PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Computer retail giant PC World has launched a new promotion in association with telco company Orange to offer a free £300 laptop to any customers who sign up to a two year, £14.99 per month, Orange broadband contract.
As you would expect for £300, the Ei Systems 3101 laptop (pictured) has a pretty basic spec: a Celeron processor, 256MB memory, a 40GB hard drive and Windows XP home. However, PCW is offering discounts of up to £360 on its other laptops. The amount of the discount seems to vary from model to model, but will be at least £300, apparently.
Additionally, the basic broadband package will be restrictive for many with its 2Mb maximum download speed and a cap of 2GB per month of downloaded data. This is also upgradable to an unlimited 8Mb connection for an extra fiver a month.
The first three months are discounted to £7.49 so a quick bit of maths tells you that for a £337.29 outlay with Orange you effectively get between £300 and £360 back from PCW.
This is bound to be a popular deal and PCW has stressed there will be no repeat of the stock shortages associated with its Christmas laptop offer. However, with it basically amounting to ‘free’ broadband, you have to wonder if Orange has addressed the customer service issues that coincided with its last ‘free’ offer.
