Best Buy is getting ready to slash prices on new Macs and other Apple products, and Apple has authorized employees of its own retail stores to match the price cuts, according to reports on Apple blogs. That's bad news for store margins, but good news for Apple fans hoping for some fruity goodness under the tree.Best Buy is cutting prices $100 to $150 off the latest Apple notebooks, and $50 to $150 off desktop Macs, says AppleInsider. The company is probably shedding excess inventory, says David Worthington at the Technologizer.

The Apple Store price-matching plan applies only to prices offered by authorized retailers, says Jason O'Grady, writing at the ZDnet Apple Core blog.

Apple posted a teaser on its online store. Not a lot of information; it just says: "Lots of gifts, 1 day not to miss," and directs customers to come back the day after Thanksgiving. (Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

Anticipating slow sales, retailers are jumping the gun on Black Friday sales, starting to post prices on Tuesday. Consumer electronics sales will likely take a big hit, according to projections on from NPD Group.

We're feeling the pinch at home. Our TV is wheezing out its last breaths. My iMac could use an upgrade, too -- it's less than two years old, but my Second Life addiction has me lusting for something that's far more powerful, with a 30-inch display.

Even as late as six months ago, we probably would have replaced the TV without giving it any thought, and I probably could have talked myself into getting the new computer and display, too.

But now, with the economy the way it is, I think we'll just sit on our wallets and wait for the economic recovery before we spend any money on big-ticket luxuries.

How about you? Planning any significant consumer electronic purchases?