free laptop - is this a good deal?

[smoker]

hi, i saw this on the (UK) pc world website, i'm with BT at the moment for broadband, but am wondering if this is a good deal or not, what do you think?

Free laptop with orange broadband
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/freelaptop/?int=home_nav

i am not related to orange in any way, just tempted by this, though i haven't read any small print, so there may be a catch somewhere!

[Saner]

I wouldn't touch Orange even if they were giving away free mistress's


But to each there own, you can check out reviews and peoples opinions on thinkbroadband.com

Its a 2 year contract IIRC

[Stex]

I'd say it's a terrible deal

Advertised broadband service:
* 2 MB connection
* 2 GB limit (presumably monthly)
* Offer only valid if you're new to broadband

As for the free laptop:
* Minuscule RAM (will run a live CD, but only just)
* No idea of the other specifications
* With laptops quality of the build goes a long way

I wouldn't bet on an unknown branded laptop lasting even a year, and if the contract is for 2 years... Well, would probably leave a sour taste in one's mouth.

[reclusivemonkey]

You can get better laptops at a discounted price. I think the crucial factor here is how important broadband is to you. I know someone at work who is looking at this, and will probably only browse/email for half a dozen hours a week. They are thinking about the £20 laptop; if it breaks then its only £20. I was almost tempted by a free laptop, a lighweight Linux install would run fine on it (I've run quite happy with a Pentium II and 80Mb of RAM) but broadband is just too important to me to rely on Orange.

[Turboaaa2001]

I think this is a really good idea to get into a market base that would like to try the internet but who do not have a computer.

I'm in the US and \know very little about the service, but it looks weak. However, for the person new to the net and wants to do e-mail and basic browsing then I would give it a try.

The real problem is that the anyone who has a computer already will hate the freebee since it has half the miunimum memory needed to run Vista.

[reclusivemonkey]

The real problem is that the anyone who has a computer already will hate the freebee since it has half the miunimum memory needed to run Vista.

The freebie comes with XP. Its not even available for sale from their website. My guess is they can't sell these any more and so are just giving them away in this offer. The next one up (£19.99) comes with Vista.

[Turboaaa2001]

My bad, I missread.

The real problem is that the computer has hardware that is 3 -5 years old. Circuit City, Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc all has computers from Compaq and Acer that have the same hardware and are selling them for $400 - $600 USD.

The last Celeron CPU was the Celeron D. The current budget CPU is the Pentium. (Intel is getting ready to release a new dual core Pentium as the budget) This means that the newest CPU you get from these guys is 3 years old. Of course I know that they changed the name of many Pentium 4s and Ds to the Celeron name before leaving the Warehouse . Even with this that means that you have a CPU that is again 2 -3 years old at the youngest.

[Redache]

I completely agree about the laptop, it'll be low grade and won't actually entice people to stay with PC's due to it crashing frequently and so on.

I wouldn't trust Orange as far as I can throw them. They have been rated the worst broadband supplier in Britain and are just trying to win back some new customers. Simple ploy that will probably go wrong and cost them alot of money.

I think I'll stick with the nice people at Demon, I get zero grief.

[smoker]

thanks for feedback. i've decided to stick with BT, at the moment, though i plan sending them an email with some of the deals their competitors are doing at the moment to hopefully get an upgrade or cheaper service from them,

i don't really need a laptop at present, though i may buy one of the asus eeepc laptops when they arrive!

cheers :-)

[PatrickMay16]

Heh heh heh heh! Hahahaaaaaauuugghghghh DENIS DENIS DENIS DENIS DENIS. No wonder it's free, hahahah.
By the looks of it, they must have struck up a deal with a warehouse full of crappy old laptops which failed to sell.

As you can see:


Ei Systems 3101 Laptop

* XP home
* 256MB RAM
* 40GB disk

[Tundro Walker]

Folks are GIVING AWAY a laptop in order to sucker...uh...sell you their Broadband service.

Dude. Run away. Run far away.

[happy-and-lost]

I wouldn't touch Orange with a...eerm... Really long stick. Stick with BT, they're a good old reliable network :)