Laptop brands to go for or avoid

[Westsider]

would have thought PC a better term than CPU

[dedja]

Nah you never pay out the loan.
There will be a point in the cars life & the loan amount are roughly the same, you trade the car in and the trade in wipes out the current loan.
Start again, $50,000 car on another loan.

If you also make your repayments at the start of the month, you can save more as interest is charged at the end of the month. But the bank will always make the repayment date, As close to when the interest is charged.

That scenario only makes sense if you can tax deduct all or most of the cost and are earning enough for the tax savings to be worth while.
Otherwise only the interest rate differentiates it from chronic credit card debt.

Spot on Psyber ...

7-Dog, do you realise you are paying credit card rates for this.

You're obviously happy with the situation but oblivious to the fact that Radio Rentals (Demand a Better Way) are ripping you off blind.

As I stated earlier, do the sums over a long period of time and compare upfront purchases to your rental agreement.

Even if your agreement is only 2 for years, you are paying an extraordinary amount of interest for the benefit of swapping kit every year.

It makes absolutely no financial sense.

[7-Dog]

Spot on Psyber ...

7-Dog, do you realise you are paying credit card rates for this.

You're obviously happy with the situation but oblivious to the fact that Radio Rentals (Demand a Better Way) are ripping you off blind.

As I stated earlier, do the sums over a long period of time and compare upfront purchases to your rental agreement.

Even if your agreement is only 2 for years, you are paying an extraordinary amount of interest for the benefit of swapping kit every year.

It makes absolutely no financial sense.

Nah I wouldn't do a 2 year term. You can upgrade in 12 months on either a 1, 2 or 3 year term. 1 year has higher repayments, 3 years has the lowest. As I've said, in 11 & half months after spending $12.50 a week, I will be upgrading again.

Those up front purchases are a waste of money. I got 2 "assets" sitting on my kitchen floor that cost me $4,000. Would be lucky to get $500 for the lot. The oldest computer is 6 years old. Rental on any other product is a waste of money.

[Psyber]

Nah I wouldn't do a 2 year term. You can upgrade in 12 months on either a 1, 2 or 3 year term. 1 year has higher repayments, 3 years has the lowest. As I've said, in 11 & half months after spending $12.50 a week, I will be upgrading again.
Those up front purchases are a waste of money. I got 2 "assets" sitting on my kitchen floor that cost me $4,000. Would be lucky to get $500 for the lot. The oldest computer is 6 years old. Rental on any other product is a waste of money.

That's $622.90 so far and $650 per year.
The last desktop I bought in 2005 for $1200 has cost me $240 per year - less whatever I could sell it for.
The ASUS laptop I bought in 2005 for $1800 works out to $360 per year less whatever I could sell it for.
[Admittedly I haven't added in the interest I may have earned on the money.]

I may replace the desktop soon, but the laptop is fine for its purpose and it has a 1680 x 1050 pixel screen which is hard to get now.
I need that for specific software I use, to save scrolling.

I economise by never buying the "latest and greatest" because of the inflated prices and rapid loss of value.
[Most of my European sports cars have been second hand or "demonstrators" too - I let others take the big initial loss in most things.]

[7-Dog]

That's $622.90 so far and $650 per year.
The last desktop I bought in 2005 for $1200 has cost me $240 per year - less whatever I could sell it for.
The ASUS laptop I bought in 2005 for $1800 works out to $360 per year less whatever I could sell it for.
[Admittedly I haven't added in the interest I may have earned on the money.]

I may replace the desktop soon, but the laptop is fine for its purpose and it has a 1680 x 1050 pixel screen which is hard to get now.
I need that for specific software I use, to save scrolling.

I economise by never buying the "latest and greatest" because of the inflated prices and rapid loss of value.
[Most of my European sports cars have been second hand or "demonstrators" too - I let others take the big initial loss in most things.]

In the situation you are explaining, renting is a waste of money for you. But thats not my situation.

2004 (6 year old) Desktop cost me $1,599. (thats not $22 a week, over 6 years - thats $1,599 gone) + the DVD burner for $399 so that my computer could burn DVD's/PS2 games. $1,998 Gone out my hand. 512MB of Ram, this computer was too slow.

Late 2005 Bought the $2,500 Desktop, with 1 GB ram (still too slow). Had to fork out for a Wireless USB x 2, as the 1st one was ineffective. That was $2,500 gone. For 2 years it made do, until in late 2007 I went to a $1,899 Laptop (so much more convenient than a desktop, that I no longer have room for)

For a whole 3 years payments from late 2007 until now, I have had repayments of roughly $90 (2GB Ram), $75 (2GB Ram), $66 (4GB Ram) & now $50 (4GB Ram) = $3,372 (which includes the full 12 months of my current laptop) 2 of those laptops had stopped working by the end of 12 months, yet never cost me anything to repair.

So over a 4 year period I have spent $3,372. In less than 2 years purchasing 2 Desktops that are both ineffective = $4,500. Which doesn't include purchasing an extra 1 GB of Ram. Doesn't include the cost of installing the DVD Burner.

[Psyber]

I agree 7-Dog our situations seem to e totally different.
I'm staggered at the prices you paid for the old machines, though.
My 2005 desktop, bought in the September, was an AMD 64 3200+ with 2GB RAM, an MSI 7600GS video card, and XP Pro, but only a DVD reader/CDRW combo.
I didn't need another monitor, but I have since bought an external USB2 external DVD writer/RW I can use with any machine. [Samsung]