In these uncertain times, everyone is looking for a bargain and a way to save money. That’s why the special sales and discounts offered during Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be very significant for bargain hunters. The days surrounding the Thanksgiving Holiday does present an excellent opportunity to save on tech items such as laptops and netbooks or the latest “must have” gadget of the moment.However, these same bargain hunters probably know all those special holiday sales and low prices usually come with a catch. As a recent report by CNN pointed out, you have to be aware that there may be limited quantities of the items on sale. Plus, you have to be aware of derivatives… items which don’t exactly have all the features you would expect in the gadget you’re buying.In other words, no matter if you’re shopping online or in the real world, you have to be careful and closely examine the item you’re purchasing. The merchant is probably counting on a “buying frenzy” and customers rush to buy the item before someone else grabs it. When supplies are limited, many customers do rush to buy the item and suffer the consequences later.The same thing can happen online, even though you can avoid the large crowds and shop from the comfort of your home, you still have to act quickly because in most cases the items on sale will be limited in number. So how do you find those special Black Friday laptop deals and special discounts?Here are a few shopping tips which may help you with your holiday shopping:1. Do your homework. Before the Thanksgiving Holiday, scout out some special merchants and sites which offer discount links, bookmark these sites so you can easily find them on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.2. Join subscription notification lists. If any of the sites feature the laptops or products you’re considering buying, opt-in to their notification list so that these sites will email you when a special sale comes online. For example, Amazon offers such a feature and it can be a great money and time saver.3. Use the search engines to your advantage. Another great aid is using a search engine such as Google to find those special sales. However, you must qualify your search with keyword qualifiers such as “black friday online coupons”, “cyber monday online discounts”… attached to the specific keyword of the laptop model you’re looking for on the web.4. Comparison shop to get the best price. Although time will be a factor on these special deals since the number of items will usually be limited, you should still do some comparison shopping to make sure you get the lowest price possible for your laptop.5. Check the seller’s reputation before buying. Regardless of how low the price, you must check out the merchant or seller, make sure they have a well established reputation with quality service and a good return policy, in case you should have trouble with your purchased item.Lastly, if you’re buying a laptop on Black Friday or on Cyber Monday, double check the laptop’s features and specs to make sure you’re getting exactly what you’re looking for in your machine. Don’t be blinded by the low price, if your laptop can’t do what you want it to do, then it really isn’t a money saver no matter how much you get discounted off the purchase price. If you’re worried about using a credit card, try using an online payment system like PayPal and keep your personal details private.Happy Shopping!