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By Neil Hawkins Senior Staff Writer
Monday, 1 September 2008
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FREE laptop offers are all the rage and if you are looking for a computer to go with your new broadband supplier then you could save yourself a few quid by taking advantage of one of the four free laptop offers currently on the broadband market.
We take a look at the best free laptop offers.
Free laptop? Surely not?
It’s fair to say that broadband providers like promotions and back in 2007, whilst trying to trump TalkTalk’s ‘free broadband’ deal, AOL and Orange began giving free laptops to customers signing up to their broadband services for 18 or 24 months.
Now with the advent of fast mobile broadband services running on new-fandangled 3G networks there are free laptop deals coming from the mobile broadband providers like T-Mobile and Three.
These broadband connections differ to traditional phone line broadband in that anywhere there is a signal you can have broadband, wherever you take your free laptop your internet connection will follow, even if you move house.
Remember that all of these free laptop offers come with 18 or 24 month contracts so if you’re planning to emigrate then they’re probably not for you!
Is the AOL free laptop offer any good?.
The free laptop deal offered by AOL, self-styled internet experts, has the most options available.
It is possible to upgrade the bog standard freebie laptop to a more powerful machine.
There are four laptops to choose from ranging in price from ‘free’ for the standard laptop to £199 for a high-powered Toshiba laptop.
If you don’t mind paying an extra one-off £29 then we’d recommend going for the Fujitsu Siemens free laptop option, it’s a much better machine than the standard Acer laptop.
Unlike the other free laptop deals reviewed here the AOL Broadband comes via your BT line which means that you are able to achieve speeds up to 8Mbps, much faster than any of the mobile broadband connections featured here.
The flip side to this is that you will have to pay line rental to BT on top of the £19.99 monthly charge to AOL Broadband.
There are plenty of freebies included, besides the free laptop of course! Not only is there a whopping 40Gb monthly download limit but AOL chuck in a free wireless router too.
In order to qualify for the £19.99 monthly price you will need to be living in an AOL served area and sign up to AOL’s Talk package – no bad thing – as it gives you free weekend and evening UK calls.
Is the T-Mobile free laptop offer any good?
Although the free laptop offered by T-Mobile is not quite as highly specified as the AOL Fujitsu deal the other aspects of T-Mobile’s offer makes up for it.
T-Mobile is the only mobile broadband provider here to offer unlimited data usage meaning unlike the other mobile broadband connections you’re never likely to face hefty charges for exceeding the download allowance.
Not only that, but subscribers also get free unlimited access to all T-Mobile hotspots around the UK, a very useful perk if you’re going to be lugging your free laptop around town with you.
T-mobile’s free laptop is an Acer Travelmate 5320 which is a good all-round budget machine again suitable for all common computing tasks such as office applications.
The monthly cost is £30 and the contract is 24 months.
Is the 3 Mobile free laptop offer any good?
The free laptop offer from 3 Mobile is a pretty solid one but doesn’t really have any outstanding features, except perhaps that you get a choice of laptops.
The HP 530 laptop offered by 3 is a budget free laptop, powered by a Celeron M processor and suitable for basic computing tasks such as surfing the net, watching DVD’s, listening to music or using word processing and spreadsheet applications.
The alternative free laptop is an HP 2133 which is a mini-laptop with an 8.9in widescreen. This is an ultra portable laptop with a 1.2Ghz processor, a 120Gb hard drive and 1Gb of memory.
There is also a choice of contracts available which depend on the type of laptop you choose.
So, if you choose the HP530 laptop you can have an 24 month contract with 5Gb of usage for £30 a month or a 24 month contract with 15Gb of usage for £50.
However if you pick the mini-laptop you have to have a 24 month contract which are priced at £35 and £50 for 5Gb and 15Gb respectively. Confusing, we know!
 Compare to get a free laptop from 3!
Is the Orange free laptop offer any good?
There are two really good points about the Orange free laptop offer.
Firstly, Orange is giving away an Asus Eee PC which is a perfect match for a mobile broadband connection because at less than a kilo in weight and with an 8.9in screen it is one of the most portable laptops around. Secondly, it is by far the cheapest at £25 a month.
Unfortunately these plus points are somewhat offset by the fact that the maximum speed available is only a disappointing 1.8Mbps. Add to this a small 3Gb download allowance and it becomes clear that this connection is only really suitable for checking email and surfing the net.
Like the other free laptop offers you need to sign up for 24 months but the USB modem is free.
Compare to get a free laptop from Orange!
 Compare Mobile Broadband
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