Computers, televisions and other high-tech presents appear to enjoy some protection from the slowing economy.

Steadily falling prices make many products appear to be perennial values. Each year, they're the cheapest they've ever been.

Better still, they're in high demand from the most powerful holiday consumers – children.

"All of my kids are asking for electronics this year," said Heidi Ferguson of McKinney, who was shopping with her husband at NorthPark Center.

"They want games for the [Nintendo] Wii and games for the [Nintendo] DS. My youngest is only 5, and even she is into the electronics already."

Still, judging from Black Friday activity at Dallas-area stores, many gadget lovers may get fewer items – and fewer big-ticket items – than normal.

Shoppers, for the most part, were buying video games rather than video game consoles and high-definition movie players rather than high-definition televisions.

Others weren't buying anything at all.

"Traffic in the stores has been light, but it's been lightest at the cash register," said Tina Polly of Garland, a Black Friday regular who bucked the trend and bought a computer at Best Buy.

Many analysts predicted as much.

The National Retail Federation says that 128 million Americans planned to shop this weekend. That's down 7 million from last year.

Looking at just electronics, people who had long planned to make big purchases this year appear to be reconsidering.

A survey by the NPD Group, for example, found that a third of all the people who had planned to buy an HDTV this year have changed their minds.

And many people who buy a set will buy a lesser model than they had originally planned, said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD.

That prediction looked wise Friday: The cheapest televisions were drawing the biggest crowds.

Local Wal-Marts quickly sold out of Samsung HDTVs priced well below normal – even when customers had no way to get them home.

Rhianna Mack purchased a 46-inch TV, then spent four hours wandering around the new Wal-Mart on Forest Lane, waiting for her mother to drive from Arlington with her SUV.

Ms. Mack had planned to buy a 42-inch set, but when an early sellout forced her to upgrade, she encountered an unexpected problem.

"I can't get it into my Chevy Malibu," she said.

While she waited and watched the wall of TV options, she sold herself on a Blu-ray disc player, too. "The DVD player was totally unplanned, but if I'm going to have a TV this big, I can tell the difference."

Heading into Thanksgiving, many analysts predicted that the slow economy would force retailers to offer unprecedented discounts on electronics, but shoppers saw little evidence of that on Black Friday.

Aside from "door-buster specials" – items priced far below normal to lure people into stores – most high-tech products appeared to be selling close to full price.

Retailers were apparently hoping that customers who arrived after the best deals sold out would give in and buy full-price items rather than leave empty-handed.

Shoppers, however, had different ideas.

"There won't be any impulse buys this year," said Laura Dickinson of Dallas.

"Unlike last year, I have my budget laid out, and I'm just not going to exceed it. ... I'm definitely going to be spending less – on tech and almost everything else."

Staff writer Maria Halkias contributed to this report.