AT&T Offering 10-inch Netbooks for $200

Just as how cellphone handsets are subsidized by mobile carriers with a contract, so too are netbooks.

AT&T today announced that it will offer the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 10 and Lenovo S10 for $199.99 after mail-in rebate via AT&T Promotion Card with a two-year service contract.

"Lightweight and connected, netbooks continue to interest consumers and small business customers," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We expect that, paired with AT&T home broadband, Wi-Fi, and the nation's fastest 3G mobile broadband network, they'll have great appeal to busy, on-the-go consumers and working professionals. We're offering the latest and greatest connected devices."

It's somewhat unfortunate that the subsidies for the netbooks aren't more significant given the rather modest data plan offered by AT&T: 200 MB plan for $40 per month or a 5 GB plan for $60 per month. The only saving grace is that the contracts come with unlimited use of AT&T Wi-Fi service, featuring more than 20,000 hot spots nationwide, but we'd like to see a more generous data cap – otherwise, why not just tether with your phone?

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • apmyhr
    Smart move by AT&T. Scares the heck out of me though to think of the phone companies driving into the computer market. Imagine having to buy 2 year contracts with your future laptops or desktops :(
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  • squatchman
    200 MB for $40 a month is ridiculous even for AT&T. Their unlimited data plan for phones are that much.
    Reply
  • IzzyCraft
    "200 MB plan for $40 per month or a 5 GB plan for $60 per month"

    Way to make only one option. Seriously 200mb? What is this 28.8k? Make sure your browser doesn't display pictures so called web 2.0 can kill your 200mb in 1 hour.
    Reply
  • cadder
    Very generous of them to give you a $150 discount off of your netbook in exchange for $1440 of monthly fees.
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  • anhxeom
    Didn't someone offered a netbook with a 2 years contract for $0.99 last month? I beleived it was Best Buy and Sprint or something...
    Reply
  • tayb
    Alright! For only $40 a month I can surf the web for a couple of hours before I reach my bandwidth limit. What a steal. Well worth the $100 off for the laptop.
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    Fuck this...
    Reply
  • hemelskonijn
    Here in the Netherlands your handset is nearly always free with a 2 year plan and for some time now if you buy a mobile internet plan from KPN Vodafone or TMobile you can chose a 3G enabled laptop/netbook in stead of a handset and in some cases even both (with a dual sim option).
    Reply
  • I bet AT&SHIT are drooling over this. This know that there are many, well.... shit load of dumb ass people who will get suckered into this. Just look how they did with the Iphone. 200mb for $40/mo is plane and simple a rip off. How can they justify price??!! Are AT&T wireless networks so bad that they would rather give a pricey plan that's worth peanuts, in terms of service, so that later they can complain that their lines are congested due to excessive bandwidth that they can justify their prices. AT$T and the other damned companies alike all have the recourse's and money to upgrade their systems but they do that at a snails pace. They know it is more profitable to charge people more money for a shity services than upgrading their system which in theory would resolve the heavy bandwidth problem, but if that happene they would no longer have a reason to overcharge....oh darn. I fucking hate this so damn much. If only the common people were smarter they would stop giving into this scam. I feel really sorry for the people who aren't tech savvy like the rest us, well some of us, that will get suckered into this.

    Reply
  • hemelskonijn
    And on the fastest network in the world bit ... good luck with that i got a 3/0.5 meg connection for 15 euro a month flat fee no limitations which beats being fast any day in my humble opinion.
    Reply