Free laptop deals....are they any good?

Power Lunch Club · 21-02-09, 20:59

Myself and my wife are going to come to blows, over who gets on the laptop. I need it for my work and she needs access for her college work.

I have been looking at the Free laptop deals from Curry's and Dixon's? Which seem okay to me.

But what are other'v view on them?

Gordon

barryhynd · 22-02-09, 22:57

Hi Gordon,

I'm not a huge fan of them myself as I feel the overall contract cost is far in excess of what it costs to buy a machine. Typically what you will get will be a quite low spec laptop or what in effect is a netbook which does limit to an extent what you can actually do with it.

These offers typically come with web access via a mobile dongle and if that is of any use to you it may work out ok and also mean you dont have to pay for a unit upfront.

I would make sure however and take a note of what the exact spec is and maybe post it on here just to make sure what you purchase will have some sort of shelf life.

stugster · 23-02-09, 08:42

They're rubbish laptops at rubbish prices from rubbish companies.

The thing they wont mention is the bus speed of the processor and memory on the motherboard.

My first question would be why you're looking at getting a laptop - do you use it out the house? Laptops are generally more expensive, and are much slower than the same-priced desktop alternative.

These laptops Curry's give away are probably less than £300... you'll end up paying double that over the year for it.

Have a peek on Cheap Laptops, Hard Drives, LCD Monitors, TVs and more at Ebuyer for some good prices on both laptops and desktops!

Terry · 23-02-09, 15:55

Some free laptop offers are ok, for instance periodically broadband companies offer them as an incentive to stay with them for a year. And seen as the cost of the broadband for the year is less than £300 you can't really complain.

Tim Barlow · 24-02-09, 16:24

Whilst they may be low spec laptops, in my view, that doesn't matter assuming you are not thinking of it as being your primary machine.

I have become quite worryingly attached to my Samsung NC10 netbook. No I wouldn't work on it for days on end but for surfing the net, checking e-mail, taking meeting notes, having lying around the kitchen etc it is just perfect. At £300 it is a very different purchase to a desktop anyway.

As for whether these free deals are good news. I just do the maths on them. When I got mine the deal was 18 months at £40 a month with laptop, £15 without. £25 x 18 months = £450. Buy netbook of your choice today for around £300.

Power Lunch Club · 24-02-09, 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Barlow

Whilst they may be low spec laptops, in my view, that doesn't matter assuming you are not thinking of it as being your primary machine.

I have become quite worryingly attached to my Samsung NC10 netbook. No I wouldn't work on it for days on end but for surfing the net, checking e-mail, taking meeting notes, having lying around the kitchen etc it is just perfect. At £300 it is a very different purchase to a desktop anyway.

As for whether these free deals are good news. I just do the maths on them. When I got mine the deal was 18 months at £40 a month with laptop, £15 without. £25 x 18 months = £450. Buy netbook of your choice today for around £300.

Thanks Tim, et al...my feel is just to spend the £300 as we already have internet access....and cheap notebook is fine for my other half....my own investment of a new laptop for moi, can wait a few more month as I understand the temprement of this one.