Best tech deals: £300 laptops and TVs, £100 Sony camera, £37 500GB hard drive and more

The annual family row known as Christmas is over, which means it's time to celebrate with a collective spending spree in the sales. We'll have to wait and see whether the VAT rise to 17.5 per cent on 1 January will have any affect on the prices in shops, but with a few days left before the New Year, you might as well grab any bargains now in case they vanish.

With that in mind, we've had a scout round the major high-street retailers and highlighted the best deals -- let us know if we've missed anything big in the comments below.

One of the best things about buying electronics from John Lewis is that it offers free extended guarantees with the more expensive items, and the shop is currently discounting to get rid of the remaining Windows Vista computers it has. One example is the £150 off this Acer Timeline 5410T, with a 15.6-inch display, Celeron processor, 3GB of memory and 250GB hard drive. It's not an amazing spec, but the two-year guarantee and £350 ticket price make it worth a look for those with basic computing needs.

PC World has a glut of decent deals, one of the best being £200 off a Windows 7 laptop from HP. The HP G61-110sa has a 15.6-inch screen, 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk, Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 chip and an HDMI port, along with a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. Spec-wise, it's hard to beat for the money.  

Over at Currys, there's £300 off a Sharp Aquos 32DH500 LCD TV (we can't link to it directly, so you'll have to pick through the products here to find it). For just £300, you get an HD Ready set with two HDMI sockets and a brand name that won't embarrass when the neighbours visit.

If you're after a Full HD set with 1080p picture, Currys has an LG 42LH3000 for a mere £500 (available through the above link), a saving of £100. The 42-inch LCD TV has three HDMI ports and a so-called 'invisible speaker' -- one that's hidden in the bezel, so there's no speaker grille.

The shop also has a rather spiffing deal on an external hard drive. £37 gets you a 500GB Iomega Prestige Desktop (top product on this page), complete with USB 2.0 port and aluminium finish.

Comet has a decent deal on a Sony digital camera with £140 off. The Sony DSC-W215 (which looks very much like a Comet-exclusive version of the Sony DSC-W210) comes in at a very reasonable £100. It includes a camera case, a 12.1-megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom and a 69mm (2.7-inch) screen.

Staying with Comet, if you're one of the few people left in the world without a sat-nav, there's £50 off the TomTom Go 550 Live, with maps of the UK and Ireland, a 109mm (4.3-inch) screen, Bluetooth and a one-month subscription to the TomTom Live services, such as traffic info, Google local search and fuel prices.

There's also a good deal to be had on the latest Sony Blu-ray player -- the BDP-S360 is its new entry-level player that supports Profile 2.0 and BD-Live. At £100 (a saving of £80), it's a good buy, although do't forget to factor in the extra cost of a USB memory key. You need to plug a 1GB (or larger) memory key in the rear to store and access any BD-Live content on Blu-ray titles.

Argos is selling a 42-inch plasma TV from Samsung at £400, or £100 off. With two HDMI ports, the Samsung PS42B430P2 is worth a quick gander.

But the real bargain is this £90 Blu-ray player. The LG 350 is an old model to be sure, but a sub-£100 Blu-ray player from a big brand isn't to be sniffed at.

Finally, there are plenty of discounts to be had on digital photo frames -- Argos has knocked £55 off this 7-inch model to bring it down to £25.

Have you spotted any better post-Christmas deals? Post them in the comments below.

Image credit: timparkinson