Black Friday shopping

So, how many of you camped outside of Best Buy or some other big box to get the new, best version of the whatever at the phenomenal price?

I have done that, but not this year. This year I would love a B.I.G. screen TV but I am not educated enough yet to go lay down a thousand or two without all of the facts. Besides, I can justify waiting because I have a working TV (so it's not a need but a want) and I have a vacation to warmer climates coming in January (between semesters) so I need to hang on to my tiny nest egg for now.

That leaves me the time to do a little more research before I buy. Where to go first? I already have started to ask friends who have them or know somebody who does. One told me that the large Plasmas start to loose pixels and that there was still a pretty real danger of images burning into the screen. Another told me that they haven't worked the bugs out for the money. Others have told me that rumors say the NEW thing is coming and this will all get really cheap. That would always be true, I'm afraid.

OK, so I'm leaning toward LCD after the burned-in images comment. But what about the fact that I can't see the image on my laptop from the side? I was sure I didn't want to get this toy home and find out that everybody has to be straight on to watch so I went to find out more about the technology at http://www.howstuffworks.com/. It filled me in on the performance realities of LCD, HDTV, and PLASMA. Did you know that the LCD used in laptops are intentionally set up to keep eavesdropping from the side - like on a plane? I didn't. TVs wouldn't be restricted like that so I need not worry anymore.

When I get closer to buy time, I will turn to current sources who tend to be fairly objective and detail oriented like Consumer Reports. We subscribe to that right here in the library and it really helped me buy a fridge last year.

Before I start getting excited about sales flyers in my local newspaper I will probably also do a little online price checking with comparative sites like http://shopper.cnet.com/ and http://www.epinions.com/. These, and others like them, can give me a feel for how they should be priced . . . and I'll be ready.

I know, it won't be as fun as camping out at 4am and racing for the TVs like the Oklahoma Land Rush, but I will go into the whole ordeal a more informed and come out a whole lot more at ease with my decision.