Dell partners with Sprint to offer mini-netbook for basement-level price

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

PC maker Dell and telecom firm Sprint have teamed up to produce the Inspiron Mini 10, a sub-netbook computer that will cost $200 with the purchase of a standard 3G wireless contract from Sprint.

Sold exclusively on Dell's website, the Mini 10 packs relatively standard netbook hardware: a 10-inch screen without advanced display drivers, 160 GB hard drive, and an Intel Atom Z520 low-voltage processor. The netbook will run Windows XP, not the recently-released Windows 7.

The device's $200 price point takes into account a $100 rebate, so customers will have to fork over $300 at the time of purchase. The wireless contract will cost $60 per month and include 5 GB of data access, relatively standard in the industry. In the recession-battered economy, netbooks have carved out a sizeable chunk of the portable PC market, jumping 264 percent in the second quarter of 2009.

Sprint is not the first telecom company to partner with a PC maker to offer subsidized computers. Both AT&T and Verizon offer similar products through partnerships with various manufacturers.