If you are living in the UK (mainland UK to be precise) and have a spare laptop that you won’t mind giving up, there is some good news from ViewSonic. The US based company has hit upon an unique and innovative marketing strategy to find buyers for its ViewPad range of tablet PCs, a cash back offer that amounts to £100 if you trade in your old laptop for the 7 inch ViewPad running Android while the bigger 10 inch ViewPad that is Windows 7 based will fetch you even more – £125 on cash back. The offer is currently on and the company has announced it will be in place till the end of the year.
The move though has led to serious debate if a tablet can qualify to be an ‘upgrade’ over a laptop that we know has far more functionality than a tablet PC. The latter on the other hand is more of a mobile device but is still ultimately an entertainment device that will get general computing tasks done. For heavy duty computing, a laptop still remains the best choice and a tablet PC still has some catching up to do to be seen as a replacement for laptops. That said, there are many who are stuck to a laptop simply because they had nothing better (read compact and mobile) to hang on to and the scheme should appeal to this group of people.
However, the entire thing is not as simple as it might sound and it does take some amount of effort to claim the cash back offer. Like one will have to start off by buying the ViewPad 7 or ViewPad 10 tablet paying the full amount. The purchase has to be done through any of the qualifying retails like the Scan store, Misco or Expansys. After that, a claim form has to be submitted after duly filling in all the details along with with the proof of purchase of the old laptop. Also, one will have 30 days after purchasing the ViewPad tablet to submit the form beyond which the offer will be deemed null and void.
Also, ViewSonic is not accepting just any laptop that you have as there are some pre-conditions here as well. Like these should be in working condition and in reasonable shape and form.
“To qualify, your old Laptop or Netbook must be undamaged (reasonable wear and tear accepted), less than 4 years old, working and complete with functioning battery, and power supply.”
The intention seems clear. ViewSonic is aiming to recover the costs by selling off the old laptops and they wish to make at least £125 per unit.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
