Liliputing Doesn’t Read Well, Blames QVC

Chance Stevens 7 November 2008 13 views View Comments

Pointing fingers never feels good. It goes back to being in grade school and never wanting to be the tattle tale. Still when something isn’t right you have to correct it. Liliputing.com, a great site for all things computer related, posted a story about QVC selling the Dell Mini 9 netbook for $529 which should only be $449 by their count.

The problem is that when you look at what QVC is selling you realize that it actually isn’t a bad deal, as much as QVC usually seems like a ripoff of people who could get a better deal elsewhere.

From QVC:

Includes netbook, 4-cell battery, and AC adapter
4GB USB thumb drive preinstalled with Corel Paint Shop Pro ships separately
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
8GB hard drive
1.6 GHz Intel N270 Atom processor
8.9″ diagonal glossy LED TFT display, 1024×600 resolution
Integrated Intel Graphics
Integrated 10/100 LAN
Built-in speakers
Integrated sound card
Built-in 1.3MP Web cam
802.11g wireless card
Three USB 2.0 ports
15-pin VGA video connector
AC adapter connector
Headphone/speaker jack, mic jack
Built-in 3-in-1 memory card reader supports SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO; card not included
Genuine Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with SP3
Microsoft Works 9.0
Adobe Reader 9.0
30-day Dell On Call
15-month McAfee Security
1-year 2GB Box.net online backup and sharing
Approximate measurements: 9-1/4″L x 6-3/4″W x 1-3/8″H closed; 7″H opened; 2.28 lbs
UL listed AC adapter; 1-year Limited Manufacturer’s Warranty
Made in China

The important things in there are the inclusion of the 15-month McAfee security and it includes free shipping. If you try to build the same computer at Dell, you’d want to start with the base model which is $399 and add the camera. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it has to be apples-to-apples. Then you want to add the extra memory to bring it from 512MB to 1GB. When you add the security software the Mini 9 becomes $528 without adding shipping. Shipping may not set you back a whole lot, but it is a savings of $20-30 if….IF you were considering also getting the 15-month security subscription which probably makes sense for a lot of people.

You also get a 4GB memory card out of the deal with photo editing software. That is probably a $30 dollar value, maybe less if you’re able to snag it free after rebate at your local retail store.

Sorry to burst any bubbles.

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