different price ranges depending on your desired feature set. If you're in the market for an ultra-HD TV that offers high-end performance at a mid-range price this season, Samsung's 65-inch 4K UHD LED looks like the best option in the field. In addition to the whopping screen size, you're getting deeper colors thanks to higher-quality display panels, high-dynamic-range (HDR), and great built-in speakers -- and Walmart's deal on the model looks like the best around.
Image source: Samsung.
3. HP Spectre x360 15 at Best Buy -- $1,099, down from $1599
If you're hunting for a high-end laptop that compares very favorably to the competition and is currently running at a price that's tough to beat, Best Buy (BBY 0.07%) has a great deal on HP's newest Spectre x360 2-in-1 device. The touchscreen display boasts a 4K resolution, and the device sports a sleek form factor that easily folds back to double as a tablet.
This year's a HP Spectre x360 model offers a best-in-class balance of value and performance -- with 16 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, and a ninth-generation Intel Core i7 central processor. TechRadar called it one of the best laptops the site has ever reviewed and note that it's a suitable competitor to Apple's comparable Macbooks -- at a much lower price.
4. Video game console bundles at multiple retailers -- prices vary
Like TVs, video game consoles are another product category that tends to see attractive discounts around Black Friday. Versions of Microsoft's all-digital Xbox One S that include downloads for Fortnite, Minecraft, and Sea of Thieves can be found for $149 (down from $249) at retailers including Walmart, GameStop, Target, and Best Buy. Keep in mind that the all-digital version of the Xbox One S doesn't have a disc drive, which means games will have to be downloaded.
A bundle of Sony's PlayStation 4 Slim console with games including God of War, The Last of Us: Remastered, and Horizon: Zero Dawn is also widely available at $199 -- down from $299.
Hot deals on Nintendo's Switch hardware look a little more difficult to find this season, but GameStop is offering a Switch, a copy of Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, and a $25 gift coupon at $299. It's also offering the Switch Lite at $199 with a $25 gift coupon.
Shoppers may want to keep in mind that new video game systems from Sony and Microsoft are set to debut next year. That said, if you're looking to check out some of the best of what the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One have to offer, these Black Friday deals present cheap entry points for the hardware, and it's easy to scoop up great titles in each system's libraries for cheap or through services like Xbox Game Pass.
Image source: iRobot.
5. iRobot Roomba E5 (5150) at Amazon -- $279, down from $379
While popular gifts like TVs and video game consoles might rightly be described as time sinks, iRobot (IRBT 6.61%) Roomba's robotic vacuum cleaners stand out for being time savers. Amazon.com (AMZN 2.19%) has a string of deals on iRobot devices this holiday season that are worth checking out, but its listing of the iRobot Roomba E5 (5150) at $279 probably offers the best combination of value and performance for most households. The device can be controlled with its own mobile app, is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Alphabet's Google Assistant, and packs five times the air power of iRobot's Roomba 600 series to deliver superior automated cleaning at a reasonable price.
