O2 to join the laptop party

O2 is one of the dwindling number of mobile broadband suppliers not currenlty offering any so-called 'free' laptop deals; but all that's set to change towards the end of this month.

There were rumours O2 had teamed up with electronics giant Samsung to bring laptops to its mobile broadband customers, and today O2 confirmed the details.

The laptops were chosen by O2 on a series of suspiciously alliterative criteria: style, substance, staying power, service and security (apparently suitability and sexiness weren't important).

The machines on offer are the the Samsung NC10 and the Samsung R510 (pictured above). The NC10 joins the ranks of the netbook offers, for those who like their mobile computing extremely portable, while the R510 comes in two different specs - dubbed 'performance' and 'multimedia' by O2.

O2 UK CEO Ronan Dunne commented: “We all want to be better connected at all times and the substantial and continued growth in the laptop market is symptomatic of this desire. Laptops are rapidly eroding the desktop PC market and, at the same time, the emergence of the mini-laptop has opened up a whole new market for ultra-portable devices – one that is expected to more than double in size in 2009 alone."

He went on: "Our bundle packages, unique amongst those currently on the market, provide customers with everything they need and we are confident they will move people away from traditional laptop providers and into our stores."

But, as Broadband Genie warned earlier this month, there's no such thing as a free laptop; so work out exactly what you're getting before you commit yourself. The laptops are available from February 27.

Check out O2's mobile broadband deals here.

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