Cyber Monday Roundup: Where to Find the Best Deals in Tech

If lining up outside stores in the cold isn’t your idea of a nice Thanksgiving night, Cyber Monday may be your savior. It’s the less-turbulent (and safer) online alternative to IRL Black Friday, and the day (now even week) of online shopping can offer prices that are just as good as the brick and mortar shops.

This season’s Cyber Monday falls on Dec. 1, but that hasn’t stopped some sites and stores from throwing up sales already. Check out our rundown of the best websites to scope out this year, and make it a point to stop by our Yahoo Tech Gift Guides page regularly this holiday season for more shopping tips.

Amazon.comAmazon’s online Black Friday sale is going on now, with new surprise deals hitting the site every 10 minutes. The online retail giant will continue this approach through its seven days of Cyber Monday sale, kicking off Dec. 1. The best prices on tech products the company has disclosed so far include 40 percent off Panasonic 47-inch and 55-inch smart 3D HDTVs, more than 50 percent off Sony and Philips portable speaker systems, and free and discounted apps in the Amazon Appstore.

Walmart.com
Deals at Walmart’s Cyber Monday sale include up to $500 discounts on super-large HD TVs, a three-game PlayStation 4 bundle for $449, and more yet-to-be-disclosed prices on Nintendo 3DS and more.

Target.comThe Cyber Monday specifics aren’t being dealt by Target quite yet, but last year’s weeklong event included $80 off a Samsung GS3 Mini unlocked smartphone, a 47-inch LG HD TV at 67 percent cost, and up to $400 off select digital camera packages. 

Bestbuy.comSome Cyber Monday-ish deals are already happening at Bestbuy.com, like this Apple iPad mini 2 for $224.99 or Amazon’s Fire TV Stick for $24.99 (both with free shipping), but the official sale listing won’t be disclosed ahead of Thanksgiving. Last year’s big hits were a sub-$400 price on an Intel-packing Lenovo laptop, and LG’s then-flagship G2 smartphone free with a contract agreement.

Newegg.com
If we are taking the 2013 Cyber Monday event at Newegg as any indication on what to expect this season, we should have some nice discounts coming our way. Last year, the site tossed out great prices on tablets, laptops, and home entertainment system products.

Tigerdirect.com
You can actually shop Tiger Direct’s “Tech the Season” sale right now. It’s a full catalog of sales-priced computer-related products with a super-low-priced “Daily Deal Slasher” item rotated every 24 hours.

Brand sitesShooting directly to an electronics company’s own website has proved in recent years to be a Cyber Monday winner. This time around, for instance, Motorola has already announced a $140-off deal on the unlocked version of its flagship Moto X smartphone, available Dec. 1. Dell, Microsoft, HP, and Lenovo have also posted plans to unveil the details of their cyber shop sales come Monday, so we say bookmark all those sites now.

Cell providers
Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T have Cyber Monday deals of their own lined up, as the carriers normally do. Among them, AT&T is the only company so far to spill the beans on what its (ho-hum) sale will be — several mid-tier smartphones priced at 99 cents and discounts on tablets when you purchase a phone at full price. Of course, this doesn’t mean the yet-to-be-announced discounts from the other carriers won’t be worth checking out on Dec. 1.