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[Also see More About Laptops at the conclusion of this article]
Joe St Sauver, Ph.D.
Director, User Services and Network Applications
joe@uoregon.edu
Two questions that many users asked were "How did they get the price of those laptops so low?" and "Would one of those systems work well for me?"
Looking more closely at the laptops with rock-bottom prices, you'll notice that an extremely "sharp pencil" has usually been applied to their configuration. Economies have often been realized through:
When you consider that stripped-down configuration, some of those economies may matter to you and others may not. It really depends on the demands of your applications and your expectations.
For example, consider the issue of the limited battery capacity of budget laptops: if you use your laptop primarily in locations where you can easily get access to wall power, such as in a motel, limited battery capacity may only be a minor consideration. On the other hand, if you frequently fly coast-to-coast, a one-hour battery would dramatically limit your ability to work while airborne during those longer flights.
Of course you could always buy a spare higher capacity battery, but be aware that it is not uncommon for a spare laptop battery to run $100 or more--fully a quarter of your budget laptop system's nominal cost.
Another example of an economizing measure that may or may not matter greatly to you is memory capacity: you may run very simple applications, or you may be able to tolerate relatively slow performance, or you may be able to upgrade your laptop from 256MB of memory to 512MB or more, but be sure to figure the cost of that upgrade into the total cost of the system (including any installation charges, if you're not comfortable doing that work yourself).
As a final example, consider a laptop that comes without integrated wireless. You could add an external wireless card, but that may not be as convenient as having an integrated wireless setup--and again, this would raise the final cost of the system.
When purchasing a budget laptop you should also be aware that at least some retailers may train sales staff to do an aggressive job of pushing add-ons such as:
If it's important for you to keep the cost of your system low, a key phrase to remember is, "No thanks, I just want the laptop."
In other cases, in order to qualify for an amazing price on a laptop you might need to sign up for hundreds of dollars worth of service through a third party ISP, or apply for a credit card (which may have annual fees or other associated costs).
Many retailers are also counting on at least some fraction of purchasers failing to correctly complete and submit their rebate requests in time. Don't let this happen to you! Double-check the requirements needed to receive your rebate, and be sure to keep a copy of all the materials you submit.
By the time you've added up all these factors, it becomes evident that a super-cheap laptop may ultimately not be much of a bargain.
If your budget allows you to raise your price point just a little, you may be able to get a lot more for your money. This December we saw multiple laptops from name-brand manufacturers such as Compaq, Dell and Toshiba in the $500-$550 price range (after rebate) that had all or most of the features you'd likely want, including:
At least in some cases, those $500-$550 systems were bundled with a free (after rebate) printer [3] and a free (after rebate) wireless access point. [4]
At that price, those systems may very well be worth your consideration. When all is said and done, those $500-$550 laptops may be the real bargains of the 2005 holiday season, not the much-ballyhooed (but far less capable) $400 laptops.
Sometimes users wonder if there are bargains to be had in the used laptop market; in general, we'd urge you to be cautious about buying used laptops for a few reasons:
Curiously enough, some of the best bargain laptop deals are often advertised in advertising inserts in the local Sunday Register Guard. If you check the paper and find a system that looks like a real bargain, be sure to go to the retailer early in the day because some particularly good bargains sell out fast, and rain checks will usually not be available.
Another good source for bargain laptop deals is the "Hot Offers" or "Online Deals" section of major laptop vendor websites (Dell tends to have particularly deep online discounts from time to time, but note that Dell's offers can vary dramatically on a daily basis).
Other users swear by online websites that specialize in collecting online vendor coupon codes and special manufacturer promotional deals (see the listings at http://www.uoregon.edu/~joe/deals.html )
A caveat: We recommend that you do not "register" or give your email address to any deal or promotional site. Visit deal sites on the web, sure. Check them out via RSS if you like, absolutely. But we recommend that you do not sign up for emailed deal notices or new product bulletins. Most such sites are very good about respecting your privacy, but some may share your email address with marketing partners and you may be inundated with spam as a result.
Deal sites, like online auction sites, have a uniquely engrossing quality. It is easy to lose site of the objective and spend a tremendous amount of time and effort just looking for ever better deals. Don't let a casual search for a good deal turn into a life-disrupting obsession.
More About Laptops [back to top]MIT's $100 Laptop Project. While we're talking about budget laptops, it is impossible to avoid mentioning MIT's highly publicized $100 Laptop Project, aimed at making $100 laptops available to children in the developing world (see http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ ). Please note (as mentioned on the MIT $100 Laptop site) that these $100 laptops are not yet in production. Once they are, they will only be distributed directly to schools through large government initiatives, and you will not be able to buy one directly. What About Sites That Offer "Free" Laptops? If you Google for "free laptops" you'll typically see a variety of web pages that offer "free" laptops. Just as there is no free lunch, there is no such thing as a truly free laptop--at least not one that doesn't have lots of strings attached. Read the fine print at those sites, and you'll see that receipt of your "free" laptop will typically require you:
Don't get suckered! As noted on http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com/ (a website developed and mantained by a joint federal law enforcement and industry task force): If an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is! |
[1] "Budget Desktop Systems: Are They Right for You?" http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/spring2005/budget.htm
[2] http://www.openoffice.org (also see Spencer Smith's review of OpenOffice on pp. 14-15 of this issue)
[3] Be aware that required cables are often not included and will cost extra, and that the cost of a printer may be negligible in the long term relative to the cost of consumable supplies (such as ink cartridges for your printer). The strategy of giving away printers reminds me of the comment attributed to a film company executive: "Give away cameras; we'll make our money on the film."
[4] If you get a personal wireless access point, please use it only at home. On campus, deployment of personal wireless access points can interfere with the official campus wireless network or introduce security vulnerabilities that impact the campus as a whole. If you need information about wireless network access on campus, please see http://micro.uoregon.edu/wireless/