Top 10 Black Friday IT bargains from history

Everybody loves a bargain and then bragging about it, and with Christmas approaching the chance to snaffle up goods on the cheap is at the forefront of most people's minds.

As such the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday sales are a great opportunity to grab a bargain - even for those in the UK as major US vendors such as Apple or Amazon slash prices to tempt us into a purchase.

In this light, V3 decided to take a look at some the best deals the IT industry has ever seen, from innovative open-source products to prudent merger deals and downright lucky buys, that those involved in are probably still bragging about to this day.

10. Lenovo buys IBM's PC business

Chinese manufacturer Lenovo acquired IBM's PC business in 2005 for $1.75bn. In the second quarter of 2012 Lenovo made $8.7bn in sales.

The IBM acquisition saw Lenovo move from a successful Chinese PC-maker to an international powerhouse in the personal computer market.

Yet, when Lenovo bought IBM's PC division it was floundering. Before the acquisition the IBM unit had posted losses three years running. Big Blue's PC division was also failing to fit into the firm's corporate strategy which focused on high-margin enterprise hardware.

Enter Lenovo. It bought IBM and used the IBM brand to reassure consumers they were producing high-quality products. Global sales continued strong with Lenovo eventually positioning their own ThinkPad products.

Lenovo ended up doing so well globally that the firm decided to drop the IBM name by 2007. Ever since, the company has flourished under its own banner.