Black Friday 2019: Everything you need to know

It’s finally November, which can only mean one thing – Black Friday is almost upon us. But exactly when is Black Friday this year and what date does it fall, I hear you cry? Well, this year, Black Friday takes place on November 29th. As is now customary, though, you’ll start seeing loads of the best Black Friday deals appearing well before that. In the last couple of years, for example, there’s often been a whole week of Black Friday deals before the big day, if not two or three. Indeed, some people have started referring to the whole month as ‘Grey November’, which is pretty apt if you ask me.

Still, regardless of how you feel about the whole thing, Black Friday can be a great time to get some fantastic PC hardware deals – particularly if you’re thinking about building a new PC soon. To help you make the most of this fabled day/week/month o’ discounts, your trusted deals herald has put together everything you need to know right here, including what deals to look out for, where to shop, and whether that shiny new peripheral you’ve got your eye on is actually as much of a deal as it makes out to be.

What to expect from Black Friday 2019

If you’re brave enough to go into an actual shop, then you better be prepared to queue and fight your way through some very angry people. Instead, the best thing is to do everything online, as most of the best PC gaming deals can be found right from the comfort of your desktop – no elbow sharpening required. What’s more, your deals herald is going to be doing most of the hard work for you, as I’ll be rounding up all the best deals from across dozens of websites in the weeks running up to the big day, bringing you the bestest best deals to save you from trawling through it all yourself.

Don’t expect to pick up an Nvidia RTX 2080 for half price or anything, but big ticket items like monitors and SSDs can usually be found with some pretty juicy discounts. As well as PC hardware bargains, there will also be sales on games, too.

At the moment, there’s almost no information as to what exactly is going to be on offer, but it’s difficult to pull any surprises because so many items are on sale. If you want a particular product, you should be able to find somewhere selling it cheap.

Last year, hot ticket items were AMD’s Radeon RX 580 graphics card, Samsung’s 860 Evo SSD, Samsung’s 970 Evo SSD, and Steelseries’ Arctis 7 headset, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw similar big discounts on these products again for Black Friday 2019.

How to get the best Black Friday deals

There are some excellent game deals to be had around Black Friday, but the prices are often comparable to sales at other points in the year, such as the Steam Summer Sale. If there’s a game that you really want, then it’s worth keeping an eye on Steam, GOG, Green Man Gaming, Fanatical and GamesPlanet – but it’s in the hardware sales that you’ll find the real bargains.

Of course, as much as we all love a big juicy 25% or even 50% off sticker, it’s worth checking that the deal you’re looking at is actually a good one. If you’re shopping on Amazon, for instance, then have a gander at CamelCamelCamel. This keeps track of Amazon product prices all year round, making it easy to spot if a Black Friday deal is really a must-have discount, or whether it’s actually the same price it’s been for the last three months.

Unfortunately, other sites are a bit harder to track. If there’s something you’ve currently got your eye on, it might be worth doing things the old fashioned way and simply making note of how much they cost now and then compare it to any potential deal price.

Where to find the best Black Friday deals

The best sites for hardware deals can be found in the table below, but for game deals you’re better off going to Steam, GOG, Humble, Fanatical, GamesPlanet and Green Man Gaming.

Happy hunting!