We have been hearing a lot about Verizon releasing its own subsidized netbooks for a while now, but it seems we are going to finally see them this week. According to CNET, you’ll get HP 115 NR for $199 with a wireless contract of 2 years which will cost you anywhere in $40-60 range. So we are looking at netbooks being sold for $199 to consumers only to have them part ways for at least $960 extra more for the wireless plan.

I am personally not a fan of subsidized netbook. I am not even sure if the business model works that well. Netbooks are supposed to be super cheap laptops that are highly portable. With these subsidized netbooks, you get an ultra portable laptop but you spend over a thousand dollars to do it. That’s not what you can call affordable. I am sure a lot of business professionals will jump at the opportunity to save some money with these subsidized netbooks but I doubt the average Joe will far for such expensive netbooks.

Your take: would you rather invest $1000 in a subsidized netbook or a decent new laptop?