Don't fall into the Black Friday trap? To start with, we should pay close attention to product descriptions and not be impressed by the insidious combination: Manufacturer's name (brand) and a reduced price.
Black Friday has gone from being a day of sales to a week or even a month of sales. The caption “Black Friday Sales” is displayed in almost all store windows, while countless emails and messages on our mobile phones in recent days have made us regret giving our mobile phones to stores that are bombarding us with their “Super Sales”.
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Black Friday is a lie and an advertising strategy of many companies. Yes, there may be some stores out there that really represent this American fashion with their prices, but - let's not forget - we are not in America, instead we follow their custom and often with great failure. It is difficult to judge when a store really has reduced prices or is simply fooling us. And when we are talking about technology items, a wrong purchase is almost a given, if we have not done our own personal research before going to a store. So how can we avoid pointless purchases of technological gadgets or rather, in order not to do injustice to stores that really offer us valuable products at reduced prices, what should we pay attention to when making a purchase during Black Friday week?
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In order to make our thinking more understandable through this article, we will assume that we want to buy a new laptop, since according to research it is one of the top shopping choices these days. Also, to avoid misunderstandings and incorrect targeting of Greek chains selling technological items (physical and online), we will refer to e-shops of global appeal as an indicative example.
Sneaky laptop sales tactics that aren't worth your money
Those who have sufficient knowledge of technology can easily understand whether a laptop on the market is worth its money or not. However, if we are not familiar with the world of technology and want to buy a new laptop these days, it is a good idea to read the following carefully.
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To begin with, we should pay close attention to product descriptions and not be impressed by the insidious combination: Manufacturer's name (brand) and a reduced price.
For example, in the screenshot below, the e-shop is offering an Apple MacBook Air for just $574.99. Tempting, right?
Unfortunately, this MacBook is not a smart purchase simply because it concerns an Apple product that costs under $600 (a hard-to-find price for the company's products...yes, we know).
Where is the problem? It is an old model and a used one.
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However, if we go beyond the fact that it is used - with all that this may entail - we should always check which reseller is being provided. In this case, the used device is being offered by a third-party reseller and not by the Best Buy e-shop, which means that we do not know much about the authenticity of the product or the origin of the seller. So, if in the future we need technical support or our laptop needs repair, it will be very difficult to contact the reseller who provided it.
Adding to the negatives, used products from third-party resellers usually do not offer a warranty for a long period of time or at all, resulting in possible damages not being covered and having to pay for them ourselves.
Therefore, it is not worth paying for a used laptop that will soon malfunction and require repair. In the end, this laptop may cost us more than a new MacBook plus it may cause us problems during use.
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Ancient laptop for sale! Are we buying?
In our next example, we will deal with the offers you will find in e-shops that try, through events like Black Friday, to get rid of old models that can no longer be sold because they have no value.
In the screenshot below, we see an HP 14 Laptop being sold for just $499.99. At first glance, it looks like a modern laptop and quite tempting for a user who doesn't ask for much from the device. Wrong! This particular laptop is so old that it's of no use to anyone.. What do we mean?
The red flag is in its technical specifications, specifically the AMD Ryzer 3 325OU processor. If we google the processor, we will find that the version was released two years ago, while the more technically literate will note that the architecture behind the processor dates back to 2018. In an era when technology is moving at a rapid pace, we realize that the processor will not meet the demands of the modern world with great success.
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Windows S…? Bad sign!
Before buying a laptop and planning to invest money in a mid-range device (200-500 euros), another thing to consider is the version of the operating system that the device can run. Specifically, we are referring to Windows and even more specifically the Windows S versions. Low-end and mid-range laptops do not have the technical characteristics and computing power to run a complete version of Windows, so Microsoft has designed a cut-down version that it calls Windows 10 S and Windows 11 S. By the term “cut down version” we refer to the Windows operating system that can only run certain applications and offers strictly only basic functions. Therefore, if we are currently using a computer with a complete Windows operating system, Windows S is definitely not what we need.
Smart purchases from Amazon
We enjoy shopping on Amazon, but we want to know if the product has a good discount or if we are throwing our money away. A quick solution is the website camelcamelcacamel where we can check the price change of the product we are interested in, per time period. In simpler words, what we do is copy the link of the product from Amazon and paste it into the search bar of the website. Then, we will see a detailed ranking with the prices at which the product has been sold on Amazon from time to time.
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We visit the manufacturer's official page
Another tip before buying any technological gadgets is to always check the official website of the manufacturer of the laptop we want to buy (Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Asus, etc.). The first and main reason is that the official website has valid information about the laptop and secondly because it is often more advantageous to buy directly from the manufacturer, rather than from a reseller who may not provide us with the same support and warranty as the parent company.
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Beware of scams!
Finally, we carefully select the e-shops we will cooperate with to purchase a new device. There are many reports of customers who have fallen victim to fraud by cunning, fake websites that promise products at unrealistically low prices, products which, of course, never reach the hands of consumers.
