Best Macbook Pro financing?

[bossxii]

You like to contradict yourself, even in one post.

Also, you really take things to the extreme and aren't looking at the entire picture. I never claimed to be a financial wizard, but a little common sense would help you to understand what I was saying.

A car can be a need, but is a $40,000 SUV a real need or is it merely a want? Does everyone in America need a 4WD Diesel 4 door 3/4 ton truck too? Does every car people purchase need to be brand new?

The problem occurred when people wanted $300,000 homes on a $50,000 income as well as brand new cars every other year. That's how the sub-prime mortgage loans got out of hand.

Homes generally appreciate in value, while cars depreciate. Thus, the loans on those two are not comparable.

I contradicted myself? where.. I'm not seeing it.

I stated debt is bad. Then stated a car is not a want, it is in fact a need for many people without access to public transportation.

I then also showed how a home is in fact not a need but a better choice than the alternative of renting.

Debt is still bad, but a car and a home are clearly "needs" vs "wants" unless of course people should just live at home with their parents till they can pay cash for these items? I'll pass.

 

[bossxii]

It depended on the car. is there a point to getting a nice V8 car just to go to work or could you afford a 4cyl?
I think that was the point.. Its just getting that "EXTRA" people cannot afford.

I got a second hand motorbike. I brought most of it but the rest in on finance. I saved 10K$ getting a second hand bike rather than getting a new one.... Did I need the NEW bike? No.. I just wanted it.

This is where people get NEED and WANT mixed up. Yes they NEED a new car but most of the features are based on WANT.

In my opinion.

This is the same related to the Laptop in question.
To OP:
do you Need a MBP or just want a MBP. Could you save some money and get a MB?
I all depends on your NEEDs...

Just my bit.

~Regards

Yes, yes and common sense of course. I was responding to his sentence stating the economy is in the crapper because people think they "need" cars and houses vs wanting them. Which is not the case.

Yes financing luxury items never turns out well in many cases

 

[techfreak85]

the best financing is to put some of ur $$ in the bank. add to it. collect 5 bucks worth of interest. and take it out and But it outright.

 

[belvdr]

I contradicted myself? where.. I'm not seeing it.

I stated debt is bad. Then stated a car is not a want, it is in fact a need for many people without access to public transportation.

I then also showed how a home is in fact not a need but a better choice than the alternative of renting.

Debt is still bad, but a car and a home are clearly "needs" vs "wants" unless of course people should just live at home with their parents till they can pay cash for these items? I'll pass.

You state debt is bad, then imply it is okay.

I gave examples above, and so did Name101. You seem to have missed those. If you want a daily commuter, a $40,000 is not a need. You have put in quite a few wants to get it to that price.

As for mortgages, I, again, clarified that above, but you either didn't see it or aren't reading the entire post.

 

[belvdr]

Yes, yes and common sense of course. I was responding to his sentence stating the economy is in the crapper because people think they "need" cars and houses vs wanting them. Which is not the case.

Yes financing luxury items never turns out well in many cases

You are missing what I said above... _again_! What world are you living in? Where do you think the sub-prime mortgages came into play? Owning a home may not be an option for someone making $10/hour. For them to go out and get a loan for a $250k house makes no sense. And, yes, that's why the housing bubble occurred. Now, it's also worthy noting that many folks had to keep new cars in their driveway (for whatever reason) and are now defaulting on those loans. Yes, it is the case.

 

[spaceballl]

Bad move to finance a depreciating item when you aren't making any money from that item. That's the main reason this economy crashed with homes and cars being financed because of want, not need.

+2

 

[bossxii]

You state debt is bad, then imply it is okay.

I gave examples above, and so did Name101. You seem to have missed those. If you want a daily commuter, a $40,000 is not a need. You have put in quite a few wants to get it to that price.

As for mortgages, I, again, clarified that above, but you either didn't see it or aren't reading the entire post.

I imply debt/financing is a tool that is used (for the majority of us has to be used) for a large percentage of people if they buy a house and most of the time a car. The US economy is based on credit like it or not.

I enjoy a good debate so I'll entertain your observations here. Ok so $40k is not a need, then what should all of us be driving then? 10k? 20k? is 25k ok?

Who's to say what is the right price, not to mention who is to judge what vehicle I or anyone drives that is not a need? Frankly if your not 100% debt free and paying cash for anything you own, calling out people for their spending habits is hypocritical.

I get the point your making and know all about the sub prime BS, the hedge funds, the greedy sob's that put us here. Sure the consumer is partly to blame but not even close the majority if why we are where we are.

Not everyone in the US is fortunate enough to have a college education and understand the financial aspects of home ownership and lenders prey upon the uninformed and put them in situations they knew in advance were a time bomb ticking. Shame on the uninformed but 9 times out of 10 if you offer a "to good to be true deal" people take it.

 

[notjustjay]

I enjoy a good debate so I'll entertain your observations here. Ok so $40k is not a need, then what should all of us be driving then? 10k? 20k? is 25k ok?

Who's to say what is the right price, not to mention who is to judge what vehicle I or anyone drives that is not a need? Frankly if your not 100% debt free and paying cash for anything you own, calling out people for their spending habits is hypocritical.

Who is to say what's the price price? Who's to judge what kind of car I should be getting? Well, aren't there established formulas to answer that question?

If I'm making $25,000 a year, I could argue until I'm blue in the face that I NEED to be driving a brand new Ferrari, or that I NEED to live in a $500,000 home, but common sense and a little bit of financial knowledge should be proof enough to anyone that this is simply not going to happen. Of course, some banks got greedy and saw a way to take advantage of the situation, went ahead and offered those kinds of loans anyway, and you all know the rest of that story.

Determining what I NEED versus what I WANT is highly subjective, but determining what I can AFFORD is certainly not. You can easily put together the numbers and come up with a figure.

As for financing a Mac, be very careful: I got seriously burned a few years ago. I was a student making about $1000 a month, and I wanted a new 12" PowerBook, but didn't have the cash. Apple was offering "no payments, no interest for 180 days" through a partner bank, which I jumped on. Dividing the cost into 6 equal payments, interest-free, was something I was sure I could do! So I put together a sweet BTO system, and also added a copy of Final Cut Express, which was on special for $149 with the purchase of any new Mac.

That's when I discovered two key facts: (1) the fine print on the financing contract stated that the 180-days offer only applied to the FIRST purchase applied to the account, and (2) when you buy a BTO Mac together with boxed software, the software ships days before the Mac does.

That's right, I enjoyed 180 days of interest free payments on my $149 Final Cut Express... but the $2500 PowerBook (which shipped, and was charged, a week later) began accruing interest from day 1. At 28.8%.

To make a long story short, this mistake threw me into a cycle of credit card debt that I wasn't able to get out of until I graduated university and got a well-paying job, two years later. By then I had burned through all my savings and was taking minimum-wage jobs to keep afloat. I don't even want to think about how much that PowerBook REALLY cost me in interest payments.

If you want to finance, it's certainly your choice to do so -- just be careful and read the fine print.

 

[zorahk]

Even apple's juniper card deals are apparently a bit shady. I have read some stuff on this forum that I would not want to go through myself.

I think that the best idea would be to wait, or buy a cheaper computer.

 

[bossxii]

Who is to say what's the price price? Who's to judge what kind of car I should be getting? Well, aren't there established formulas to answer that question?

Two things. First yes there are but banks will bend the rules to make more money. I can show you 3 credit card offers a week that if I opened and charged to them there is no way in hell I could ever pay them off. They are "pre approved" and my credit is well enough I now they would take them. Banks don't judge you like they should frankly, they see a 720+ credit score they see $$$ and offer you the world.

Prime example, nephew graduated from college May 2008. New job in the mid 30k range. He was approved to buy a brand new truck for $45k, that's a $700+ per month payment for a 22 yr old because he had a good credit score and no house payment. In what crazy f'n world does this make sense? 22 year old says "badass! new truck" excitement overwhelms reason and the wisdom to know he's hosed. Luckily he did have the sense to ask his dad's opinion and avoided the situation. This happens all the time, it's sales, they get paid more to sell you a higher costing vehicle. People buy on impulse and buy on emotion. Happens to everyone at one point or another.

Bottom line these so called "established formulas" are there but rarely used when they see an opportunity to make money. Greed rules all.

Secondly I was merely pointing out no one on these forums likely has the right to judge what someone drives, buys or does with their money or how they chose to "finance" anything. (which clearly has blown up into something else )

 

[Name101]

I enjoy a good debate so I'll entertain your observations here. Ok so $40k is not a need, then what should all of us be driving then? 10k? 20k? is 25k ok?

Who's to say what is the right price?

Determining what I NEED versus what I WANT is highly subjective, but determining what I can AFFORD is certainly not. You can easily put together the numbers and come up with a figure.

Yes we may NEED a vehicle to do a range of things. (To commute to work or simply go to a friends house.)
But what could We AFFORD? (that's why the motorbike became the best option for me, as I have no children to move around.) other peoples NEEDs differ from situation to situation.

Why do people in the city buy large 4WDs? when in the vehicles lifetime it will never see any dirt?

Anyone with financial knowledge will know the Cons on getting things on finance. But we still do it. Why?

 

[xoggyux]

What site has the best financing plan for the macbook pro?

Bestbuy definitively has a nice offer, yet if you want more flexibility wait until you get an offer of any major credit card (or just apply to the correct one) and get a 12months NO INTEREST credit card, If your friend cannot pay 2,000 during a 12 months interval then he should be better off not buying a MBP.

In the other hand for the economist of this forum:
Why would you PAY CASH the WHOLE SUM if you can pay credit during 12 months with 0% interest?????
Obviously the problem is in whetter or not he can afford any of the options, anyway I recommend you think twice and avoid making comments on stuff you just heard in channel (name yours here) news.

Why do people in the city buy large 4WDs? when in the vehicles lifetime it will never see any dirt?

because they are dick heads

Why would someone would buy a HUMMER?
because they are bigger dick heads

Why would someone would buy a F-150/250/350 or HD pickup truck and then put shiny wheels lower the suspention and dark windows and clean and wax it every day?
because they are even bigger dick heads that the big dick heads that bought the Hummer.

 

[bossxii]

Anyone with financial knowledge will know the Cons on getting things on finance. But we still do it. Why?

To answer the question highlighted... most or a large percentage of people have little or no "financial knowledge". That is why 90% of Americans retire basically broke and rely on Social Security. (90% maybe 70% forget the actual numbers).

We buy things on credit because people buy on emotion, they buy things to make them feel better and were bombarded everyday with something like 40,000 advertisements to reinforce that it's ok. We are well trained shoppers that want everything now in our instant world of fast food, drive thru banking, drive thru car wash, drive thru everything. Parents make the excuse "I just want them to have what I never had, a better life" as they spoon feed their kids iPods, Macbooks, Xbox's, PS3's and set a pattern of spending and buying what they cannot afford.

It's not taught in our schools to be financially responsible, credit card companies greet 18 year olds their first day at college, sign em up! Once the parents have them spoiled rotten they turn them over to a college campus where these types of offers are plastered everywhere. Your friends all encourage you to buy that new gizmo now that you have a CC and the cycle begins.

Stepping outside the box for a minute it's all pretty clear and common sense, but that's simply isn't where people live. They all live INSIDE the box like well trained consumers

That.. is WHY people end up buying on credit, they are TRAINED to do so. Welcome to America.

If you know someone 100% debt free and only paying cash for everything they buy you truly know someone special. I wish I was so lucky to never have started the cycle, but it happens. All we can do is learn and move on.

 

[notjustjay]

In the other hand for the economist of this forum:
Why would you PAY CASH the WHOLE SUM if you can pay credit during 12 months with 0% interest?????

By all means! Just be aware of the terms and conditions of the offer, because if you mess up, you could be hit BIG. It's either all or nothing, you either get charge $0 or hundreds of dollars in interest and fees.

In my case I messed up because the wrong item got charged to the account first. But you could also miss a payment, or be late on a payment by even one day, which could be enough to trigger the penalties and accumulated interest.

Why do you think companies offer these terms in the first place? They're surely not making money by loaning it to you for free. But they're hoping that someone will stumble and mess up, and rake them over the coals.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Why would someone would buy a F-150/250/350 or HD pickup truck and then put shiny wheels lower the suspention and dark windows and clean and wax it every day?
because they are even bigger dick heads that the big dick heads that bought the Hummer.

Same reason people buy computers made out of aluminum and glass when plastic is cheaper. INDULGENT AMERICANS!11!!!!111!

 

[bossxii]

Same reason people buy computers made out of aluminum and glass when plastic is cheaper. INDULGENT AMERICANS!11!!!!111!

LOL I can't wait to hear the responses to this. Great statement though

This is why I enjoy the debates on this forums in particular. Everyone here talks about financial responsibility as they are typing away on a over priced laptop, paying for the coolness of that Apple logo. I"m sure they will try to justify they HAVE to have a Mac for x,y,z reasons, but in the end it's all just BS and justified in their mind when they can use a $400 or $500 laptop/desktop to do what they "need".

I don't pretend not to have credit cards, financed my house, my cars etc... but I don't sit there and bash the OP for wanting to know about a good finance offer either.

 

[SouthMSMac]

Sounds to me like Best Buy is the best bet for interest free if they qualify for the promotion. However, if they don't need it right away I would just say save your cash and purchase it when you have the money.

I'm glad to read something other than just Mac talk on the threads. It is fascinating to read everyone's opinions on the market and extension of credit.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with paying for anything on credit if you have the means to pay for what you are buying. If someone making $45k+ wants to buy a car by all means do so. People in that situation I have no problem with them paying for things on credit. If they want to buy a laptop and they are going to finance it that is no problem at all. In two or three months they'll pay it off and have no finance charges. Married couples with good income are capable of taking on debt in proportion to their income.

The problem is people working at a fast food chain making slightly above minimum wage trying to lease hummers and buy houses worth 250k+ and have multiple credit cards maxed out, and the banks that decided that giving them that kind of credit was a good idea.

 

[brentsg]

LOL I can't wait to hear the responses to this. Great statement though

This is why I enjoy the debates on this forums in particular. Everyone here talks about financial responsibility as they are typing away on a over priced laptop, paying for the coolness of that Apple logo. I"m sure they will try to justify they HAVE to have a Mac for x,y,z reasons, but in the end it's all just BS and justified in their mind when they can use a $400 or $500 laptop/desktop to do what they "need".

I don't pretend not to have credit cards, financed my house, my cars etc... but I don't sit there and bash the OP for wanting to know about a good finance offer either.

Thanks... good post. I guess that's what irked me. I see this same bashing repeating itself on this forum, other computer forums, home theater forums, etc, etc. I mean I laugh at the same stuff... especially with the AV one. Someone can afford a 42" TV but since they really want to keep it 10 years they are considering taking the free 6 mo financing and splurging for the 50" since prices are rock bottom now. And of course, in come the "credit is evil" attack dogs.

Credit is a necessary too... use it wisely. End of story.

I mean a lot of stupid risk taking is what got us in trouble. People who could afford a $350k home bought a $500k home using an ARM or interest only payment... and they were betting on the value of the home increasing so they wouldn't be upside down in the loan. Yea that's just one example but we didn't sink our economy buying $2000 computers on credit.

 

[belvdr]

LOL I can't wait to hear the responses to this. Great statement though

This is why I enjoy the debates on this forums in particular. Everyone here talks about financial responsibility as they are typing away on a over priced laptop, paying for the coolness of that Apple logo. I"m sure they will try to justify they HAVE to have a Mac for x,y,z reasons, but in the end it's all just BS and justified in their mind when they can use a $400 or $500 laptop/desktop to do what they "need".

I don't pretend not to have credit cards, financed my house, my cars etc... but I don't sit there and bash the OP for wanting to know about a good finance offer either.

Sorry, but no Apple systems here, except for one AppleTV and one 3G iPod. My personal laptop was $350; I would have preferred an Apple machine, but just not in the funds and that's no big deal. I'm not missing out on anything personally.

 

[belvdr]

I mean a lot of stupid risk taking is what got us in trouble. People who could afford a $350k home bought a $500k home using an ARM or interest only payment... and they were betting on the value of the home increasing so they wouldn't be upside down in the loan. Yea that's just one example but we didn't sink our economy buying $2000 computers on credit.

I would agree, but I would also wager that the same folks who purchase many things on credit, also overbought the house, the cars, etc. The computer credit is just another drop in the bucket and the bucket finally overflowed.

For example, I notice the commercials for a computer at $29/week for a year, and they show a cheapo Dell on the screen. Amazing, and I bet some fall for it.

 

[blairh]

first answer whether you want or need the macbook pro. if you absolutely need the mbp, then purchase it with a new cc featuring 0% APR for 12 months. at least you can have peace of mind that interest is not accumulating for a full year and hopefully you can pay off the computer in that time.

macbooks are a cheaper options of course too.

 

[romandelight]

OMG, this is the stupidest thing I've ever read!!! If yo ******** talking was accurate... America wouldn't be the greatest country in the world! People left their countries and put their lives in jeopardy all for the "WANT" sake, wanting a better life, wanting to eat 3 meals per day, wanting to cheat poverty... are you getting where I'm going with that?

The guy asked you for an advice about the MAC you idiot!!! Leave the rest to Dr Phil...

 

[Wicked1]

I did the Best Buy no interest for 18 months, however they charge you a minimum without interest of 1% of your balance.

If you purchase say a $2000 laptop they will charge you like $40 per month min payment until your 18 months are up.

I pay the min with no interest and two months before my interest is supposed to kick in I will pay the balance off this way I do not get too close to my billing cycle, because I have heard if you wait until the last month they somehow are able to charge you one months interest.

Dont finance if you plan on using it like a car loan, not at 18%-27.99% so not worth it.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[techfreak85]

guys, this thread is from march.... the OP has probably made a decision one way or another.