from Hacker News

Ask HN: Any good black Friday deals?

by nagyf on 11/25/22, 2:54 PM with 194 comments

Do you know any good black Friday deals for tech stuff?

  • by mellosouls on 11/25/22, 3:31 PM

    Generally I find Black Friday a bit overhyped, the "bargains" are best checked against price history with (say) CamelCamelCamel before you buy.

    Not Black Friday, but in the UK and maybe other countries, Amazon Warehouse is currently doing a 20% off sale, so 20% off the price when you get to checkout.

    I've had a few good "As New" things off there in the past, worth having a look.

    There's also a 50% off books sale on the UK Warehouse, loads of tech books, though I don't know how many decent ones are left.

    --

    Specific Black Friday deals though: Quest Apps on sale:

    https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/section/15301901340...

  • by brunobrito on 11/25/22, 3:55 PM

    Some apps I really like are on sale. Here are some suggestions:

    Web Development:

    - ProxyMan - https://proxyman.io/ — web debugging proxy (30% off the first year)

    - Tower - https://www.git-tower.com/ — powerful Git Client (50% off the first year)

    - DevUtils - https://devutils.com/ — set of small developer tools (50% off)

    For overall productivity:

    - BetterTouchTool - https://folivora.ai/ — customize input devices (50% off)

    - Trickster - https://www.apparentsoft.com/trickster — handy to access recent files (50% off)

    For images/screen capturing:

    - Affinity Suite - https://affinity.serif.com/ — (40% off for the Universal License)

    A great alternative to Adobe's suite. Version 2 is fresh from the oven. Affinity Photo = Photoshop, Affinity Designer = Illustrator, Affinity Publisher = InDesign. The Universal License includes Mac, Windows, and iPadOS apps.

    - Xnapper - https://xnapper.com — Screenshot tool (50% off)

    - ScreenFlow - https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm — Screencast tool (20% off)

  • by dont__panic on 11/25/22, 3:48 PM

    I've gotten two great "deals" this week.

    The first: I bought "unlimited" worldwide maps from Osmand, which I use a TON for offline maps when I bike. It's $9.99 for unlimited worldwide offline map downloads right now. Great deal if you'd like to move away from Google Maps for navigation (not so great for business search, but it's slowly getting there!)

    The second: not actually a Black Friday deal, but I recently switched to https://purelymail.com/ for email. It's a one-man show, significantly cheaper than the competition because... it's not bootstrapping some massive startup or running off VC capital. If you just want IMAP for desktop/mobile for cheap, but can't self-host because Google will throw all of your emails into spam, this is a great option. $10/year or less estimated cost. And it's fully encrypted on their servers, not used for advertising, pretty much exactly what you want if you JUST want mail.

    Oh, and the Gigabyte M28U 144hz 4k 28" monitor that I use is now down to an all-time-low cost of $450. If you're looking for a beautiful monitor for your home office, this is it.

  • by TheCapn on 11/25/22, 3:28 PM

    For PC Parts there's usually good links on reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/

    There's a few regional equivalents as well. I know of

    r/bapcsalescanada

    r/bapcsalesuk

    r/BaPCSalesEurope

    r/bapcsalesaustralia

    r/bapcsalesgermany

  • by dceddia on 11/25/22, 4:34 PM

    I'm doing a 50% off sale for my app Recut, https://getrecut.com

    It's a simplified video editor that removes pauses and dead air, and creates a cut list you can then import into a "real" editor.

    Saves a bunch of time if you're doing talking-head videos, vlogging, podcasts, screencasts... the sorts of content where the first step of editing is to chop out the long pauses and mistakes. I originally built it because I was doing screencasts and wanted the process to go faster :D

  • by nelsonfigueroa on 11/25/22, 6:01 PM

    Little Snitch is 50% off right now. It's an application firewall for MacOS. - https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

  • by joaodlf on 11/25/22, 3:30 PM

    An Anker Power Bank (24,000mAh) has a £40 discount right now on Amazon UK.

    This is a really nice piece of tech that has helped me to work outside the house with peace of mind. Can keep my phone charged (which I use for tethering) for over a week, no problem. Drains way quicker when charging my M1, but that one has far less battery issues when compared to my phone.

    The discount is real, as well. I know because I bought it recently, but you can also check it against camelcamelcamel or keepa.

  • by thinkloop on 11/25/22, 4:06 PM

    How Black Friday works:

    Companies release products 6-12 months in advance. On the day of their release they are at their most valuable. Every day that goes by they slowly lose a little bit of desirability. For practicality, and human marketing reasons, companies do not adjust their prices every day to reflect the reduction in demand. Instead they gather all the erosion into one big clump and release it in a frenzy on Black Friday.

    So are there "deals" on Black Friday? Not really, in the sense that you are buying a product that is of truly lower value. At the same time, many people don't care about the newness of various products, so are happy to trade that time for money in their pocket. In short, Black Friday is about segmentation than it is "deals". It's a way to charge the most eager top dollar at the beginning of the curve, while also cashing in later with the rest at the end of the product lifecycle.

    Thank you.

  • by EugeneOZ on 11/25/22, 3:27 PM

    Create a list of the products you need and try to find deals for this list.

    Otherwise, there is a huge chance to buy something you don't actually need, just because it's a good deal. Then it will be a good deal for the seller :)

  • by k099 on 11/25/22, 3:44 PM

    Someone compiled a big list of deals on apps, SaaS software, utilities, books, courses, etc and seems to be taking PRs: https://github.com/trungdq88/Awesome-Black-Friday-Cyber-Mond...

  • by SirGiggles on 11/25/22, 3:25 PM

    Bought myself a Razer Core X (Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure) for CAD$109.99 a few days ago. Was a discount of 71% off from an original price of CAD$389.99. Not sure if the US site reflects the same kinds of savings.

    https://www.razer.com/ca-en/gaming-egpus/Razer-Core-X/RC21-0...

  • by TexanFeller on 11/25/22, 3:32 PM

    MBP 14" are $500 off sticker again like they were recently. It's still expensive, but the M1 Pro based laptops really are that good and I'm happy as a pig in poop.

    M1 Airs are 800 and great for your lower tech relatives.

  • by KronisLV on 11/25/22, 5:14 PM

    The VPS provider that I use, Time4VPS has some pretty nice discounts until the 28th of November: https://www.time4vps.com/?affid=5294 (affiliate link)

    Another already affordable VPS provider, Contabo, also seems to have nice deals: https://contabo.com/en/ (they expire in an hour at the time of writing)

    The Namecheap domain registrar that also offers e-mail and other stuff has some ongoing deals: https://www.namecheap.com/domain-web-hosting-ssl-deals/black...

  • by hedora on 11/25/22, 3:49 PM

    Ambient Weather's weather stations are on sale (20% off some components, and some base stations). That never happens.

  • by JustSomePackets on 11/25/22, 3:52 PM

    Proton Unlimited (ProtonMail, Drive, VPN, Calendar) is 40% off the two year plan (172.56 €) or 35% off the 1 year plan (93.48 €). Good for those who like the service.

  • by gexaha on 11/25/22, 3:57 PM

    I'm developing microtonal algorithmic music, leaning towards chiptune sound, and for sounds/timbres/instruments I found the Plogue synthesisers to be the best - https://www.plogue.com/index.html - they have 3 great FM-synthesizers/emulators of Yamaha chips: OPL2, OPN from megadrive, and DX7. Bought 2 of them on this black friday.

  • by notacoward on 11/25/22, 4:38 PM

    I put off buying a new gaming laptop for my daughter until I could find one with decent specs for under US$1000. I'd check every week or so. Finally, thanks to Black Friday, I found two yesterday that had just crept under.

    Asus TUF F15 at B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1702433-REG/asus_fx50...

    Acer Predator Helios at Best Buy: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-predator-helios-300-15-6-f...

    They're really almost identical; I ended up buying the TUF (which has since gone up but only by $20) because it had a larger SSD. I'm sure somebody else can do better - please comment here if you do! - but this seems to set a pretty good benchmark.

  • by byteflip on 11/25/22, 5:15 PM

    I picked up some discounts on recurring software/app subscriptions I use:

    Fitbod Elite - Workout tracking/planning - 40% off - 47.99 annually - I was paying 12.99$ a month!!!

    Plex Pass Lifetime - 25% off - 90$ once - Regular $120

    I have used YNAB for budgeting for years. I wish I could find a discount on that. Still keeping an eye out for any other similarly useful deals on stuff I already pay for.

  • by iamcomedy on 11/25/22, 5:30 PM

    - Copylime - https://copylime.com is an amazing AI writing tool that I personally had the chance to use.

    It can help you write anything: from a cold email to a Facebook Ad to a blog post...

    It has super affordable and generous Black Friday deals:

    -> One-time $6.99 for 200 credits

    -> One-time $11.99 for 300 credits + 25 FREE

    -> One time $16.99 450 credits + 50 FREE

  • by MopMop on 11/25/22, 7:16 PM

    'Black Friday' - Another consumer's day in the year when everything gets marked up so you can have your discount.

  • by phone_book on 11/25/22, 3:16 PM

    Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones for $228 (normally $350) at pretty much every store (Sony, Amazon, Best Buy, etc). Just got them and they are great but I never had wireless headphones. They do take 10-20 seconds to connect to my iPad, but that might be because they are also set up with my phone.

    I considered the newer version but the reviews made it seem like it wasn't a huge upgrade and in some ways a downgrade, like the newer version doesn't fold to a smaller size.

  • by Dimoff on 11/25/22, 8:49 PM

    - Easy-Peasy.AI - https://easy-peasy.ai - AI content assistant, 40% off

    - Laracasts - https://laracasts.com - Screencasts for modern developer, 45% off

    - DevUtils - https://devutils.com/ — set of small developer tools, 50% off

  • by Majestic121 on 11/25/22, 3:48 PM

    Not sure if it's available in other countries, but in France you have Dealabs which allows you to vote on deal and offers a bit like on reddit, allowing the community to highlight the best bargains.

    It's also used as a commercial device by companies directly nowadays but the good deals there are usually worth checking out.

    https://www.dealabs.com/

  • by powersnail on 11/25/22, 6:44 PM

    San Francisco Symphony has a 50% off for all seats, which is pretty sweet if you listen to classical music.

  • by mlu509 on 11/25/22, 5:53 PM

    - 50% off https://medium.com yearly subscription

    - 20% off https://getimg.ai (text-to-image and AI editor) monthly subscription for 3 months

  • by bilal4hmed on 11/25/22, 3:28 PM

    Picked up an m1 macbook air for $780 from Microcenter

  • by SanjayMehta on 11/25/22, 3:30 PM

    PragProg has 40% off with a potential additional 30% off on a future purchase.

    The coupon code is on their blog.

  • by lopkeny12ko on 11/25/22, 3:43 PM

    AMD slashed the price of the Ryzen 9 series CPUs this week. A 7950X now goes for $550, down from $700.

    That said I'm not sure if this is a Black Friday deal or a permanent reduction to be price-competitive with Intel Raptor Lake.

  • by georgewsinger on 11/25/22, 7:02 PM

    SimulaVR (https://simulavr.com) is offering a $100 discount to Hacker News preorderers: use the code "DISCOUNT_HN" at checkout.

  • by asicsp on 11/25/22, 3:39 PM

    I'm an indie author and my "All books bundle" is $10 (normal price $28) - https://learnbyexample.gumroad.com/l/all-books/FestiveOffer (Topics include Linux CLI tools, regular expressions, Vim and Python)

    I've also collected deals from other indie creators, publishers, etc on my blog (https://learnbyexample.github.io/programming-deals-2022/). Some highlights:

    * Python books by Michael Driscoll - https://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2022/11/22/python-black-f...

    * Python Morsels - https://www.pythonmorsels.com/pricing/

    * Boost Your Django DX - https://adamchainz.gumroad.com/l/byddx and Speed Up Your Django Tests - https://adamchainz.gumroad.com/l/suydt

    * Python, Git, and Pandas courses - https://twitter.com/reuvenmlerner/status/1595402066213601280

    * Practical Guide to Technical Blogging - https://bhavaniravi.gumroad.com/l/technical-blogging/WRITELI...

    * Complete Guide to CSS Flex and Grid - https://shrutibalasa.gumroad.com/l/css-flex-and-grid/BlackFr...

    * Explain Ideas Visually - https://twitter.com/OzolinsJanis/status/1595743978531348480

    * Leanpub Monthly Sale - https://mailchi.mp/leanpub/monthly-sale-2022-november-black-...

    * Infosec - https://github.com/0x90n/InfoSec-Black-Friday

  • by makeee on 11/25/22, 7:27 PM

    My React codebase generator is 40% off for the next few days: https://divjoy.com

  • by RyanShook on 11/25/22, 3:56 PM

    This ASUS Chromebook for $80 on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AK6oDD

  • by rikkipitt on 11/25/22, 4:25 PM

    I'm offering 25% off all plans for https://www.paced.email and https://www.vend.email with BF2022. Not really had much success with BF/CM in the past, but alas, I'll try again this year now the products are in more solid positions.

  • by ftufek on 11/25/22, 3:26 PM

    TainwindUI all access bundled with Refactoring UI book for free, pretty good value for engineers looking to get better at design.

  • by longnguyen on 11/26/22, 9:01 AM

    I'm doing a 50% off (first year) for my SaaS KTool, https://ktool.io

    It allows you to send multiple types of content to your Kindle: Reddit posts, Hacker News discussions, Twitter threads & newsletters. It supports multiple file types too: PDF, DOCX, markdown etc.

  • by ScottWRobinson on 11/25/22, 5:50 PM

    We're running a deal for 38% off ($99 vs $159) for a yearly membership to StackAbuse.com. We have a number of data visualization courses, guided projects, and a pretty extensive course on Deep Learning for Computer Vision.

    https://stackabuse.com/

  • by shaprack on 11/25/22, 5:06 PM

    Here's the list of Top Amazon Black Friday deals which are currently active - https://thegadgetlite.com/2022/11/amazon-black-friday-deals-...

  • by TheCapeGreek on 11/25/22, 4:28 PM

    The best deals are usually in software. For physical goods, find a price tracker.

    That being said, I grabbed a lifetime Laracasts subscription for $219 - about 2 years of the ordinary yearly price ($99, on sale at $54). Great resource for new & rusty Laravel developers.

  • by amboo7 on 11/25/22, 9:48 PM

  • by ioblomov on 11/26/22, 6:41 PM

  • by wrp on 11/25/22, 3:31 PM

    For those of us old enough to remember when holiday sales really did start on the day after Thanksgiving, in my area, most of the shops started their Black Friday sales on Monday. If you waited until today, you missed out on a lot.

  • by Riphyak on 11/26/22, 8:49 PM

    We put together a bundle, mostly engineering soft: https://resources.youteam.io/bfcm-bundle-deals-youteam

  • by throwaway290 on 11/25/22, 4:54 PM

    Every Layout. Not directly for specific solutions and components but more to get inspired from them and from latest CSS capabilities they use (seeing them in action beats reading specs). Updates for life are promised.

  • by wy35 on 11/25/22, 3:50 PM

    rOtring 800 is down to $20. Lost mine a couple weeks ago and was really bummed.

  • by Paul_Grsl on 11/25/22, 5:19 PM

    AI GENERATION TOOLS

    Thundercontent AI Writer (140+ languages, 20+ tools, based on GPT-3) : $7/ month (usually $49/month) -- https://thundercontent.com Article.Audio (Convert articles to audio with AI): $39 Lifetime deal (usually $19/month) -- https://article.audio

  • by trifon_tsvetkov on 11/25/22, 4:30 PM

    We're doing 50% off CodeInterview Pro (coding interview tool). So $24.50/m instead of $49/m for new customers. Link: https://codeinterview.io/pricing

    Coupon code: BLACKFRIDAY2022

  • by LorenDB on 11/25/22, 3:23 PM

    Razer Huntsman Elite is at $120 instead of $200.

  • by schwartzworld on 11/25/22, 7:39 PM

    Dynavap has some pretty killer specials. Buy one get one on their B model!

  • by dev_0 on 11/25/22, 3:28 PM

    Any technical courses do you guys recommend?