Buyers guide: "Free laptops" with mobile broadband
One of the big draws for customers considering mobile broadband lately are the "free laptop with mobile broadband" deals which have sprung up this year. With mobile broadband becoming more and more popular in itself, there is not inconsiderable competition amongst suppliers for potential customers. As a result, we've started this year to see quite a few ‘sweeteners' being added to mobile broadband deals, including mobile phone handsets and laptops.
And they've been hugely popular. It was reported recently that free laptop with mobile broadband deals were accounting for up to a third of all mobile broadband sales. And in July around 4% of laptops sold in the UK were sold as part of a free laptop with mobile broadband package, whereas by October that figure was closer to 30%. In fact, the deals have been so popular, and demand so great that a number of providers offering them have experienced supply problems.
As a result, most mobile broadband suppliers are either currently offering, or have at some point offered a free laptop with mobile broadband deal.
The advantages of free laptop with mobile broadband deals
It's not every day someone wants to give you a free laptop. With the credit crunch threatening to turn into a full blown recession, most people who were considering buying a laptop for the first time, or upgrading an existing one will probably have cause to think twice about it. A laptop is no small expenditure. But these free laptop with mobile broadband deals go some way towards solving that problem – there's still a cost involved, but it's spread across the length of the contract, which may be 12, 18 or 24 months.
Also, the laptops on offer are good ones. No provider is going to tempt people to their mobile broadband by offering last year's clunky old models. The Dell Inspiron Mini Netbook currently being offered on Vodafone's free laptop with mobile broadband deal, as well as being impressively small and portable - and somehow all the more desirable because of that – also retails at around the £250 mark. The HP550 that 3 have up for grabs goes for around £390. It's a great way to get your hands on a pretty good laptop.
And if you don't already have a laptop, you do need one to take full advantage of the freedom of mobile broadband to connect to the internet wherever you are. If you're new to the idea of mobile broadband, the free laptop with mobile broadband deals are a great way to get you connected, in one easy package.
The disadvantages of free laptop with mobile broadband deals
There are a couple of things to watch out for with these free laptop with mobile broadband deals. The first is that the laptop is not, technically speaking, "free". You pay more for a mobile broadband contract which offers a free laptop, than you would for a comparable deal without the laptop. You may also be tied into a longer contract – so don't forget to add up the amount you'll be spending across the life of the contract. You can work out how much you're effectively paying for the laptop by comparing the total price of a contract without the laptop to the total price of a contract with the laptop, over the life of the contract.
Also, there are a lot of laptops on the market, and the ones being offered with a free laptop with mobile broadband deals – whilst good models - might not be exactly what you're looking for. As mentioned above, you are in fact paying for this laptop (albeit at a discounted price) so make sure before you buy that it will actually suit you, in terms of screen size, processing power, portability, etc. It's easy to be charmed by the very small, portable netbooks and then find that the screen size is too small for you to work with; or go for one with more processing power only to find that it's unwieldy to carry around. Don't be tempted to just go for the one that looks best on paper just because it's ‘free' – check for things like usability, portability and battery life.
In the end, though, free laptop with mobile broadband deals really are fantastic news for consumers, and it's no coincidence that they have proved as popular as they are. Providing you go into it with your eyes open to the actual cost, and choose carefully which deal to go for, you can walk away with a great deal.
