Rent a mac?

[JW8725]

Its all good playing about with the various Mac models in the shop. sometimes you even get time by yourself to tinker about before the shop assistant puts their nose in and offers to show you how to work it. However its not usually the same feeling when you actually buy it, take it home and slap it into your life.

With luxury hi-end hi-fi equipment, almost all vendors allow you to take the kit home and try it out. I do this often and usually try out a plethora of makes and models before I settle down for something.

Now I'd like to spend quality time with the 12", 15", and 17" Powerbooks to see whats ideal to fit into my life. Similarly I'd like to try out the powermacs with my own applications to see wether the performance is worth the cash. Is there some place or somehow to demo or rent a mac? That would be ideal.

[aznsal612]

Its all good playing about with the various Mac models in the shop. sometimes you even get time by yourself to tinker about before the shop assistant puts their nose in and offers to show you how to work it. However its not usually the same feeling when you actually buy it, take it home and slap it into your life.

With luxury hi-end hi-fi equipment, almost all vendors allow you to take the kit home and try it out. I do this often and usually try out a plethora of makes and models before I settle down for something.

Now I'd like to spend quality time with the 12", 15", and 17" Powerbooks to see whats ideal to fit into my life. Similarly I'd like to try out the powermacs with my own applications to see wether the performance is worth the cash. Is there some place or somehow to demo or rent a mac? That would be ideal.

Take a trip to your local Apple Retail Store.

Assuming the nearest one isn't a flagship store, usually you can tell the Mac Specialist you just want to test drive a laptop, and you can go ahead and play around with it. But unfortunately, there isn't an option for rentals at any Apple Retail Store. MAYBE (a big maybe) at a mac reseller, but I would doubt it.

[Sun Baked]

It's called a lease at Apple, and you can probably test drive the machine for 2 or 3 years to see if you like it. :p

[jamesW135]

Never heard of this avalible with macs. :confused:

[MacAficionado]

Look up places that rent computers for conferences and things like that. For example:

Best Computer Rentals (http://www.bestcomputerentals.com/)

Cheers.

[lisius_kent]

When the origianall macintosh was released they allowed consumers to take a 24hr. test drive.

[Mechcozmo]

When the origianall macintosh was released they allowed consumers to take a 24hr. test drive.

That failed horribly. The machines were often returned damaged and had to be sold at a lesser price, or were unsalvageable. The time needed to clean off the user's data too was high.

The program was killed for a very good reason. It didn't work very well.

[jessica.]

there are places that will rent macs for ALOT of money actually. I looked into it myself. then i just bought one.

[JW8725]

there are places that will rent macs for ALOT of money actually. I looked into it myself. then i just bought one.

I dont mind paying a fair amount if it means I can have a feel for the kit. Last thing I want is to have paid too much and the computer be overkill or underkill. I recall last year I bought the AMD 64 just as it came out here and spent silly amounts on other bits and bats like a PSU powerful enough to keep the chip cool. Well the bloody thing ended up being so noisy that it ruined the whole purpose I bought it for..To play music. Then this year I jumped on the mac mini as soon as it appeared. Was a complete god send as far as noise was concerened.

[msbsound]

Much like someone else suggested, if you do want to "rent" a mac, call local sound rental companies.(theatrical and industrial scale) In the US I could reccomend some, but I am afraid I don't know the UK ones as well. Granted they will charge a ton for the rental, so be ready with your wallet.

[aznsal612]

there are places that will rent macs for ALOT of money actually. I looked into it myself. then i just bought one.

Haha...rent...permanently? :p

[wako]

rosso, just buy one from apple, you have 14 days to toy with it. If you dont want it, return it and it should just be a 10% restocking fee. If thats a bit too steep for you, I think the last option is to just sit in the store and toy with it

[kalisphoenix]

I dont mind paying a fair amount if it means I can have a feel for the kit. Last thing I want is to have paid too much and the computer be overkill or underkill. I recall last year I bought the AMD 64 just as it came out here and spent silly amounts on other bits and bats like a PSU powerful enough to keep the chip cool. Well the bloody thing ended up being so noisy that it ruined the whole purpose I bought it for..To play music. Then this year I jumped on the mac mini as soon as it appeared. Was a complete god send as far as noise was concerened.

You bought an AMD 64 to play music?

Edit: Just realized that you probably don't mean mp3s... ;)

[MacTruck]

COMPUSA. They will let you buy it and return it now questions asked up to 21 days after purchase. Did it with my 2.5ghz G5, decided I didn't like it and returned it and got a dual 2ghz.

[Xephian]

Never knew you can rent computers. :p

[reberto]

You bought an AMD 64 to play music?

Edit: Just realized that you probably don't mean mp3s... ;)

I bought a iMac G4 800 17 just to play 40 gigs of my music. btw: I needed the visuals, I bring it to parties and stuff. The 2mx works great on the visuals.

[Mechcozmo]

I bought a iMac G4 800 17 just to play 40 gigs of my music. btw: I needed the visuals, I bring it to parties and stuff. The 2mx works great on the visuals.

Should see a dual G5... wow!

The iTunes visualizer is actually more CPU bound than GPU. I don't know why Apple hasn't changed that...

[Nermal]

COMPUSA

You expect him to find a COMPUSA in the UK? :eek:

[iEdd]

Weekly hire. Supply your own Hard Drive and screen. $400 :D

[skubish]

Its all good playing about with the various Mac models in the shop. sometimes you even get time by yourself to tinker about before the shop assistant puts their nose in and offers to show you how to work it. However its not usually the same feeling when you actually buy it, take it home and slap it into your life.

With luxury hi-end hi-fi equipment, almost all vendors allow you to take the kit home and try it out. I do this often and usually try out a plethora of makes and models before I settle down for something.

Now I'd like to spend quality time with the 12", 15", and 17" Powerbooks to see whats ideal to fit into my life. Similarly I'd like to try out the powermacs with my own applications to see wether the performance is worth the cash. Is there some place or somehow to demo or rent a mac? That would be ideal.
I never seen any place over here that will allow you take hi-end hi-fi equipment and try it out.

[20rogersc]

Saw this advertised in iCreate, but have no idea what it is like. The website doesn't look good for a computer reseller/lender, but they seem to have stores around the country. And they definately do hire out macs, but I couldn't find a price on the website.

Hire Intelligence (http://www.hire-intelligence.co.uk/)

::20ROGERSC::

[cardiac dave]

I never seen any place over here that will allow you take hi-end hi-fi equipment and try it out.

I'm sure there are more than a few in Michigan. When your'e looking at high-end audiophile equipment (the 2-channel variety in particular) they're generally open to overnight or week long equipment loans for auditionning purposes.

When someone is considering spending $20,000+ chances are that the dealer will even bring it to your house and set it up for you.

Check out Stereophile magazine just for kicks.