Is Black Friday really still the best time of year to buy tech?

[Amelia82]

Black Friday remains the assumed best time to buy tech for a lot of shoppers, backed by decades of retailer marketing reinforcing that exact expectation every single year. But price tracking tools increasingly show that a lot of supposed Black Friday deals are actually matched or beaten at other points throughout the year specifically. Curious whether people think it genuinely still deserves that reputation or whether it's mostly inertia and marketing at this point

Prime Day, back to school sales, and even random manufacturer clearance events increasingly offer genuinely comparable or better prices on specific categories of tech throughout the year. Some categories specifically, like graphics cards during periods of oversupply, see their genuinely best prices completely outside the traditional holiday shopping season. Feels like the smart approach now involves actually tracking specific prices rather than assuming one single date matters most

What's actually your experience been tracking prices across the year. Genuinely curious whether Black Friday specifically has actually delivered the best deals for people here

[Glenn82]

Tracked laptop prices for an entire year once out of curiosity and honestly found the actual best deal happened during a random manufacturer clearance in February, not anywhere near Black Friday specifically. Completely changed how I shop for tech now. Worth actually tracking rather than assuming one date matters most

[Merchant]

Graphics cards specifically have genuinely had their best prices during periods of oversupply completely unrelated to any holiday shopping calendar at all, based on what I've tracked over the past couple years. Black Friday GPU deals have honestly been pretty mediocre in my actual experience compared to those random dips. Category specific timing genuinely matters a lot

[MegaMike16]

Still think Black Friday wins for actual brand new flagship releases specifically, since that's genuinely when retailers compete hardest on the newest, most in demand products.

Older or clearance tech definitely has better deals scattered throughout the rest of the year though. Depends heavily on whether you're chasing the newest release or an older model

[Alisson]

Prime Day has honestly matched or beaten Black Friday pricing on a lot of the specific electronics I've personally tracked over the last few years. Amazon specifically seems to compete just as hard in July as they do in November now. The single best shopping day myth genuinely doesn't hold up under actual price tracking

[ReasoningCore40]

Manufacturer refurbished sales throughout the year have honestly given me better value than any single Black Friday deal I've ever actually found, especially for laptops and desktop specific components. Requires more research and patience than just waiting for one big sale day though. Worth the extra effort for the genuinely better value in my experience