Free Laptop Deals Are They Really Free?

Unless you are in the habit of walking around with your eyes shut or live on another planet you can’t help but have noticed the plethora of free laptop offers being advertised nowadays. These offers often look too good to be true, after all, why would a company give away a free laptop?
Well, as you have probably already guessed, they aren’t really free – to obtain your free gift you must sign on the dotted line for a mobile broadband or airtime contract which can last for up to two years.
Most people understand that you don’t get anything for nothing and generally they will say that it’s still a good offer because you may as well sign a contract for a service you’re probably going to use anyway and the laptop is just a sweetener. In some cases this may be true; you’ll probably want to use mobile broadband and will be unlikely to switch from one company to another unless there is some benefit for doing so.
However, like many marketing strategies, the truth can sometimes be stretched much further than you might realise. Often a similar offer without a free gift can be substantially cheaper and the difference you pay will be more than the laptop would have cost if you had bought it outright.
As with any deal with a catch it’s always a good idea to step back and not be swayed by the flashy sales talk, two years is an awfully long time to be regretting a decision made in haste. A better strategy is to go away and do your homework – calculate exactly how much you’ll be paying over the term of the contract and then see how much the laptop would cost to buy with cash. Then compare this to a deal where no inducements are offered and you’ll often be surprised at the result.
This is all well and good of course if you have the cash, but what if you don’t – a new laptop is a tempting offer after all, particularly if you are starting college or your existing machine is kaput. Well, if you have a credit card it will probably be cheaper to use this to fund your new laptop and pay the balance as soon as you can. If you don’t have a credit card, are near your limit or just a little lax with making the payments then a broadband contract might be your best option.
The key word here is ‘might’ and you should always take your time to consider the options. No matter what you decide to do, so long as you have done your research and made the decision in your own time then you’ll be a lot more likely to be satisfied with the deal you got – that’s what being a smart shopper is all about – right?