Samsung Offers Fat Rebates on Skinny Notebooks

Samsung X360

Samsung recently entered the U.S. notebook computer market and I’m not sure they could have picked a worse time to do so. They’re fighting a war on two fronts: an economic meltdown on one side and low-priced netbooks eating into traditional notebook sales, a place where profit margins are surely higher.

This double-whammy could be an opportunity for some though. A quick scan of Amazon shows both price discounts and major rebates available for Samsung’s thin productivity portables.

The Samsung X360 and X460 notebooks are thin and light; almost along the lines of a Lenovo X301 or a MacBook Air. Full retail pricing for these range anywhere from $1,599 up to over $2,499 but Amazon is offering discounts between 6% to 8% off. The icing on the cake is a Samsung rebate of either $300 or $500, depending on the configuration and model you choose. 

For $1,199 after discounts and rebates, you can snag a Samsung X460-44G which is the 14.1-inch unit weighing in at four pounds. It’s equipped with a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a discrete NVIDIA GPU, 6-cell battery and Microsoft Windows Vista Business.

If you want to a bit smaller and can sacrifice some horsepower for battery life, the X360-34G is a 13.3-inch option for a net $1,448.99. The 2.8-pound unit offers the same 3GB of RAM, but opts for a less power-hungry 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and smaller 120GB hard drive. The 6-cell battery is expected to last for eight-hours with this configuration, which also includes integrated Intel graphics.

There’s no question we’re in a downturn, but times like these usually present the best opportunities for those who are prepared to take advantage of them. Hopefully, Samsung is prepared to stay the course. It would be a huge shame to see the current economic crisis thwart their U.S. notebook plans since we’ve waited so long to see them play in this game.