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Telecommunications Vodafone makes $0 Dell 3.5G netbook deal even cheaper!
Telecommunications Vodafone makes $0 Dell 3.5G netbook deal even cheaper! | Vodafone makes $0 Dell 3.5G netbook deal even cheaper! |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Wednesday, 14 January 2009 | |
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Why is there a price drop? In an earlier version of this article I speculated over the success of the deal, while also wondering if Dell had lowered the price it's charging Vodafone for each netbook. A Vodafone spokesperson confirmed to me that a lower price from Dell has made the deal possible - which is being extended to existing Dell Mini 9/Vodafone customers as well - see the "Updated" section in bold a few paragraphs down. The original deal was already a very good one, as examined in iTWire’s original article about the offer back in late November last year. When we deconstructed the original $69.95 price over 24 months, the deal turned out to be one that had no extra interest charges but simply ended up costing the end user what it would have cost to buy a Dell Mini 9 on its own and a separate Vodafone 5GB data plan and accompanying USB wireless modem. The difference with the Dell and Vodafone offer is that the 3.5G module is built into the Dell Mini 9, as has happened with notebooks over the past few years. Although other netbook companies had talked of making 3.5G modules available, Dell was the first to actually bring it to the Australian market in an all-in-one package. Possibly the only real downside to the deal was that the 3.5G modem was a built-in module, and not a USB stick that you could remove and use with any other computer, but seeing as you should theoretically be able to easily set up the Dell netbook to share the 3.5G connection over an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network setup, it wasn’t that big of an issue. Anyway – whatever the reason for Dell and Vodafone’s price drop, now “sweetened” with an additional “three-months free access” offer, the deal is now better than ever, especially if you’re in the market for a netbook and 3.5G mobile broadband access. UPDATE: A Vodafone spokesperson has been in touch to say that existing Dell Mini 9/Vodafone customers will get the $10 price cut too, from their next bill. Even better, Vodafone says that the "three months free" offer will also be extended to existing customers, something that will be confirmed on the next bill also. Additional details of the "three months free" offer, which is a genuine saving of 3 x $59.95 (or $179.85), is on page 2. This is a nice way to keep those early adopters happy! The smaller than normal keyboard on the Dell Mini 9 isn’t something you’d want to type out War and Peace on, but as a netbook with USB ports, you could always plug a regular keyboard and mouse into it, while also plugging in a monitor if so desired. The keyboard is perfect for quick emails, entering web addresses and more, however. Additionally, netbooks aren’t usually used for a whole stack of media creation, but more consumption, and as a handy web surfing device, it excels at the task, as most any netbook does today. Equally, though, there are netbooks with bigger and friendlier keyboards, such as the Asus Eee 1000 series, the MSI Wind and others, which make the typing of long emails or other documents a lot easier, and anyone can get a wireless broadband USB device these days, so you should choose carefully, based on what you want to do with your netbook. It’s really a horses for courses type of deal, with Vodafone also giving you the chance to pay off your netbook and 3.5G connection over 24 months – something that’s perfect especially if you’re on a budget but do need a new computer, which you can augment cheaply enough with a full-size keyboard for more “regular” work. So, what does Vodafone specifically say about the new offer? Please read on to page 2! |
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