Marginalia
A miscellany of musings on the tech that crosses my path
Friday 23 October 2009, 10:34 AM
Virgin Media Freedom Netbook
The netbook itself is solidly built, with a good keyboard. It is small and light, as you’d expect (256mm x 182mm x 26mm x 1.1Kg). Its features are fairly standard netbook fare with a 10.2-inch 1024 x 600 pixel display, 120GB hard drive, 0.3 megapixel Webcam, Wi-Fi, Atom N270 processor and Windows XP Home.
I’m not sure whether Virgin Media thinks anyone will enjoy using the bright red, heavily branded neoprene slipcase, or will make any use at all of the range of stickers that are provided for you to personalise the netbook’s shell, but these things are not deal breakers.
There are just two USB ports, one on the left and one on the right side of the shell, with headphones and microphone slots also on the left side. Unusually the battery is housed on the underside of the casing so that the back is available for connectors as well as the left and right edges. The back houses VGA-out, Ethernet and a flash memory card reader slot, that latter in what is probably the least ergonomic position possible.
There’s no Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi runs to b/g and n. Microsoft Works is bundled, which means you should be able to do some useful things right out of the box.
It is all pleasing enough, but battery life is a stinker. The battery is 3-cell, offering 3300mAh which Virgin Mobile says provides two and a half hours of life. I felt lucky to get two hours of browsing and streaming from a full charge.
I was amazed that Virgin Mobile did not bother to bundle their 3G dongle with the netbook, a PR faux pas of magnificent proportions. But I used the netbook consistently with a Vodafone dongle with no ill-effects.
I’m really not sure about these free netbooks. To get this one you have to embark on a 24 month contract. There are various tariffs, and they include home broadband, telephony services and TV services. If you are already keen on Virgin Media for those, then maybe it makes sense, but I can’t see anyone being drawn by the mobile broadband offering on its own. There is just too much competition out there at the moment.
You’ll find all the current tariffs details at the Virgin Media Web site.
PreviousComments on this post
The mobile-carrier-branded netbooks are generally someone else's product that has simply been relabeled. Can you tell if this is the case with that unit, and if so whose it is? I have handled a lot of netbooks, and I've never seen one matching the description you gave.
You're right, having the flash-card slot on the back has got to be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. Having the 3-cell battery built into the bottom of the case almost certainly means that you are stuck with the abysmal battery life as well. The netbooks with a bulky 6-cell battery extending from the back are rather ugly, but that can be forgiven in the name of the extra battery life. The final straw for me would be the lack of Bluetooth. The more I look at it, the more I am amazed at the sacrifices that they made in the name of cost saving. Perhaps Virgin thinks that customers who are going to get this netbook for "free" won't expect too much.
Do I understand correctly that they give it away in conjunction with a mobile broadband contract, but it doesn't have an internal slot for a 3G SIM card, and they don't include a 3G dongle? If so, you are right, that is an amazing blunder, and it doesn't make sense at all.
jw 23/10/2009
JW - Mobile broadband is via a dongle rather than internal slot. I didn't get the dongle, but it is usually supplied with the netbook. PR blunder rather than Virgin Media blunder.
As to the source, I am sure it is a third party's machine but not one I've seen elsewhere. You may well have seen more netbooks than me and the SD card slot on the back casing is a real giveaway!
Ah, ok thanks, I misunderstood - so the dongle would be included for an ordinary customer, they just failed to send one along with your evaluation unit. That makes much more sense.
Anyway, thanks again for the review, it was interesting reading, and useful information.
jw
