If you follow the Black Friday build up, you may realize that laptop computers are often anticipated, and provided, with pricing being a good impetus to wait for the post-Thanksgiving rush...for a tween laptop, these deals seem stellar. However, as those rumored deals are leaked, confirmed, and studied in preparation, it's always good to do a little bit of comparison, especially if you have enough advance notice.
At this writing, for example, WalMart has released its preview of the BF goodies, and there are a couple of very cheap laptops featured, a Compaq and an HP. However, as I peruse Best Buy, I find that there is currently available a Toshiba laptop, with equivalent hard drive, and 1 GB more memory than the expected $248 WalMart offering, at only a slightly greater cost ($269).
If you are examining tween laptop deals, be sure to consider accident protection plans, especially if you expect the laptop to serve your tween's needs for a few years. Whereas accident protection isn't offered at W/M (only an extended warranty is available), Best Buy is one of the companies that does provide the option to purchase a protection plan for most of it's electronics. While this may seem to eliminate the savings you attain with a great laptop deal for your tween, the expense of replacing a damaged piece of equipment can lead to 20/20 hindsight, and many tweens have a tendency toward awkward moments with tech gifts and tools.
