Acer punts £199... er... £220... er... Linux laptop
Price clarified upwards
Acer has clarified its pricing plan for the eagerly awaited Aspire One sub-notebook - and it's clarified the price upwards.
At launch, the company stated the basic version of the Eee PC rival would run Linux, pack in 8GB of solid-state storage and 512MB of memory, and sport a £199 price tag. Company officials stressed that that figure included VAT, the UK's 17.5 per cent sales tax.
No longer. According to ComputerActive magazine that the One's retail price will be £220 including VAT. Indeed, a run through of the few vendors currently listing the One confirms the new price point.
OK, so it's only 20 quids difference, and the One still represents good value when compared to the Eee PC 4G let alone the 900 and the 901, but the news will still come as a blow to Small, Cheap Computer fans awaiting the arrival of the One.
And the pricier Linux and Windows XP versions of the One now seem to be spec'd with 120GB hard drives rather than the 80GB HDD announced at launch.
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COMMENTS
mis-prices
It's a common misconception that misprices have to be honoured.
A price on an item in a shop (or website) is only an "invitation to purchase". No contract is made until both parties have agreed a price and money and goods have exchanged hands.
Shops can legally refuse to sell an item at any given price.
They're not misproced
The advertised price is a "invitation to treat". Until you make an "offer" to buy at that price and they accept your offer there is no contract. Play are quite specific about this, they have not accepted your offer until they dispatch the item.
Nor does this come under "bait and switch" which is where a product is adverised at a very low price but once a customer enquires they are told it is not available and are offered a more expensive alternative. The idea is that some customers will go for this as they've already spent time and money coming in and it's easier than going elsewhere.
@Tom, that's just Sainsbury's (and a lot of large company) policy. Theory being that in the scheme of things it's not worth the aggro to annoy a couple of customers. No retailer is obliged to sell anything to anyone at any price. If I don't like your face I can refuse to sell you anything. Until I take your money it's mine and I can do what I like with it. My shop is also private property and I can ask you to leave for no reason.
What I'm trying to say (in a roundabout way) is: If you don't like the price on offer you are at liberty to buy elsewhere.
when I worked at Sainburys
we were always taught that any mis-prices had to be legally honoured. The law exists to stop dubious shops having one price on the shelves and another when you get to till.
There are also strict laws on "sale" displays; to prevent dodgy shops marking everything as "90% OFF!", the item had to be on sale at the original price for minimum 6 weeks before it could be discounted. Hence why you see Xmas and Easter stuff so early in supermarkets; those lines are going to be sale items.
Paris, cos she knows how shopping works.
Play.com terms and conditions
#4. While we try and ensure that all prices on our website are accurate, errors may occur. If we discover an error in the price of goods you have ordered we will inform you as soon as possible and give you the option of reconfirming your order at the correct price or cancelling it. If we are unable to contact you we will treat the order as cancelled. If you cancel and you have already paid for the goods, you will receive a full refund.
#5. No contract for the sale of any product will subsist between you and Play.com until Play.com dispatches the product(s) ordered. We will confirm that the product(s) have been dispatched by a confirmation email. This confirmation e-mail amounts to an acceptance by Play.com of your offer to buy goods from Play.com or a third party supplier that is engaged on your behalf by Play.com (whether or not you receive that e-mail).
Translation: There's every chance that we'll charge as much as the rest of 'em. But we'll keep it at £199 for the mo in order to get a foot in the door with regard to your custom. When it's eventually made available at the same inflated price price as everyone else you'll hopefully just shrug and go through with the order anyway because you've come this far.
re: MS Tax
Can't you just click the "don't agree" button on the MS licensing agreement, install Linux and get a refund? Should just about make up the difference.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6144782.stm
It worked with Dell.
