Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > January > 09 > Entry
Dell and AT&T introduce $99 laptop that costs $1,539
I was really hoping that the PC industry would never go back to those late-1990s deals where you bought a computer for less than you’d normally pay, but were saddled with multiple years of Internet service at a set price.
It was a trend that deservedly died out, but is now common in the cell phone industry. Get the phone relatively cheap, but get locked in to a two-year contract. As I’ve written before, the $199 iPhone is anything but cheaper than the $400 first-gen when you look at the bottom line.
Let me ask you this: do you know a single person who likes being locked into a cell phone contract?
Today, Dell and AT&T announced a new pricing option for the Inspiron Mini 9 notebook. The $449 laptop will sell for $99 (after a $350 mail-in rebate). The catch, if you want to call it that, is that you’ll be required to enter into a two-year Internet contract with AT&T for mobile broadband. The cost? $60 a month. (Plus, the press release says, “Additional fees.”
Not counting those fees and taxes, the total price of the laptop ends up $1,539 after two years.
If you already pay for broadband in your home (I pay about $46 a month), or are used to relying on Wi-Fi, you’ll have to consider if mobile broadband is the way to go. The advantage is that (as long as you’re within coverage areas), you won’t have to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot.
On the other hand: $1,539.
Where AT&T has the advantage is that there simply hasn’t been enough competition in broadband Internet service. We pay much more for broadband here than people in other countries do, and many of us are getting double- or triple-charged for having broadband in the home, broadband in our phones and broadband in wireless PC cards with not enough options to combine all that Internet service.
Maybe I’m not the audience for a product like this (I won’t even upgrade to an iPhone 3G because of the cost of 3G service), but it sure sounds like a raw deal to me.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Computers
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By Jacob
January 13, 2009 9:10 AM | Link to this
I can hardly stand paying my iPhone bill. 90 bucks a month.. and I have the cheapest plan. Hopefully one day we will have workable public WIFI. Information and knowledge should be free as possible.
By Omar Gallaga
January 9, 2009 3:48 PM | Link to this
Connie -- I'm not sure, I imagine it works like a cell phone contract where you pay monthly. I think paying up front would scare most people off.
By connie.mccracken
January 9, 2009 3:19 PM | Link to this
Do you have to pay the two years' internet service up front? Or do you have to get approved for credit? If the latter is the case, then this may not fly in this credit environment.
By dc
January 9, 2009 1:55 PM | Link to this
I've sometimes thought cell phone service contracts should have a nice, bold disclosure box where it says, "Over the length of this contract, your total cost will be $_______." That number would have to include all the extra fees that the carriers don't want to disclose to you. And each buyer would be required to initial next to that line. (Maybe make the salesperson initial there, too, to verify that they discussed it with the customer.)
If the carriers had to be up-front about the math, they might have an incentive to do things like cut the length of these contracts.
As for replacing your home line ... there is a 5GB cap on AT&T mobile broadband. That's not a problem for most business use, but if you rented a movie or two, that's pretty much it for the month.
By jeff
January 9, 2009 12:48 PM | Link to this
this could work. we are going to by a mini for my wife, and purchase a mobile internet modem. We do not have the availability to wifi like Austin so to work remotely you need to pay up. @jacksonj