Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest sales days of the year. Historically most folks start their winter holiday shopping on Black Friday. It’s become such a phenomenon that some retailers wrongfully extend it into Thanksgiving Day, and this year we’re even seeing a few retail stores beginning sales at the top of the month. In recent years, some of that behavior has been pulled back, but it’s still a huge day for retailers. Cyber Monday follows quickly after Black Friday, which makes it difficult for consumers to decide when to make the jump on a large purchase.
As it turns out, studies informing us which day is best to make the plunge have already been done. In general, Black Friday tends to see larger sales from major retailers on big-ticket items like TVs, laptops, and game consoles along with things like appliances and kitchen gadgets. However, especially in the last couple of years, most sources concede that the differences are blurry at best as most retailers simply extend sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. In any case, here are some big ticket items that should be on sale on Black Friday that may or may not also be on sale on Cyber Monday. We’ve collected some big-ticket items we predict will see a better deal on Black Friday, rather than Cyber Monday, and most of which traditionally see deep discounts annually during Black Friday.
Best Black Friday over Cyber Monday buys: Our top choices
LG / Pocket-lint
LG C3 OLED
1. Best Black Friday buy overall
It MSRPs for $1800 and is just $1300 during this holiday season
$1298 $1800 Save $502
The LG C3 is an exceptional OLED TV. It gets bright enough for most rooms, has punchy colors, and the clean blacks that come with OLED technology. It’s also on sale for the holidays.
- Perfect blacks and amazing contrast thanks to OLED
- Punchy colors with HDR support
- HDMI 2.1 supports full capability of the latest game consoles
- Game mode can be a tad dim
- Slight risk of burn-in
The LG C3 OLED TV is about as good as it gets for OLED TVs below $2,000. It features vibrant colors, as perfect of a contrast ratio as you can get, and excellent overall specs. That includes four HDMI 2.1 ports that support the latest video game consoles as well as low input lag. The speakers could be better and game mode is a bit dim, but otherwise, we’re pretty big fans of it around here.
I purchased one of these and use it almost every day for watching TV and gaming. It’s on sale as of this writing for $1,300 at Best Buy, which is an excellent deal for LG’s midrange OLED lineup. I also purchased an LG B7 six years ago during a Black Friday sale. So, from personal experience, I can tell you that LG OLEDs go on sale a lot during the holiday season.
Alienware / Pocket-lint
Alienware m16
2. Best Black Friday gaming laptop
A monster laptop with excellent specs
The Alienware m16 is a powerful laptop that might dip below $2000 during the holiday season depending on how things go.
- Specs are configurable to increase or decrease price
- 100 per cent SRGB screen produces good colors
- Plenty of ports in an era where laptops don’t get enough
- 300 nits screen is a bit dim
- One zone keyboard lighting feels like a cop out
Laptops are another thing that go on sale a lot during Black Friday. You’ll often see laptops get steep discounts, especially the more expensive ones. One good laptop to keep an eye out for is the Alienware m16. It comes in a variety of configurations, including the Intel Core i9 and Nvidia RTX 4080 linked in the box above, which is $500 off as of this writing. It’s got enough horsepower to do essentially anything you want, and the screen is good enough for light creative work.
Related: Best Apple Black Friday deals: Early savings on AirPods, Apple Watch and iPads
About the only real gripe with it is that it utilizes a single zone for its keyboard lighting. There’s a little bit of an eye roll there since most laptops north of $2,000 include per-key RGB lighting. Even so, if you don’t mind bypassing that minor feature, the laptop is otherwise quite good. Keep an eye out for it and its family members during Black Friday.
Apple / Pocket-lint
M2 MacBook Pro 13.3-inch
3. Best MacBook for Black Friday
You know you want one
The MacBook Pro is a mainstay in college dorms and Starbucks all over the world because it’s so good at what it does that lots of people use it. It should go on sale on Black Friday as well.
- Apple silicon is powerful without generating a ton of heat
- Very good battery life for a laptop
- Works amazingly well for productivity
- They can get expensive even with minimal upgrades
- Gaming on macOS isn’t great
MacBooks are another product that consistently go on sale during Black Friday. Typically, it’s a prior generation product, but there’s nothing wrong with Apple M2 MacBooks. In any case, MacBooks are great machines. They’re lightweight, slim, and Apple’s silicon can do quite a lot of work without heating up. They’re great for college work, work from home stuff, and even creative work thanks to the truly excellent display.
One of the reasons a lot of folks avoid MacBooks is because of the price, so Black Friday is a great time to surf around and see if any are on sale. You might be able to skate out of your local big box store with a MacBook and a few hundred bucks in savings. Just don’t expect to game on one. It is possible to do, but it’s not a great experience.
Apple / Pocket-lint
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (2022)
4. Best Black Friday tablet
iPads are another big ticket item that go on sale a lot
The iPad Pro is a one of the best tablets you can get. It has a vibrant app ecosystem, plenty of power to do whatever you need, and a large screen.
- Big, colorful screen to perform your tasks
- Lots of great apps to use and games to play
- Big power while also having good battery life
- Expensive
- The larger 12.9-inch model is essentially a laptop
We are big fans of the iPad here, and the 2022 iPad Pro 11-inch is no different. It comes with an excellent display, tons of power, and decent battery life depending on how you use it. Its larger size is also nice, even if the 12.9-inch variant may be bordering on laptop levels of big. In any case the iPad Pro, regular iPad, and the iPad Mini all have the potential to go on sale, so you can really choose the one you want.
It’s probably a good thing to get these on sale because they are so expensive. The regular iPad isn’t too bad, but the iPad Pro can reach over $1,000 if you increase the storage, which is recommended because the base storage isn’t all that much in 2023. Paying MSRP for them isn’t a great bargain, but anything can happen on Black Friday. If you are considering an iPad this year and prefer an in-depth look at the many different versions specs and differences, check out our feature on best iPads, expert reviewed and ranked.
KitchenAid / Pocket-lint
KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
5. Best Black Friday kitchen buy
You know the one
$270 $330 Save $60
The KitchenAid Stand Mixer is a favorite gift around the holiday season because it goes on sale essentially every year. Level up your baking with one at a discount.
- Tons of functionality with plenty of power
- Optional attachments let you do tons of other stuff
- Almost always on sale on Black Friday
- If you don’t cook, this will be just a very heavy ornamental piece
- Optional attachments can get expensive
Ah, yes, the venerable KitchenAid stand mixer. You’ve almost certainly seen a famous TV or YouTube chef use one of these things to make bread, pizza dough, icing, or some other culinary concoction. Since kitchen gadgets tend to go on sale a lot on Black Friday, we’d like to note that the KitchenAid stand mixer is arguably the best example of this, year after year. There are various models, including the Artisan and Classic series models, and they come in a boat load of different colors and bowl sizes.
Of course, you do actually have to cook at home to make such a purchase worth it. While they are iconic in their looks, they don’t make for great decorative pieces. You can extend the functionality with attachments that let you do things like roll out pasta, grind your own meat, or stuff your own sausages. However, those attachments do cost extra, and the price can get up there even if everything is on sale. Still, it’s always worthy of consideration.
Ninja / Pocket-lint
Ninja Mega Kitchen System
6. Second best Black Friday kitchen buy
The smoothie cups are actually kind of awesome
$155 $200 Save $45
The Ninja Mega Kitchen System is a blender, food processor, and smoothie machine all in one to consolidate space and give you plenty of kitchen tools.
- Comes with a food processor bowl, a blender, and two smoothie cups
- Powerful enough to do whatever you need it to do
- Simple controls that don’t require a degree to figure out
- A jack of all trades but a master of none
- Older variants had larger smoothie cups
Ninja is a pretty serious brand when it comes to smaller kitchen appliances, and this blender and food processor combo is no exception. It boasts 1,500W of power that should shred whatever you put in here within reason. You can also swap out the food processor bowl for a traditional blender to make whatever it is you’re trying to make. The cherry on top are the two smoothie cups, which are also usable for milkshakes.
I purchased the previous model of this, and it’s been working fine for me for the last three years. My wife and I primarily use it for smoothies and shakes, but we’ve done guacamole, sauces, and a few other recipes with the other two attachments from time to time. The best part of this package is that you won’t need separate machines for the food processor and blender, which can save space in a cramped kitchen.
Sony / Pocket-lint
Sony WH1000XM5 Headphones
7. Best Black Friday wireless headphones buy
The gold standard of over-ear Bluetooth headphones
The Sony WH1000XM5 is the latest generation of over-ear wireless headphones from Sony. These things are quite good at both listening to music and blocking out sound.
- Surprisingly good sound quality for a Bluetooth headphone
- Sony has some of the best noise cancelling in the industry
- Plenty of extra features that are entertaining to use
- They are expensive
- The prior generation may go on sale instead
Sony hit a homerun with the WH-1000XM series of headphones and the most recent iteration, the Sony WH-1000XM5, is no exception. They’re lightweight, for Bluetooth headphones anyway, with excellent sound quality, top tier noise-cancelling, and, unfortunately, it has the price tag to match. Sony’s top-end Bluetooth headphones usually on sale during the holidays, we just don’t know yet if it’ll be last generation’s Sony WH-1000XM4 or this year’s model. It almost doesn’t matter because both of them are excellent.
In addition to getting the basics right, Sony has a lot of extra little features baked in for good measure. For example, you can cup your hand over one of the earcups to pipe outside noise into the headphones in case someone is talking to you, or you want to hear what’s going on around you. Even the app to control the headset is pretty good most of the time. If you can snag a pair on sale during Black Friday, it’s not a bad purchase.
Google / Pocket-lint
Google Nest Doorbell (Wired)
8. Best Black Friday smart home buy
Increase peace of mind with a video doorbell
$150 $180 Save $30
Smart home tech like the Google Nest Doorbell often go on sale during the holidays. We quite like the Google Nest Doorbell because it’s minimal, it works, and it comes in enough colors to usually match your house.
- Several color options
- Comes in both wired and battery options
- Good features and video quality
- Nest Aware subscription required for some features
The Google Nest Doorbell, along with plenty of other smart home tech, will likely be on sale through the holidays, including Black Friday. It’s a nice time to upgrade your smart home tech if you’re into that sort of thing. The Nest Doorbell is a good place to start. You can get wired or wireless variants depending on how you want to go about things. The video is pretty good, and you can get notifications for visitors, packages, and even when cars drive by.
The only downside, and it’s a pretty big one, is that it requires a subscription to get some truly useful features and prices can range from $8 to $15 per month. In this economy, another subscription is a big ask, but at least Google lets you connect as many Nest devices to that subscription as you want. It’s a good video doorbell, but keep your eye out for others throughout the holiday season.
The bottom line: What’s the best items to buy on Black Friday instead of Cyber Monday?
As we said in the intro, the lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday get blurrier every year as most retail stores just extend the Black Friday sales through the weekend into the next week. However, there is still a trend of big ticket items going on sale for Black Friday, so it’s a great time to shop for something like the truly excellent LG C3 or an expensive laptop like the Alienware m16 or a MacBook Pro to save some real money on a big ticket item.
LG / Pocket-lint
LG C3 OLED
Editor’s Choice
$1298 $1800 Save $502
Kitchen tech is also usually on sale, such as the wonderful KitchenAid stand mixer or a Ninja blender that also works as a food processor. Whatever bigger ticket or kitchen gadget you’re looking for, there are likely to be some sales for them on Black Friday.
How did we choose these items?
There are so many things that go on sale for Black Friday, especially in technology. It was essentially just tossing darts at the entire segment and picking the ones we know best. For example, I own roughly half the tech on this list and our various writers and editors have experience with the rest of it.
In short, we wanted to make sure we recommended stuff that should actually go on sale on Black Friday that we also had enough experience with to recommend with confidence. However, as with every year, this list is by no means exhaustive. There will be literally thousands of items on sale, so feel free to look around and check back day of to see some flash sales and other items that may not have been announced yet.
What are big ticket items to get on Black Friday?
As we noted in the intro, TVs, laptops, tablets, wireless headphones, kitchen gadgets, and even home appliances are all big ticket items that will likely be on sale come Black Friday. On the non-tech side of things, things like furniture, automobiles, and other such things are likely also to see sales.
When is Black Friday 2023?
This year Black Friday is Friday, November 24, 2023. However, some deals may start on Thanksgiving Day, which is November 23.
When is Cyber Monday 2023?
This year it is Monday, November 27th, 2023. Like with Black Friday, you’ll likely see some deals over the weekend leading up to Black Friday.
What are the best deals on Black Friday?
There are a lot of items on sale already that will likely continue on to Black Friday. Some examples include the aforementioned LG C3 which is $1300 down from $1800. That’s a pretty great deal to be honest. We’ll also post more great Black Friday deals here as we find them.
Should I shop online or in-store on Black Friday?
Honestly, shop online at big box retailers and select in-store pickup for the next day when the crowds go home. You get the experience of shopping online while also having a physical location to pick up your item and potentially return or exchange it if something is wrong. It’s why I put Best Buy purchase links for all the products above. Personally, I like the bustle and chaos of Black Friday, so I always try to go out shopping. However, there is no shame in staying warm at home with a cup of hot cocoa and doing all of this online too.
Is Black Friday a good time to buy a laptop?
Oh yeah, especially midrange and higher laptops. It’s not uncommon for a $1,300 to $1,500 laptop drop to under $1,000 on Black Friday while $2,000 laptops dip into the $1,000 range. MacBooks of various types often go on sale as do gaming laptops. Budget laptops will go on sale as well, but usually not with the huge price drops you get from higher-end stuff.
How much cheaper are items on Black Friday?
It’s very difficult to say with any degree of certainty. There are some fairly safe guesses, though. For example, prior generation products will likely have steeper discounts than the current model of the same product, assuming the current generation model goes on sale at all. It’ll all depend on what manufacturers and retailers want to put on sale. We try to make sure when we find a deal to inform our readers about, it is a significant deal, usually above 20 per cent off the retail price.
