The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in 2018

Black Friday weekend 2018 is well and truly underway! We're curating the very best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for designers, artists and creatives right here, and we've already seen some amazing deals. And there's still lots of savings to be made.

This year, a number of major global retailers got in on the action early and have been sharing deals all week, so you might already have picked up a bargain. However, traditionally all the big players save their best offers for the day itself.

So whether you’re after a new laptop, tablet, mobile phone, creative software or more (whiskey deals, anyone?), we’ll point you towards the right products, at the cheapest prices, from the most reputable retailers.

The best plan right now? If you’re looking for a specific product, make sure you have a budget in mind. When you spot one below one with the right specs at the right price, get it in your shopping basket – the best Black Friday deals don't stick around long.

Black Friday deals: quick links

US: Desktop, tablet and laptop Black Friday deals

Jump straight to: UK desktop, tablet and laptop Black Friday deals

UK: Desktop, tablet and laptop Black Friday deals

US: Graphics tablet Black Friday deals

Jump straight to: UK graphics tablet Black Friday deals

UK: Graphics tablet Black Friday deals

Jump straight to: UK mobile phone Black Friday deals

UK: Mobile phone Black Friday deals

US: Camera Black Friday deals

Jump straight to: UK camera deals

UK: Camera Black Friday deals

US: Wearables and accessories deals

UK: Wearables and accessories deals

When is Black Friday 2018?

This year, Black Friday falls on 23 November 2018. Always held the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

Traditionally Black Friday was a one-day brick-and-mortar juggernaut of sales, with Cyber Monday later conceived by savvy marketeers to extend the sales period online. These days, Black Friday is of course a huge online event as well.

In the last few years, the spending bonanza has morphed into a 'Black November', with many major retailers leaking decent money-saving deals throughout the month. Amazon, for example, officially opened its Black Friday Deals Store on the 17 November in 2017, a week before Black Friday started. We also saw plenty of deals creeping through before that – and a lot of rock-bottom deals in the days after Cyber Monday, too.

When is Cyber Monday 2018?

Cyber Monday falls on 26 November this year, three days after Black Friday on the 23 November. While Black Friday is a frenzied cacophony of high street and online deals, Cyber Monday was originally conceived by savvy marketers as a way to sell more of their wares online, back when online shopping wasn’t as prevalent as it is today.

According to those in the know, Cyber Monday sees a wider range of deals across individual retailers. It's less about one-off discounts, and more about lower prices generally.

Of course, if stores need to shift stock they’ll follow-up Black Friday discounts with further reductions on Cyber Monday – so expect one-off deals too.

What we learned from Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year

Last year, we saw some fantastic savings on creative hardware, software and resources. We brought you all the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for designers and artists here on Creative Bloq, and while doing so, here’s what we found:

Amazon and eBay offered the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on Apple products and Wacom drawing tablets
Unsurprisingly, superseded products saw serious discounts. Amazon cut over $1,000 off its Surface Book stock, following the launch of the Surface Book 2
The Microsoft Store was ripe with large discounts across its Surface family
Dell hosted some huge tech bargains directly on its website, too
Adobe did Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It slashed its Creative Cloud software by 20%
Other creative software makers also offered competitive discounts, so it's worth waiting for November if you can before investing

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018: where to find the biggest savings

So where to look for real bargains this year? Well, apart from here, the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on creative hardware and software tend to come from third-party retailers – rather than directly from manufacturers like Apple or Wacom. That said, Microsoft slashed the cost of its Surface family of tablets for Black Friday 2017, and we saw big tech bargains on the Dell website too.

Some of the biggest savings last year across the board, however, came from Amazon and eBay. Certainly this is where you need to be if you're in the market for a new drawing tablet – and there were fantastic bargains to be found on desktops, laptops, 4K monitors, computer mice, keyboards and more.

Whether you’re interested in perusing Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday discounts directly on the websites of the most reputable retailers, sign-up for early Black Friday alerts or do some early product research, here are the links you need…

US: Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail links

UK: Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail links

Where to find the best Microsoft Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

Microsoft has upped its game in recent years, with its Surface product range providing serious alternatives to Apple products. But like a lot of the best creative kit, it doesn't come cheap, which is is why it's worth making the most of any Black Friday Microsoft deals that do crop up.

So, if you are on the hunt for any Microsoft products, including the Surface range, be sure to bookmark this dedicated Black Friday Microsoft deals page, which we'll keep regularly updated with all the latest offers.

Where to find the best Black Friday Wacom deals

It's not often you see Wacom drop its prices, but we're hoping the company will make an exception soon and present some great Black Friday deals. The premiere drawing tablets have made a name for themselves thanks to their market-leading precision and impressive screen sizes, but a premium product comes with a premium price tag, so if there are any reductions, we don't expect them to hang around for long.

For the digital artists among you, these are going to be some of the most hotly anticipated deals so make sure you stay up to date with all the best offers via this dedicated Wacom Black Friday deals page.

How to get the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in 2018

We’ll be curating the very best Black Friday deals for creatives right here again this year, so bookmark this page and keep checking back in November. But there are some other pro tips you can follow for bagging big Black Friday bargains, too.

01. Do your research

The best way to avoid getting a bad deal is to do your research first. You need to be knowledgeable about the product – and its normal retail price.

Draw up a list of items you might like to purchase over Black Friday, read the reviews, research the best manufacturers, and make sure you know the difference between a good and bad version of that product.

02. Compare prices

It’s always a good idea to compare prices, so use price-comparison internet shopping sites like PriceGrabber.com for insight where you’re looking at product prices.

03. Check the extras

And make sure you check the specs: are you looking at a low or high-specced product for this price? Does it come with accessories? What about post and packaging charges?

04. Consider payment options

Another tip is to think about how you’re paying. While we don’t suggest racking up huge credit cards bills with big interest rates, many credit cards do offer benefits like free warranties, return protection and sale price protection – which are worth bearing in mind.

05. Get an Amazon Prime subscription

Prime users (including all those on a free trial) are offered an exclusive 30-minute early access period to all Amazon Lightning Deals. If you don't already have one, an Amazon Prime subscription will set you back £79/$99 per year.

06. Know the best days to buy

Adobe has crunched the numbers to put together a handy guide revealing the best days to buy different products, and also which products are more likely to run out on which days.

Apparently, Thanksgiving is the best time to grab a bargain on computers – you’re likely to save 16 per cent, on average – but it’s also the day popular tablets and televisions are most likely to be out of stock.

Black Friday, meanwhile, is the best day to save on tablets and televisions (on average 24 per cent), with computers most likely to be out of stock.

Want more advice on how to bag the best Black Friday deals? Here's 10 top tips for making the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Can't hang on until Black Friday to pick up a hot deal? No problem. There are plenty of fantastic bargains to be found on creative hardware, software and resources right now.

We're tracking the months' best deals in the following articles, and you can scroll down for the day's best deals on our favourite creative products...