News 

The promotion, which was announced and widely reported on the 18th July, was quietly terminated some time before the 16th August. The original offer's webpage now says, "We're Sorry. This deal has now ended. You can still take advantage of our great laptop deals at PC World..."

When the company launched the offer it did not indicate that it was time-limited. Spokesman Hamish Thompson told Computer Shopper that the deal was a "victim of its own success". He claimed that PC World had allocated "tens of thousands" of notebooks to be given away, but that they had all been used up within weeks.

Subscribers had to sign up to a two year 2Mbit/s Orange broadband service, costing £14.99 per month, in a PC World store. Following a ten day period, during which the subscriber's bank details would be checked, a voucher for a fairly low-powered notebook PC worth £300 would then be sent in the post. This could be exchanged for a PC in the store. Available upgrades included an Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo model for an extra £199.99.