A hard issue for me and I need some advice on what to do...

[BryceE]

A bit of background...

I work as a video editor and my boss has given me a iMac, eMac and the recording equipment to do the job, but they're all older (white iMac, etc). I was looking at buying the Mac Pro, as in my opinion any other Macs are just not worth it, and I'd like to be able to add/remove hardware as I need it such as video cards, hard drives, etc. Now, I was talking to my dad about it and he says I should ask my boss to help with it. Why on earth would my boss do that is what I responded with. Is it right to ask him or what? He told me what's it going to hurt to ask. He could say no and fire me right? But would he? I'm so clueless. My boss has told me countless times the work I do is perfect, so I don't know.

I was looking at the payment plans on Apple's site and for a Dual Xeon Mac Pro, 8gb RAM, 2x gfx cards, and the protection plan, it comes to $3700 roughly after shipping/tax. What kind of monthly price would I be paying for that and can you pay it off sooner or what? And should I just ask my boss to help me get it or just lay off that and ignore what my dad says about it? I'd really like to have one and I feel that I could get more work done on it because of the quad monitor capacity it'll bring. I'm very good at multitasking.

I just don't know what to do. Just not say anything and go forward with the Apple payment plan or what?

 

[MacDawg]

Buying technology on an extended payment plan is almost always a bad bet

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[BryceE]

Any other pieces of advice?

 

[redAPPLE]

i think depending on the amount of work the company has, you could convince your boss to invest on new hardware.

you could create a list of things what would make the investment worthwhile. say, faster rendering, "futureproof" regarding software updates, maybe comparing price, say, when he bought that iMac it cost that much and now, you get 4 times the power and it only costs, this much.

i think you can suggest it to your boss, but i would not suggest saying "i want new hardware"...

 

[63dot]

Any other pieces of advice?

If you are getting enough work, it is worth it.

I was a techie for a lot of years and two big clients approached needing high end Macs for work probably similar to yours. Both clients made great money as they were mid sized companies.

1) Company 1 had a lease or lease to own option where they paid a high monthly payment (Mac, displays, MS Office, Adobe suite) but could trade up their Macs every time Apple made an upgrade and could trade up their software when the software companies put out a new release. They always had the bleeding edge and spent almost no money on expensive people like me having to fix stuff or make it up to date.

2) Company 2 bought a big bulk of Macs outright and got a lot of free stuff with it (probably though Mac Zone at the time) and owned the Macs for retail value and thousands of dollars of extra software and RAM as freebies. They did not believe in payment plans, or trade up plans and thought it's better to buy everything outright and get the benefits of free stuff by putting the money up front.

Years later company 2 was stuck with old gear before they knew it and had to permanently hire a person on the cheap (still $40K a year) to maintain those old Macs and didn't have the budget to buy dozens of new Macs with Abobe suites. The first company, who still makes high monthly payments, still does not have to hire expensive techies and have made out far better in the long run opting for lease to own with tradeup option twice a year.

My advice is if you make sufficient money, go for the payment plan and if you plan to keep current all the time, opt for a trade-up option which may cost an extra few percent each month.

 

[trule]

The boss gave you computers to do the job, they work fine. One day you might be a boss and then you will see the other side ... unless you are going to make him much more money in productivity savings than it would cost to buy the equipment you can forget your dreams - don't even ask, it will make you sound immature. Hint, if you save him money with productivity gains, you get less money.

Learn the difference between need and want.

 

[Sydde]

There were 3 different "white" iMacs: the G3 (CRT), the "moose-hoof" G4, and the pedestal G5. A 1.25Ghz G4 or a G5 can can hold their own pretty well with video editing. If the Mac is slow for you, then you will need to learn to work more efficiently to make up the difference. Not only will this earn the respect of your boss, when you finally can get the Mac Pro for yourself, you streamlined work habits will allow you to get even more out of it. Start saving up for it.

 

[THX1139]

So, let me get this straight. You're thinking of spending your money to buy a computer so that you can use it for work... so that your employer can make money from your investment? Uh... really BAD idea unless you plan to keep the machine at your house and take on other jobs for yourself. Even then, you should charge you company more to offset your overhead. If you keep the machine at your work place, then your employer has to pay 100% of the cost. You shouldn't even have to ask. If he thinks you can get by with what he has already given you, then that's what you must do. Trying to find a justification to buy a cool machine is probably what you really trying to do. Right?

Your employer can rent or lease a Macpro and take the cost as a deduction. If you buy it, you'll lose money.

 

[Abstract]

Depends on the work arrangement. If it's full-time, I'd ask.

If you have tight deadlines, then you have a stronger argument. With a new Mac, if you could finish x+1 jobs instead of x jobs, it may be worth the investment. If he doesn't always have more tasks for you to do immediately after finishing one, then you may have trouble convincing him that it's worth it.

Anyway, just ask. He should pay for all of it. If you were working freelance, then it would be different.

 

[BryceE]

I work from home. These current machines weren't bought brand new, he took em from another employee and gave em to me to use.

The reason I wanted to buy a Mac Pro was because:

1) Get more work done, which may mean less pay for me, but the amount of work would make up for it.

2) He just got a huge contract and I'll have work for the next 20+ months.

3) Taking over 90% of his duties while he's out of the country and all.

4) I can already easily multitask between 4 computers, totalling 10 monitors in all and the Mac Pro would enable quad monitor use, which would then enable me to be even more productive.

5) He can get a deduction for it, I can't. At least I don't think I can.

I just feel what I have now won't be up for the tasks I have ahead of me. So, with all that said, would it still be better to try and ask him or just save up a bit and get a payment plan/trade-up plan for it as I usually do keep current with hardware as of right now, just not with his stuff.

 

[Full of Win]

There may be an update soon; thereby creating some nice buying opportunities.

Have you looked at MacMall or do need some special BTO options.

 

[steve2112]

Are you working as an independent contractor or something? If so, I could see buying your own stuff. If you are an actual employee, then your dad is right. You should expect your employer to provide the right tools to do the work they are asking you to do. If you do ask, make sure you are prepared to show why you are asking. As others have said, point out how much faster you can finish jobs and other things like that.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I would recommend that you purchase the computer on your own. If you ever leave the job, it is yours to keep whereas if your boss buys it or helps it will create problems when you try to leave.

 

[TJRiver]

Ask for the right tools, if the employer refuses, you have a simple choice, quit, or knuckle down and get the job done with the the equipment you have. Why would you make a fairly substantial monetary investment in your bosses' business without any chance for a return?

 

[senseless]

I would respond favorably to your reasons for a faster computer and it's certainly worth presenting in this way. Faster, more productive and a tax deduction sounds good, as long as there's enough room in the budget.