Black Friday can be absolutely overwhelming. Every retailer is vying for your attention and money. That’s why we’ve vetted each and every major Black Friday ad to find only the very best deals.
Remember, this master list was curated from pre-announced deals. We fully expect many retailers to hit us with surprise deals throughout the next week. That’s why it’s important you follow 9to5Toys on Twitter/Facebook, and sign-up for our email newsletter. The 9to5Toys team is going to be working around the clock to bring you the Black Friday deals you can’t afford to miss.
Continue on for the definitive Black Friday 2014 ‘Best Of’ list… Expand Expanding Close
Update (11/26 2:00am): We have added the entire MacMall Black Friday ad.
MacMall is a shopping mecca for Apple fans looking to save some money. With the biggest shopping day of the year coming up, there’s no doubt many of you have been waiting to get a peek at MacMall’s Black Friday plans. Well, we’ve finally got our hands on them and we can’t wait to share them with you.
Shortly after going live on the Apple Store site, the Mac Pro is starting to appear on third-party reseller sites. While you’re unlikely to get your hands on one any sooner than buying via Apple (which currently lists Dec 30th as shipping dates), it can’t hurt to make a few calls.
Cat’s out of the bag? It appears that Parallels is preparing an update to their award-winning virtualization software for Mac. Amazon Germany has a pre-order page up with Parallels Desktop 9 artwork and an expected delivery date of September 5th. Having a quick look around, it appears you can also order it now in the US at MacMall/PCM for $74.99 shipped:
A variety of other retailers appear to be getting units in stock after a quick Google search of manufacturer part PDFM9L-BX1-EN-NT. The September 5th release date would seem to fit into Parallels’ schedule. Previous releases were:
Parallels allows Mac Users to run Virtual machines of Windows, other instances of Mac OS, Linux, Android and just about every other Intel-based OSes out there inside of Mac OS. Likely updates this time around would probably include OSX 10.9 Mavericks and Windows 8/.1 compatibility improvements.
Parallels has traditionally allowed users who’ve bought within 2 weeks of release a free upgrade to the new version but no such policy has yet been announced for this version. (Update: Here’s Parallels Tech Guarantee saying if you buy after August 15th (now) you are covered for a free upgrade when V9 comes out.) If you are interested in purchasing Parallels now (and it is a GREAT product), we recommend downloading a free 30-day trial of Parallels Desktop 8 which would conclude after the above early September update, guaranteeing you wouldn’t need to pay extra for an update to v9.
If Parallels 9 is indeed coming out soon, you can bet we’ll have a full review of the product and/or any iOS accessory products, should such products exist, as soon as they are available.
From 9to5Toys.com and 9to5Mac Product Pages comes a special deal from MacMall for our readers who are looking for MacBook Airs at the lowest prices. Across the board, Macmall has the lowest prices when coupled with additional 3% off 9to5Mac promo code NTFMMWB38592
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MacMall goes beyond lowest prices: Until Friday at 9:15PM ET, readers will get free overnight shipping and a free copy of Parallels Desktop with every order. MacMall also offers financing and/or no payments for 6 months and accepts payments with Paypal or Amazon as well as major credit cards. This week’s MacMall specials include half off Quickbooks 2013 for Mac, iPad SmartCovers starting at $26.99 and other Blowout deals on peripherals.
MacMall has additional MacBook Air 8GB BTO configurations that knock an additional 3% off the already lowest prices we could find: Expand Expanding Close
The above ad has entered heavy rotation this weekend, while Best Buy has new deals on Apple- and Apple-related products (including $25 off $250+ purchases):
While Apple’s deals are in line with what we expected from previous years, most of these products can be found even cheaper through third-party retailers today. We have put together a list of all the Black Friday prices on the U.S. Apple Store below. Next to each item, you’ll also find the lowest price that we could find from third parties—most of which provided an even better deal than Apple:
-iPad with Retina display | From $458 (Save $41) Best Price:BestBuy from $439
-iPad 2 | From $368 (Save $31) Best Price:BestBuy from $339 Alternative Best Price option: eBay Daily Deals from $339 (16GB WiFi)
-iPod touch | From $268 (Save $31) Best Price:Best Buy from $294+$50 gift card
-iPod touch 4th generation | From $178 (Save $21 ) Best Price:Best Buy from $194 +$50 gift card
-iPod nano | From $138 (Save $11) Best Price:Best Buy from $144 + $20 gift card
-MacBook Pro with Retina Display | From $1,598 (Save $101) Best Price:Amazon from $1,593
-MacBook Pro | From $1,098 (Save $101) Best Price:Amazon from $1,024
-MacBook Air | From $898 (Save $101) Best Price:Amazon from $893
MacMall starts its Black Friday early with discounts on a monster selection of Macs, hard drives, iPods, and more by up to $799 off. Plus, all orders over $25 qualify for free shipping. We’ve already populated our new Apple Products section with all the new low prices so check them out.
Many iOS devs are slashing the prices on some of their hottest iOS titles to celebrate Labor Day Weekend. These are some of the lowest prices we’ve seen for major iOS gaming titles. Use the direct download links below to cash in on the savings before they disappear.
Today only, MacConnection has the Mac Mini base configuration for $529.95 with free shipping. That’s $70 off retail and the lowest price we’ve seen (refurb is $519 at Apple).
Staples has 2x$25 iTunes gift cards for $40 with free shipping. At 20% off, that matches the lowest price we’ve seen. The promo lasts until Feb. 25th. iTunes gift cards can be used on Music, Videos, iBooks, iOS Apps and Mac Apps (including Mountain Lion).
MacMall is offering 9to5 readers an additional 3 percent off its already lowest prices on Mac Minis and iMacs this month to yield the lowest prices you will find anywhere (by as much as $50) with free shipping via this link. The 3 percent is deducted at checkout and MacMall does not charge tax in most states.
All discounts, including higher end models, are listed below:
MacMall is offering 9to5 readers an additional 3% off of their already lowest prices on Mac Minis and iMacs this month yielding the lowest prices you’ll find anywhere (by as much as $50) with free shipping via this link. The 3% is deducted at checkout and MacMall doesn’t charge tax in most states.
All discounts, including higher end models listed below:
MacMall offers 9to5 readers an additional 3 percent off their lowest price new Mac Desktop products at checkout which yield lowest prices currently available in the U.S. with free shipping. Mac Minis start at $567.99 and iMacs start at $1105.79.
Your only better option would be to buy a refurb iMac at the online Apple Store for $999.
Speaking of Refurbs at the Apple Store, iPad 2s are in stock again at $419, which is a solid savings of $80 (you might want to wait a few months for an update, however!).
Conventional wisdom once was that as Apple expanded its retail footprint, Apple resellers would fall by the wayside. And that has happened to a certain extent, plus stores like CompUSA and Circuit City have folded.
Fortunately, other retailers have been able to succeed alongside Apple by offering differentiated services.
One of our favorite Apple resellers, MacMall, is expanding their retail stores to Huntington Beach, California this Saturday and Chicago, Illinois in the coming months. Currently, the retailer has a booming online store coupled with two retail stores in Santa Monica and Torrance that are also seeing success, the company said in a press release sent out today. The Huntington Beach store opens this Saturday, December 10th with some pretty killer deals (seen after the break). MacMall’s Chicago store, located 321 West Grand Avenue, will be seeing a later January/February opening.
We hear that MacMall is even shopping for some space in Manhattan, alongside one of our other favorite resellers, Tekserve.
MacMall, naturally can offer more to customers than Apple Stores with their unscheduled technical support, broader range of accessories (even a few PCs and Android tablets), and most importantly “online prices in a retail store”. We often tip you guys on MacMall’s awesome deals, so we’re certainly familiar with some of the deals they carry. As you can see below, they offer so many more accessories than an Apple Store (iPhone Alarm Clocks, standalone GPS, Photoframes, Cameras, etc, etc).
MacMall says Apple has encouraged them to keep expanding to more stores and with over $100 million in Apple product sales this year, that isn’t hard to believe.
At the Huntington Beach store’s grand-opening on Saturday, the first 300 people to visit the store will be entered to win free Apple TVs, MacBook Airs, iPod touchs, and iPod Nanos. Early shoppers will have a 1 in 22 chance of taking home some free holiday gifts.
