Opinion: Free laptop deal looks good

Jon_smal.gifJonathan Weinberg writes…

Let’s face it, who among us is ever going to turn down a free gift – especially when it’s worth up to £500. Well, that’s the prospect facing techno shoppers at Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World this week.

You couldn’t have failed to see the ads in the newspapers over the weekend proclaiming the gratis machines in return for signing up to broadband with the likes of Orange and AOL. ‘So where’s the catch?’ I hear you ask. ‘There’s always a catch!’

Well, you’re right, to get the free laptop you are tied into a contract with the firms for two years and yes, the machines aren’t super-spec’d enough to suit most Tech Digest readers. But in terms of getting people interested in technology and onto the interweb superhighway, it has to be good news…

PocketSurfer2 handheld mobile Internet device coming to UK in August

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Earlier this month we said that DataWind’s PocketSurfer2 was coming soon, and today more specifications, and a definite UK launch date and price, have been announced.

The PocketSurfer2 is an ultra-thin and portable Internet communications device featuring a built-in GPRS modem and SIM card, GPS location information, 5 hours of battery life with 5 days standby, a built-in high performance antenna, 640×240 VGA colour screen with transreflective backlighting, and a backlit QWERTY keyboard.

Turn your kids all Sith-like with this Star Wars Darth Vader laptop

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I just saw these Darth Vader laptops from Oregon the other day in person, and before I had the chance to write about them, Alex at Shiny Shiny beat me to it. We’re just too good here, *hair flick*

Aimed at kiddywinks, or your mate who resembles Nick Frost just a little too much for comfort, these ‘laptops’ are actually activity centres for children which contain ‘mind-blowing games in logic, music and other breathtaking activities’. Use the interactive light sabre and ‘choose a learning path with Darth Vader’,..

A laptop Decepticons pine over, Haier's G70 Transformers notebook

haier-laptop-transformers.jpg As everyone should know by now (and if you don’t grrr, you’re letting Team Geek down), Transformers – THE MOVIE! – is coming out very shortly here in the UK, but those lucky yanks have had it since the 2nd. Well, at least we got Hot Fuzz first, right? Right?

Die-hards who can’t wait until the 27th for it to debut in British cinemas can snag this Transformers themed notebook from Haier. Sure, it may look like a simple ol’ decalled laptop, but roaring under the hood of the robot-in-disguise are specs even the Autobots would kill for. The G70 features a 1920 x 1200 17-inch screen, 2GB of RAM, 120GB Hard drive, runs on Intel’s PM965 chipset and has a whole bunch of other features I’m not going to pretend I understand…