Early Black Friday Deals Worth Buying Now, and the Ones Worth Waiting On

Retailers have started their holiday sales early this year, and a lot of the early pricing is good enough to act on. The useful question isn't whether a discount exists. It's whether the price is low enough to buy now or whether the same item is likely to drop further when the main events begin. Here's how the early offers break down, with the products that stand out and the few I'd hold off on.

How the retailer events are stacked

Most big US retailers are running something already, but the timing differs, and that matters if you're planning around it. Walmart's early event, labelled "Deals & More," runs from November 12 to 15. That's a preview rather than the main show. Its full Black Friday sale starts November 23 and runs through November 29, and its Cyber Monday sale follows from November 30 to December 2. Amazon's full sale begins November 19, which means its early prices sit in the middle of a longer run of discounting.

Across the other major retailers, the headline numbers are large but need reading carefully. Amazon advertises up to 65% off tech and essentials. Best Buy lists up to 50% off TVs, laptops and appliances. Dell is pitching up to $700 off laptops, Lenovo up to 50% off laptops, and Samsung up to $1,000 off TVs and phones. Home Depot is promoting 50% off appliances, grills and tools, and Lowe's up to 30% off appliances and holiday decor. T-Mobile is offering a free iPhone or Galaxy with a plan, and Target has Christmas decor and gifts from $7.99. Those "up to" figures usually apply to a handful of items, so the specific product price is what matters.

Walmart's early access is limited to members, though it also has some offers open to everyone. The budget earbuds and a gaming laptop below are examples of that.

Audio and smart home: cheap entry points

The most striking price in this batch is the JLab Go Air Pop Plus. Listed at $26.99 and now at $9.88 at Walmart, they're a very low-risk purchase. Reviewers reported surprisingly good audio for the money, battery life of more than eight hours from the earbuds, and an extra 24 hours from the charging case. Expect the usual compromises at this price, such as weaker isolation and a plasticky feel, but as a spare pair or a gift for someone who loses earbuds, the math works.

On Amazon, the Blink Video Doorbell 2K+ has dropped from $69.99 to $35.99. It offers motion detection, infrared night vision, two-way audio, a two-year battery life and an expanded field of view. A separate Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+ is also listed at $35.99, down from $79.99. If you're adding a basic smart doorbell, this is the price range where the category becomes easy to justify.

The headline audio pick is the Sony WH-1000XM6. It has been described as back at a record-low price on Amazon, and it earned 4.5 stars in a review. The early price is listed at $378, down from $459.99. Here's the thing: this is one case where waiting might pay off. The suggestion is that the headphones could fall another $20 to $30 once Amazon's full sale starts. If you're not in a hurry, that's worth tracking. If you need them now, the current price is a reasonable one for a flagship pair with strong noise cancellation and a foldable design.

Laptops: where the value is

Laptops make up the biggest chunk of the early list, and they split into three clear groups: everyday machines, budget gaming systems and premium-looking mid-range options.

For everyday use, the HP OmniBook 3 is the strongest candidate. It has a 14-inch display, a Snapdragon X processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, and it's down from $799.99 to $599.99 at Best Buy. The battery life of up to 41 hours is the standout spec, and it makes the laptop a practical choice for college, office work or travel. The Snapdragon platform is efficient, so this is a machine that should suit people who mostly browse, write, stream and run productivity apps. If you rely on specialised x86 software, check compatibility before buying.

The OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 is listed at the same $599.99 price, down from $799.99, and it's the one I'd flag for anyone who values screen quality. It pairs an AMD Ryzen AI 5 chip and 16GB of RAM with a 14-inch 2K OLED panel, which is unusual at this price. A Ryzen 5 won't match a Ryzen 7 or Core 7 for heavy multitasking or demanding creative work, but for most everyday users the display alone sets it apart.

The Dell 15 is the budget Windows option. It has a 15.6-inch screen, an Intel Core 3 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, and it's priced at $399.99, down from $484.98. Light work will run fine. The 512GB drive is the unusual part, since laptops at this price often ship with 256GB. A 15-inch Dell XPS 13 is also discounted, from $749.99 to $649.99, with an Intel Core 5, 8GB of RAM and a 13.4-inch display. Its 256GB storage is the weak point, and you'll want external storage or cloud backup if you work with large files.

Lenovo's Chromebook Plus, with a 15.3-inch screen, Intel Core 3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, is the cheapest route into a more capable ChromeOS machine. ChromeOS handles browsing, email, documents and video well, but it lacks some of the desktop software that Windows users depend on. The 128GB drive is tight, so this suits people who store most of their files online.

On the gaming side, the MSI Cyborg 15 is the standout. Listed at $799, down from $1,299, at Walmart, it packs a 15.6-inch 144Hz display, an Intel Core i5-13420H, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, an RTX 5050 GPU and a 512GB SSD. That's enough for less demanding games, popular competitive titles and many indie releases at around medium settings. It won't handle the newest AAA games at high frame rates, but for a sub-$1,000 machine, the spec sheet is strong. Gaming laptop prices often move quickly in November, so a discount this size is worth taking seriously.

TVs and kitchen appliances

The LG C6 65-inch OLED is the most significant TV deal in the early batch. It's TechRadar's pick for TV of the year, and it's listed at $1,399.99 at Amazon, down from $1,599.99 in the main listing. The offer is described as a record low. Its picture quality, with high contrast, rich blacks and strong motion handling, makes it suitable for films, streaming, games and sport. A TV like this is the kind of purchase where a few hundred dollars matters, but the picture quality is what justifies the spend, not the discount alone.

In the kitchen, Ninja's appliances are doing well. The Crispi glass air fryer, a 4-quart model with a PowerPod lid and a resealable glass container, is down from $139 to $89 at Walmart. Its glass container and modular base are a departure from the usual plastic dual-basket design. Reviewers reported fast cooking and easy cleanup, and the container lets you prep and carry food. The Foodi PossibleCooker, a 9-in-1 slow cooker with a removable non-stick pot, steaming rack and glass lid, has dropped from $179.99 to $129.99 at Amazon. It's a practical choice if you cook in batches or want one appliance to replace several.

The Nespresso Vertuo Pop is the entry-level coffee option, with one-touch brewing and a heat-up time of about 30 seconds. It works with the included pods and offers several brew sizes. It's not a discounted price in the source, so treat it as a candidate for the main sale rather than something to rush into now.

Wearables and the rest of the list

The Google Pixel Watch 5 has been cut by $100 at Amazon, and its price has reached its lowest point since launch. It's only the second time it has been discounted, and reviewers expect it to stay near this price through Black Friday. Its GPS is accurate, its health and fitness tracking covers the essentials, and it's the strongest Android smartwatch on the list. If you're upgrading from a Pixel Watch 3 or 4, the improvement is modest. For anyone else, the discount makes it easier to recommend.

What to buy now and what to wait for

My read is that the best early buys are the ones where the price is already at or near a historic low and the product is well reviewed: the LG C6, the HP OmniBook 3, the MSI Cyborg 15 and the Ninja Crispi all fall into that group. The Sony headphones are the clearest example of something worth watching. If Amazon's full event brings another $20 to $30 off, you'll get a better price by waiting a week.

Budget buyers should also check whether a low-cost device fits the job. The JLab earbuds and the Dell 15 are good value if you're aware of their limits, and the Chromebook suits people who live in a browser. The Blink doorbell is cheap enough to test in one doorway before adding more devices.

Expect the list to change over the next few weeks. Amazon's full sale starts November 19, and Walmart's main event follows on November 23. Watch for a second round of price drops on the items marked as record lows, and for stock running out on the smaller discounts. Early pricing gives you a head start, but the best deal depends on whether the product matches what you need.