Black Friday 2020 in Australia: deals you can pick up ahead of November 27
Black Friday 2020 is very nearly upon us, in fact it's just on the other side of Amazon Prime Day this year. With the alluring promise of the ultimate deals on the finest PC gaming gear, the annual consumer shopping frenzy represents a tempting time to either pick up a bargain to round off your perfect PC setup, or else get ahead of the Christmas gifting rush.
Where to find Black Friday deals...
As usual, Black Friday 2020 itself occurs on the last Friday of November, which this year makes it November 27. But that is, of course, not telling the full story about the true extent of this shopaholism-inducing sales event. Really, we're talking about Black November because as soon as the calendar ticks over to the first of that month, lots of Aussie retailers start looking to paint it black, which continues to ramp up as the month proceeds.
On the plus side, it does mean you don't necessarily have to jump into the maelstrom over the Black Friday weekend to find the best deals on PC gaming goodies. There will be different offers across the month, with a host of different retailers aiming to get the jump on each other with the best offers.
Mostly, that means they'll all be trying to beat big retailers like Amazon. But that is generally an exercise in futility as Jeff knows all, Jeff sees all, and will price match everyone into oblivion. He's probably plugged directly, meatily into a vast datacentre at the start of November, with neurons firing hither and thither, matching or beating the likes of JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and the rest in deals... until he's bodily removed by his minions at some point in January to recuperate in a Bacta tank until Prime Day 2021. Probably.
Best pre-Black Friday PC gaming deals in Australia
Razer DeathAdder V2 gaming mouse | AU$58.76 (usually AU$139.95)
Nearly AU$82 off this swish Razer gaming mouse, which scored 88% in our review. Back in May we praised its "best in-class 20,000 CPI sensor and optical click sensors. Via Amazon.View Deal
Alienware 34 curved | AU$1,499.25 (usually AU$1,999)
Here's a slightly bent WQHD monitor with a 120hz refresh rate and G-Sync. Two grand is a lot for a monitor, but maybe just under AU$500 off will tip you over the edge. Via Dell.View Deal
Dell 27 curved gaming monitor | AU$279.29 (usually AU$399)
This 27 inch curved monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. If you're after a modest gaming screen with a bit of a bend in it, this is a nice AU$119.70 off. Via Dell.View Deal
Alienware Area-51M | RTX 2080 Super | i7-10700 | 32GB RAM | 512GB SSD - AU$4,638.99 (usually AU$5,799)
This laptop is an absolute wallet eviscerator, as you'd expect given the specs. Maybe a AU$1,160 discount will tip you over the edge though, as this 17 inch beast also boasts a whooping 300Hz refresh rate at 1080p resolution. If you want to go even bigger, the model with an i9-10900K and frankly ridiculous 64GB RAM is currently AU$5,919, down from AU$7,399.View Deal
Alienware M15 R3 | RTX 2060 | i7-10750H | 16GB RAM | 512 SSD - AU$2,959 (usually AU$3,999)
This 15 inch, 1080p gaming monitor boasts a 144Hz refresh rate in addition to the above listed specs. These Alienware M15 gaming laptops have a pretty stylish look (if you're into lunar blue) and are pretty light, as far as high spec lappies go. Via Dell. If you'd prefer the RTX 2070 Super model, that's currently discounted too at AU$3,519 (usually AU$4,399).View Deal
Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master | AU$523.44 (usually ~AU$580)
Save nearly AU$60 off the usual street price on this Z490 motherboard, which ranks decently in our list of the best Intel Z490 motherboards, especially if you're after quality audio and a near-overkill amount of USB ports. Via Amazon.View Deal
Roccat Kain 120 | AU$57.47 (usually AU$76)
This mouse fared well under our reviewer's scrutiny, with its responsive 16,000 DPI and elegant design. This unit normally goes for anywhere between AU$70 and AU$85 in Australia, so if you're in the market for a new mouse, this is a good deal. Via Amazon.View Deal
Dell G7 17 | i7-10750H | RTX 2070 | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | AU$2,099 (usually AU$2,999)
This was available cheaper just last week for Ebay subscribers, but for everyone else this is still a good price for these specs. The 17 inch 1080p screen boasts a 144Hz refresh rate, too. Via Dell.View Deal
Lenovo Legion Y7000 15-inch gaming laptop | i7 | 16GB | 512GB SSD | GTX 1660Ti | AU$1,519 (usually AU$2,599)
By today's standards this is a pretty low-key laptop, specs-wise, but if you're after a workhorse that can also play games at 1080p, this is priced decently. Use the BLACKFRIDAY coupon to reduce this AU$1,899 deal to a AU$1,519 deal. Via Lenovo.View Deal
Gigabyte Aorus 5 | i7-10750H | RTX 2060 | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | AU$2,099 (usually AU$2,399)
This 15.6 inch gaming laptop boasts a 144Hz refresh rate and all those specs you see above. This is a good way to leap into the ray tracing game for a bit more less than AU$2,000. Via MWave.View Deal
When is Black Friday 2020?
In this inauspicious year Black Friday itself falls on November 27, 2020, and effectively carries through the weekend into Cyber Monday on November 30, 2020. We expect certain retailers will hold back on key deal until this final weekend, though as we pointed out earlier, you will find the whole dealsgasm going on throughout the month.
To be honest, with Amazon Prime Day 2020 hitting sometime in October, you could almost see it actually kicking off in earnest with that two-day, members-only event and then running through to the end of November.
That's a lot of shopping time.
What can I expect discounts on this Black Friday 2020?
When it comes to PC gaming, we're expecting you'll be able to find discounts on pretty much every facet of your rig this year. Traditionally it's a great time to keep an eye out for gaming laptop deals, with companies keen to clear older, but still high-quality, stock before the end of the year and new generations are released.
There may also be some deals on the best gaming PCs over the month too, for the same reason. A new generation of Nvidia Ampere and AMD RDNA 2 graphics cards, as well as AMD Zen 3 processors, will be shipping before the year end, and that means last-gen machines might get their final hurrah.
It also means the best graphics cards of the existing GeForce and Radeon generations, which are mostly still available in the shops, could see some meaty discounts too. I would expect that, most especially, AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs will be the key components to receive stellar deals throughout November.
The price of memory, and therefore the best SSDs, is in a bit of a freefall state right now, and that bodes well for some tasty deals this Black Friday. Again, we're expecting the PCIe 4.0 generation of solid state drives to really push on going into 2021, with new memory controllers and the first next-gen Samsung drive dropping soon, so we expect to see existing PCIe 3.0 SSDs getting their own suite of discounts too.
The gaming monitor market has been mildly stagnant over the last year, but traditionally you'll find Black Friday a good time to be looking for either a straight monitor or for a big-screen 4K TV for gaming.
The PC peripheral market goes into overdrive around Black Friday too, and so the likes of Logitech and Razer are bound to be slashing prices on their existing stock of gaming keyboards, gaming headsets, and the not-so humble gaming mouse.
What should I avoid buying on Black Friday 2020?
Basically anything you don't need. It's distressingly easy to be duped into dropping cash on something just because there's a hefty discount attached to it… even though you have absolutely no use for it.
If you're considering making a purchase around Black Friday, we would absolutely recommend going into November with a plan of attack. That probably sounds needlessly aggressive, but you need to know what you actually want to buy first or you'll end up with no end of crap.
Cheap crap, maybe, but crap nonetheless.
Do some research on the products you'd like to pick up in the sales, and maybe some alternatives in case those don't pop up, and set yourself a strict budget too.
Products like graphics cards and processors have obvious tiers (though the different companies work damned hard to make product names as confusing as possible), and SSDs have rated speeds, but for peripherals it's tougher to tell from the specs whether they're worth the money. Checking for reviews, from such luminaries as ourselves, should guide you on your way, and also checking price comparison sites such as Getprice will let you know if a deal's more than just skin deep.
Any other Black Friday 2020 tips and tricks?
If you haven't already used it up during a credit card splurge around Amazon Prime Day, then you ought to take the opportunity to sign up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. That will get you early access to the Lightning Deals, and help you grab some of Jeff's best deals of the day. It will also net you free shipping on a host of products and speedy delivery too, and at the very worst it'll be handy when it comes to bagging some last-minute Christmas gifts for that aunt you always forget about.
Whatever happens around Black Friday 2020, we'll be on hand throughout November to make sure that you're told about the best PC gaming deals going down around the event, and hopefully put a stop to any potential buyer's remorse.
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