Hot on the heels of Michael Dell’s public rumination that all netbooks could soon be sold on a cellphone model, Vodafone New Zealand is offering one of his company's ultraportables for no up-front cost.

The telco is bundling the $799 Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (NBR review here) "free" with either a $74.95 1GB/month two-year data contract, or $90 3GB/month two-year contract.

Both data plans can be doubled with a cap-busting “insurance” payment of $10 a month.

The Inspiron Mini 9 has a built-in cellular data card for convenient 3G connection on the move. And although just videocassette-sized, the 9 has enough hardware grunt for Microsoft Office, multimedia and web surfing.

Market researcher IDC pegs netbooks as the fastest growing category of PC worldwide, and the fastest growing in New Zealand.

Netbooks are hot, Windows 7 ready, and NBR reckons they're ideal for a travelling business person after a satellite for their regular laptop.

The only catch: today's netbooks are much better than the first generation, released around six months ago. PC years are like do years, and 24 months can be a long time to be welded to one notebook.

Also, those whose fingers are just a little too big for the Insprion 9's keyboard might want to hang out a little to see if Vodafone replicates this deal with the slightly larger Inspiron 10 (which has a 10-inch screen to the Inspiron 9's nine-inch, and a slightly roomier keyboard; we know Dell ANZ is pushing for it).

The Inspiron Mini 9 laptops are available from today at selected Vodafone retailers and online at vodafone.co.nz.