AT&T Rolls Out $50 Mini-Laptops

AT&T is trying out a program that would make buying a laptop a bit like buying a cellphone. Walk into one of its Atlanta or Philadelphia retail outlets, and you’ll soon be able to nab a “mini-laptop” (or netbook, as the rest of the world calls them) for just $50 to $250, provided you sign up for a mobile internet plan at the same time, GigaOm reports.

One of those plans, the “Internet at Home and On the Go” option, is noteworthy because it combines a home DSL plan with a mobile internet one. That package will cost $60 a month, the same price as AT&T’s wireless-only plan, but it carries a much lower cap for mobile data use. It’s also the plan you’ll need to buy if you want the cheapest netbook. (More Netbooks stories.)