Orange bundles free HP laptops with HSDPA deals

Mobile-phone model

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

16th September 2008 10:22 GMT

Orange has bundled a trio of HP Compaq laptops and USB HSDPA 3G modems with new business-oriented mobile broadband airtime packages.

The bundles are based around the Compaq 6735s, 6730s and 6730b, respectively tethered to £35-, £40- and £45-a-month subscriptions. Contracts run for two years for a total expenditure of £840, £960 and £1080, respectively.

The 6730b typically costs around £750 on its own.

HP's Compaq 6730b: free from Orange, sort of

The 6735s is based on a 2GHz AMD Sempron CPU - the others come with Intel Core 2 Duos, respectively a 1.8GHz T5670 and a 2.26GHz P8400. Orange said they all come with 2GB of memory. The AMD-based machine has a 120GB hard drive - the other two both have 160GB HDDs.

All three machines have 15.4in displays.

The 6730b doesn't come with a USB modem because its HSDPA link is embedded into the laptop.

The airtime packages chuck in "unlimited" monthly HSDPA usage - in practice, that means up to 5GB of data transfers per month, provided you don't take the michael. Whatever package you select, you also get 500 minutes' Wi-Fi access through BT Openzone and The Cloud hotspots.

The three laptop bundles will go on sale shortly.