PC World raised a few eyebrows this afternoon as it announced it would give a free laptop to anyone who signs up to two years of Orange broadband in its stores.
PC World reckons the laptop, something along the lines of an Advent 721, is worth "over £300", and will have a minimum specification as follows: a 15.4-inch widescreen, an unspecified Celeron processor, 256MB of RAM, Wi-Fi, DVD rewriter and a 40GB hard drive.
It's a very basic spec that'll have Windows XP creaking along, but it's marginally better than a kick in the goolies. If you want something faster then you can 'trade up' to a higher spec from £19.99 or receive a discount of up to £250 off any laptop in PC World.
The broadband package is Orange's 2Mb service, which costs £7.49 for the first three months, then £14.99 per month thereafter with a 2GB per month download limit. An 8Mb cap-free alternative is available for £19.99 per month. Both services come with a modem and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
It's easy to be sceptical, but this sounds like a great deal. The total you'll pay for the starter package is £337.26, so you're essentially getting two years of broadband for £37. If you don't have broadband already, and you want a laptop for next to nothing, then pop round to your local PC World. Now. -Rory Reid