Kindle DX: Budget-Friendly For Students?

By Hubert Nguyen, Posted on May 7, 09 11:08 AM PDT

Amazon has enjoyed much press as of late, but by positioning the Kindle DX as a student-friendly device, the company has made a mistake and criticism is now mounting. We think that for tech enthusiasts and whoever wants to use eBooks, the $488 pricing is probably something that the market can bear.

However, for a cash-strapped student the added-value, if any, is much harder to demonstrate. Amazon's argument is that over the course of three years, students break-even or "save" money when comparing the cost of the Kindle DX+ebooks ($1239) and dead-tree books ($1464).

It is interesting until one realizes that the book aftermarket is not being taken into account by Amazon (yes students do sell their old books!). We thought that Amazon was selling used book, right? And this doesn't take into account additional costs that might occur if students email docs to the device. In the end, the Kindle is hardly a device that a student "needs", although it is certainly nice to have. Yet, student aren't always as cash-strapped as one might want us to think: often times, professors are simply looking at a sea of Macbooks, which are hardly the most cost-effective laptops "for cash-strapped students"... Cool has a price, and for eBooks, it's $488.

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