Walmart's Early Black Friday Sale Is Live: The Deals Worth Your Money Now

Walmart is running its early Black Friday event now, and a handful of the discounts are strong enough to act on before the holiday rush. The bigger sales arrive later in November, but the early prices aren't just placeholders. Several of them are the kind of cuts that usually show up only around the big shopping days.

The early picks that stand out

The best value I see right now is the Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) at $209, down from $279.99, which is $70.99 off. It's the sort of device that pays back over time: it shows the temperature, the outside weather or a clock, and it learns your routines and suggests settings meant to keep the house comfortable while trimming utility bills. It was also named one of ZDNET's Gift of the Year picks, which is worth knowing if you're shopping for a household upgrade rather than a stocking stuffer.

Apple's AirPods 4 are $99 right now, against an original price of $130. Apple describes the redesign as built for long-wear comfort, and the model offers personalized spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. At this price, they're the easiest recommendation in the group for anyone already living in the Apple ecosystem.

The Beats Studio Pro are half off at $149, down from $299. There's a catch: that price applies to the Matte White finish only, while the other colours sit at $200. The headphones are rated for up to 40 hours on a single charge, with active noise cancelling and personalized spatial audio. If you don't care about colour, the Matte White is the one to grab.

Gaming and laptops

The MSI Crosshair 16-inch is the most expensive pick here, at $1,249 against $1,999 originally, a $750 drop. It pairs an Intel Core i7 processor with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 and a 240Hz display. That's a lot of machine for the money if you game at high refresh rates, though a laptop this size and price asks you to be sure about your needs before you buy. Discounts this deep on gaming laptops don't always last, so it's worth comparing against recent pricing elsewhere before you commit.

For something lighter, the HP 14-inch laptop is $199, saving $60. It's an HD Windows 11 machine with an Intel N150 chip, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That's modest hardware, and it suits browsing, documents and school work rather than anything heavier. Treat it as a basic second device, not a main machine.

Home, kitchen and TV

The Onn 32-inch HD TV is $68, down from $88. It's a 720p set, so it won't impress anyone used to 4K panels. It's a sensible pick for a kitchen, dorm room or small bedroom, where screen size matters more than picture quality. Since TVs at this price rarely drop this low outside sale periods, it's a fair buy for a secondary screen.

The Crockpot 7-quart slow cooker is $35, saving $45 from $80. It has three manual heat settings (warm, low and high) and a removable stoneware insert that's oven-safe up to 400 degrees. It's a practical gift for anyone who cooks, and a cheap way to cover a holiday dinner backlog.

Other items in the event include the Momcozy video baby monitor at $140 (save $80), a 65-inch Vizio mini-LED TV at $358 (save $40), a 262-piece Hyper Tough mechanics tool set at $98 (save $51), a Keurig K-Express at $50 (save $19), and the second-generation AirTag at $23 (save $5). The AirTag's upgraded UWB chip and louder speaker are the main hardware changes from the first generation, so it's a reasonable buy if you're replacing older trackers.

The Walmart+ and Sam's Club angle

Walmart+ members get early access to the event's deals. For a limited time, an annual Walmart+ subscription, priced at $120 for a full year, also includes a Sam's Club Plus membership. That bundle adds free delivery from Walmart and Sam's Club, member-only Sam's Club prices, up to 2% Sam's Cash and gas savings at Walmart and participating locations. A monthly Walmart+ plan costs $12.99 and doesn't include Sam's Club access. If you were already weighing Walmart+, the annual bundle is where the math gets interesting. You don't need Walmart+ to get these deals, though. Membership mainly speeds up same-day delivery from your store, including delivery within three hours.

Dates to plan around

The event runs in stages. The early Black Friday deals run November 12 through 15. The main Black Friday deals run November 23 through 29. Cyber Monday runs November 30 through December 2. All start at 12:01am ET on Walmart.com. Black Friday itself falls on November 27, 2026, and Walmart stores open at 6am local time that day. If a specific product matters to you, the early window is when stock tends to be easiest to find, while the final days may bring a different mix of prices.

My read: the strongest early options are the ones with a clear, long-term use case, like the thermostat and the AirPods 4. The laptop and headphone deals are good, but they're worth checking against recent price history before you buy, since early discounts don't always beat what comes later. Keep an eye on the Matte White colour requirement for the Beats, and be realistic about what the HP and Onn hardware can handle. The best move right now is to pick the one or two items you were already planning to buy and check whether today's price beats the last one you saw.