I just bought a Dell Inspiron mini 10v. It will be arriving either later this week or early next week.
After examining all the different ways I could purchase it, I decided to go refurb.
Why?
Because it’s nearly $100 less than new.
For a laptop that’s in the sub-$500 range, $100 is a pretty big consideration. In my situation, I paid 23% less compared to buying new, and I got more for the money besides that.
With netbooks you either love or hate them, and you certainly don’t purchase one for speed and power. You want it for the portability factor; this is why I bought one. Later on when I actually get the thing I’ll write up more about it, but for now I’m concentrating on price.
Resale value
Netbooks will not have any significant resale value because laptops of this size are meant to be disposable tech to a degree. I know that in 2 years the 10v I bought will barely be worth $100 at best – and that’s being generous.
This is going to be a cold hard fact no matter which make or model you go with, mainly due to the reason they were designed from the ground up to be inexpensive.
Those who are anti-refurb will do nothing but pay more for the same thing
I know there’s a whole lot of you out there who are decidedly anti-refurb and say, "If it’s not new, I don’t want it." You may change your tune on that when it comes to netbooks.
Refurbs today (at least with Dell) are not like they were years ago. You get all the same warranty choices including extended options with new OR refurb. In yesteryear this was not the case as refurb warranties didn’t offer the same coverage, but now they do and have for some time.
This being the case, those who choose to go new for the same model as a refurb do nothing but spend more money for the exact same thing.
By the numbers
These are the specs of my Dell Inspiron mini 10v. Items listed in bold/red are things you have to pay extra for when buying new as upgrade options.
- Obsidian Black
- 10.1 inch WideScreen True Life Laptop Screen (1024×576)
- Processor: Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
- 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 1 DIMM
- 160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
- 6 Cell, 56WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery
- Dell Wireless 1510 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
- Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
- Genuine Windows XP Home
- Microsoft Works 9.0
- 32BIT Operating System CD
- Windows Live
- 30W AC Adapter
- Service Software
- Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950
The price I paid for the refurb: $309.21. That’s with tax and shipping included.
If you were to price this new for the exact same model with same upgrade options, the price is $384 and that does not include tax and shipping (if included that would go over $400 easily).
In other words, with new I’d pay $100 more for the same thing.
With netbooks, you are so much better off concerning the pocketbook by going refurb. If interested in a Dell refurb netbook, the site is http://www.dell.com/outlet.
What about other makes and models of netbooks? How do they compare in price?
At present the best price for a netbook is in the high 200s (US Dollar).
The MSI Wind at NewEgg at the time of this writing sells for $289.99. With shipping added in, it still stays under $300 and it’s very close in specs to the Dell Inspiron mini 10v, HOWEVER.. the battery life sucks.
The best part about the refurb Dell I bought is that I specifically sought out one that came provided with a 6-cell 56WHr battery. Netbooks are supposed to be super-duper portable by design, but all that portability means nothing without a really good battery under the hood (literally).
If you are interested in a netbook, the battery should be the first thing you examine. If it’s a 3-cell/24WHr, you’re only going to realistically get 3 hours of use per charge. For a netbook, that’s terrible. Aim for the 32 and 56WHr batteries.
You should always go for the better battery. This is true for any laptop, but it’s especially true for netbooks.
What will the prices of netbooks be in the future?
They’ll most likely stick around the high 200s for a good while yet. However in a year or two it’s possible you may see low 200s for new netbooks.
The one I just bought will definitely not be the only. Future models (and this is happening very soon) will have integrated GPS and more television/tv tuner options for media center use. The existing Inspiron mini 10 already has an HDMI output for such a task.
Portable computer tech is looking really good right now, and it’s getting better. But most importantly, it’s cheap.
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