Black Friday deals have already been leaked.  Head to Black Friday and see all of the in-store and online specials that have already been published.  While some of these scanned ads contain live deals, most point to prices that will only be unlocked on Black Friday.

Make sure you know what you are purchasing. Most “deals” are a watered-down offering that contains lesser components, or older models the manufacturer is desperate to sell. For example, a hard drive released during Q1 might be overstocked, and the manufacturer needs to get rid of it before the end of the year. Similarly, a device that had trouble selling was dumped on a big box store, which agrees to resell them for a lower price while getting a kickback.

One idea is to search 3rd party sites that critique deals. It’s important to know what you are buying, but why it is available at that price. For 2019, here’s a great resource that identifies some deals and “too good to believe” options for this year. This PC World article also identifies some MSRP’s that might just be too good to be true, in addition to some true deals.