Laptops, TVs Top Shoppers Holiday Wish Lists

Nov. 5, 2007 — -- As stores gear up earlier than ever for this year's onslaught of holiday shoppers, electronics companies are racing to release the newest gadgets and tech toys to entice consumers to pick up their products and place them in their shopping carts.

But despite their efforts, according to analysts, shoppers will largely be delving into already-covered territory.

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"What people are going to buy is similar to what they've [been] buying the last few years: notebooks, flat-panel TVs and video game and video game consoles," Steve Baker, vice president of industry analysis for The NPD Group, told ABCNEWS.com.

Consumers are expected to spend about $475 billion during November and December, according to the National Retail Federation, which means that every shopper will spend, on average, $619.51. According to Jupiter Research, online shoppers will spend $39 billion on the Web during the holiday season.

As TVs have gotten larger, set prices have fallen, according to Baker, and this season shoppers will buy more televisions with screen sizes larger than 50 inches than ever before.

Michael Gartenberg, the vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, agreed.

For high-definition televisions, "prices are getting about as low as they can. People will make a lot more purchases in that arena to gear up for football season -- Super Bowl in high-def," Gartenberg said, and "of course things like higher-end sound systems to go with that high-def experience."

Laptops will also surge in popularity, according to both analysts, despite no significant changes in the products from last year.

"For notebook computers, don't expect a lot of differences than what we've seen over the past years. Prices will be a bit lower. Most everything that's out there is a pretty great deal," Baker said. "Desktop sales are much slower."

Those who are using desktops are spending more for a state-of-the-art media system instead of the increasingly cheaper versions that are on the market, Baker said.