In the US, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday – the busiest shopping day of the year, a day marked by lots of sales and loss-leading, door-busting deals to be had.
I’ve been reviewing the PC-related deals listed at GottaDeal.com, but if you’re finding better deals out there – post them in the comments, below. I also like ZDNet’s Black Friday guide, because you can check out their reviews of the items as well.
I’ve learned a lot of lessons about Black Friday over the years. All of them, the hard way. But if you’re looking to enhance your Windows Media Center experience by picking up some new hardware to add to your rig, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Adding Storage: Hard Drives
There are lots of deals on hard drives on Black Friday, making adding more storage a attractive option. Now my opinion is if you’re not interested in a portable hard drive (e.g., one that is easy to take with you to and from places), there’s no reason to go less than 1 terabyte. You’d be surprised how quickly recording TV shows on Media Center can fill your drive!
If, like me, you prefer not to crack open your case, then look at some external hard drives. Before you do, realize that a USB-connected external drive is not as fast as one connected internally using SATA or eSATA.
Many external drives now have eSATA – so check and see if your PC has an eSATA port. If it does, you are styling. I use an external 500 GB drive for my pictures, and the USB 2.0 connection is sufficient for this purpose. If I was going to use an external drive for recorded TV, though, I’d want to use the eSATA connection if possible.
GottaDeal is reporting a number of external HD deals:
1 TB
- 59.98 Western Digital at Target
- 69.99 Seagate at Staples
- 79.99 Verbatim at Office Depot
- 79.99 Seagate at Meijer
- 79.99 Western Digital at Wal-Mart
1.5 TB
- 99.99 Seagate at Office Depot
- 139.99 Seagate at Staples
2 TB
- 179.99 Seagate at Office Depot
Also check out ZDNet’s Hard Drives, Flash media and storage page.
Adding RAM
Three lessons learned the hard way:
1) Make sure you are buying the right kind of memory. Memory comes in a lot of flavors – DRAM, SDRAM, SRAM, DDR, DDR2 – just to name a few. Make sure you are getting the right flavor for your PC.
There are some freeware apps out there that you can run to tell you what kind of memory you have, but I’ve not tried any of them (so I’m not linking to any).
Instead, I’ve always shut the PC down, opened the case, took out the memory and wrote down what kind it was. This also let me see how many extra slots were available in there.
2) You can stuff more RAM in there than you can use! It’s true. I put 6GB in my PC once before learning that only 3 GB were usable because I have a 32-bit OS. 64-bit systems can make great use of larger amounts of RAM. Microsoft has a pretty decent FAQ on this subject here.
3) Finally, in the “Maybe if it wasn’t 5 am, I would have noticed” category, one recent Black Friday, I picked up 2 GB of the DDR2 RAM I needed for my desktop. Not until I got home did I realize I had picked up the Laptop version of the RAM. No, the two don’t mix.
I haven’t seen MicroCenter’s Black Friday ads, and typically they have some good deals on RAM. And NewEgg.com started offering early Black Friday deals online last week.
Network: Wireless Routers
I have a collection of disappointments wireless routers I’ve used over the years. They are in a cardboard box in the basement, and collectively, they have one thing to tell me one thing that I want to share with you:
You get what you pay for with routers.
I went for some of those $20 deals on a few consecutive Black Fridays, and have never been satisfied with the results.
Now, the good news is that this year, the 802.11 N spec is no longer a draft, but an approved protocol, and there are plenty of deals for Wireless N routers popping up for this Black Friday running from $19.99 up through $89.99.
I would describe the wireless needs in my home as modest – we stream music, Netflix movies and on occasion push recorded TV around the HomeGroup using a D-Link DIR-615, which I’ve been happy with after spending about $50 for it earlier this year. Office Depot is offering it for $19.99 on Black Friday, though.
If you plan to push a lot of digital entertainment / HD around your house wirelessly, these deals may disappoint you as well. A lot of enthusiasts would recommend a simultaneous Dual Band router, where you can specify one band for data and the other for your media. Simultaneous means it will broadcast both bands at the same time.
Staples is offering a dual band (although not simultaneous) router from Linksys for 89.99. I’d check out the product reviews on this one before jumping in.
Final Thoughts
The worst Black Friday for me was a few years back when I got caught up in the frenzy and bought several hundred dollars worth of stuff I didn’t need. I picked up Power Strips and corded telephones because they were “free” (after rebate, if I had ever bothered to send in for the rebate). I’ve bought flash drives even though I already had more than I needed. One year I got an office chair that I hated, and also a paper shredder I’ve never used.
I used to always pickup a stack of blank CDs and DVDs, until I realized how infrequently I use them (I still have several hundred of each). And of course, I’ve found buying printer paper in bulk tends to beat the deals they offer on Black Friday as well.
Don’t let this happen to you. You can find a great deal to update your rig on Black Friday – just be sure you’ve got both eyes open when you do. Do your due diligence – check your product reviews and read the fine print. And don’t go for a “rebate” deal unless you’re committed to sending it in – the same day.
Seen any good deals? Got any plans? Add them to the comments, below.
