[3GScottishUser]

11 February, 2010, by Desire Athow

Nokia has quietly started to sell its uber-expensive Booklet 3G Netbook on its online store for a throat-chocking, jaw dropping £649, a price that we understand, includes VAT and delivery but which is slightly on the expensive side of things.

The device, which is already available in the US via AT&T and Germany through Telefonica-owned O2, was launched back in August 2009.

If you thought that Apple's US/UK price differences were unfair, then Nokia's one is proper outrageous as the mini laptop costs $599 across the pond and the equivalent of $1020 in Blighty.

For this quasi-obscene amount of money, you get a nice looking laptop with an Atom Z530 processor running at 1.6GHz, a 10.1-inch LCD display with a screen resolution of 1280x720 pixels, 1GB RAM, a 120GB hard disk drive, Windows 7, embedded 3G, HDMI, WiFi, A-GPS, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel webcam and Nokia's own set of services, all packed in a 1.25Kg chassis.

ZDNet reports that no mobile operator have signed a deal to subsidise or bundle the device, given that it is almost as expensive as an iPhone, it is highly unlikely it will ever happen actually.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/2/11/nokia-booklet-3g-coes-sale-uk-649/#ixzz0fFmLOeum

http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/2/11/nokia-booklet-3g-coes-sale-uk-649/

[getti]

I am using one at the moment. Near apple like design its really nice then you notice no backlit keyboard and underpowered and you realise its apple like design, apple like price but not finished like apple.

[miffed]

I really don't understand this product - The definition of a Netbook (albeit according to Wikipedia) - is a small , inexpensive laptop ..with an inadequate screen and keyboard - ( well ,that bit is according to me !)
So stick a £300 price tag on it , and you have a small cheap laptop , wannabe - fair enough , if you think it'll make you happy
.......But to then out a £650 price tag on it !?!? , WTF ?? - you are then paying through the nose to have a little screen and keyboard on a device that , if we are honest , is best suited to a larger screen and larger keyboard !

Really doesn't make sense ! , and they talk about Steve Jobs having a reality distortion field !! - I bet even Apple never envisaged Netbooks selling for £650 when they invented them !!

[Ben]

Exactly, what's the point of a really expensive laptop filled with really crap parts? An Atom, 1GB RAM and a magnetic HDD? No thanks! :(

I think getti has it pretty spot on - it's a bit of an Apple pretender, but a perfect example of how Apple justify the prices that they charge.

It does, perhaps, sit inbetween 'cheap' netbooks and 'expensive' ultraportables. But you'd have to be nuts to buy one.

[The Mullet of G]

Yeah cause a Macbook Air isn't a poorly spec'd laptop with about £150 worth of hardware inside it, and a price tag of over a grand. :rolleyes:

If the Nokia Netbook had an Apple badge on it, you guys would be raving about how great it was, and that the price was more than justified. Not only that you probably would have found ways to spin its shortcomings as being game changing features. :D

[Ben]

Yeah cause a Macbook Air isn't a poorly spec'd laptop with about £150 worth of hardware inside it, and a price tag of over a grand. :rolleyes:

If the Nokia Netbook had an Apple badge on it, you guys would be raving about how great it was, and that the price was more than justified. Not only that you probably would have found ways to spin its shortcomings as being game changing features. :D
No, it's not :S Mine has a customised full-on Core 2 Duo, 'special' long life battery, SSD, 2GB RAM, backlit keyboard, webcam, droolworthy LED-backlit screen (the MBAs are known to have exceptional screens), large multi-touch trackpad, and I can fit it in a manilla envelope. :p They're so frickin' thin and well designed. There's just no way you can compare such a premium ultraportable to something stuffed with netbook components. If it makes you feel better, I used to love Sony's T series of ultraportables until the Air came along and peed all over it :p

[The Mullet of G]

No, it's not :S Mine has a customised full-on Core 2 Duo, 'special' long life battery, SSD, 2GB RAM, backlit keyboard, webcam, droolworthy LED-backlit screen (the MBAs are known to have exceptional screens), large multi-touch trackpad, and I can fit it in a manilla envelope. :p They're so frickin' thin and well designed. There's just no way you can compare such a premium ultraportable to something stuffed with netbook components. If it makes you feel better, I used to love Sony's T series of ultraportables until the Air came along and peed all over it :p


My mistake, its closer to £250 worth of hardware. Seriously look at its graphics solution, its absolutely worthless, and has a value of around £15 or less, 2GB of RAM really isn't expensive, especially when your using the pedestrian stuff you'll find in a MBA. So with the change you have left over you can get a 50" 1080p plasma screen, and I don't care how nice the screen is on a MBA a 50" absolutely dry humps it. I appreciate that its all packaged nicely, but it takes a lot more than some shiny stuff to pull the wool over my eyes. Also Sony haven't made a decent product for about 2 decades, so you've kinda jumped out of the frying pan there. :D

[getti]

If anyone should be looking to defend the Booklet it should be me..... but I cant. Overall it is nice, the battery is awesome and the built in HSDPA using a SIM is a great idea but the price tag is well off the mark

[Ben]

I don't care how nice the screen is on a MBA a 50" absolutely dry humps it.
Totally, sorry, I forgot how portable 50" plasmas are!

[Hands0n]

Credit where it is due, and in this case it is not due to Nokia for creating a Netbook with a full-on laptop price. It may be the prettiest Netbook around, but that is all that it is.

I'm not convinced that this is territory that Nokia should venture into.

[The Mullet of G]

If anyone should be looking to defend the Booklet it should be me..... but I cant. Overall it is nice, the battery is awesome and the built in HSDPA using a SIM is a great idea but the price tag is well off the mark

I wasn't defending the booklet, I was merely making a point. What's the difference between charging £649 for an average spec netbook and charging over a grand for an average spec laptop, I personally see none, besides the choice of badge that adorns said product.


Totally, sorry, I forgot how portable 50" plasmas are!

With the right amount of minions just about anything is portable, and with immigrant workers flooding the country minions are 10 a penny. :D