New free laptop computer deals & offers
1st November
2009
Following a relatively 'quite' period, when the free laptop section
of the Carphone Warehouse was difficult to find, it seems that The Carphone
Warehouse is again back on top, with an outstanding new range of free laptop
computer deals. As before, the new range of laptop deals is only available when
purchasing a mobile broadband contract with either Vodafone, 3, Orange, O2 or
T-Mobile. These mobile broadband deals currently start from £25 per month
and are all based on a minimum contract of 24 months, which seems highly
reasonanble given the value of the laptops being offered.
The current
range of laptops being offered by The Carphone Warehouse includes: Asus X5DC,
Toshiba L500, Sony Vaio NW20, Dell Inspiron 11z, Asus UL30, Samsung X120, Dell
Mini 10v, Samsung N140 and Toshiba NB200. This gives a very nice choice of
either a standard sized laptop, the ultra-thin variety or increasigly popular
netbook. All of these laptops is pre-loaded with either Windows 7 Home Premium
or for the netbooks, Windows 7 Starter. Processors include Intel Celeron, Intel
Pentium, Intel Atom and Dual Core, with Memory offerings of up to 4GB and hard
drives of between 160GB and 500GB. Full information:
Carphone
Warehouse
Other considerations when comparing free laptop offers,
include mobile broadband coverage, mobile broadband speed, modem charges and
other freebies, such as free text bundles. It would appear that Vodafone offers
the fastest mobile broadband, with speeds up to 7.2 Mbps. T-Mobile offers
speeds of up to 4.5 Mbps, with the other networks offering a still very
respectable limit of 3.6 Mbps.
Looking specifically at coverage, both 3
and T-Mobile boast 90% mobile broadband coverage of the UK population and set
to rise to 98.5% by the end of 2010. O2 and Orange cover 80% of the UK
population and Vodafone appears to have good coverage. Interestingly, Vodafone
was awarded the Best Consumer Mobile Broadband 2009 at the ISPA, where judges
considered speed, reliability and value for money.
Two examples of free
laptop deals available via The Carphone Warehouse...
Asus X5DC - free with mobile broadband
 This laptop has an Intel Celeron
processor, an ultra sharp 15.6 inch HD display, along with a 250GB hard drive
and 3GB of RAM. Microsoft Windows 7 is pre-installed, the laptop is fully
wireless enabled and has a built in webcam. According to The Carphone
Warehouse, the stand alone price of this laptop is £369. To 'qualify' for
this as a free laptop deal, a 24 month contract with O2 would be the cheapest
option at £30 per month. This mobile broadband deal offers a respectable
max speed of 3.6Mbps, includes 300 free texts per month and a download limit of
3GB per month.
At £35 per month, 3 offers the best download limit
(15Gb), around the same speed and no free texts. If speed is more important,
Vodafone offers speeds up to 7.2Mbps.
Samsung X120 - free with mobile broadband
 With a regular stand alone
price of £499, this is a very nice laptop - ultra thin and ultra
portable, yet with a full compliment of specifications, including: Intel
Pentium Processor, integrated web cam, wireless, 3GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive and
Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. Free laptop deals with the Samsung X120
are available on 24 month mobile broadband contracts with Vodafone, Orange and
T-Mobile - all three priced at £40 per month. With the T-Mobile deal,
whilst there is a up front modem charge of £60, an impressive unlimited
texts package is included. The Orange deal includes 200 texts per
month.
In the balance and given the potential for 90% UK population
coverage, a more generous download limit and the unlimited texts, it would
appear that T-Mobile offers the better package for those interested in the
Samsung X120 as their free laptop deal of choice.
Further details:
The Carphone
Warehouse |
