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Financing Retina MacBook Pro Advice

Centsy said:
Good luck with that.

I don't think either extreme is the right path. Some people are of the opinion that all debt is evil, which is not true. Loans can be great for if you need them large expenses that are investments for your lifetime - college, house, car. On the other hand, loans aren't just free money to use on anything you want. It's best to take the middle road and look at your finances and plan for what you can afford.
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College/Education: YES
House: YES
Car: NO

Borrowing to buy a car is usually terribly wasteful, at least compared with running an older car bought for cash. I see many people paying up cars that will end up costing twice the ticket price or more by the time they're done. And be worth a fraction of the ticket price by that time. Far from an 'investment for your lifetime'. IMHO of course.
 
jtcedinburgh said:
College/Education: YES
House: YES
Car: NO

Borrowing to buy a car is usually terribly wasteful, at least compared with running an older car bought for cash. I see many people paying up cars that will end up costing twice the ticket price or more by the time they're done. And be worth a fraction of the ticket price by that time. Far from an 'investment for your lifetime'. IMHO of course.
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I never said that you had to buy a very expensive car. However, I would argue that it is much more efficient to buy a newer reliable car, than an older car that is going to constantly need repairs. Sure you may be lucky with an older car that doesn't need much work (my wife drives a 96 Chevy Corsica that we almost never have to have work done on), but often time times older cars are money sinks.

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Queen6 said:
Then again if he/she smart, works hard in the right industry a loan may never be part of the equation. Personally I only buy what I can afford, if I do loan it`s an appreciating asset, loaning money for a depreciating asset is a fools game at best.
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Perhaps, but (depending on your location) you will probably going to have to be making big bucks to buy a house with cash. And depending on how long you need to save that cash for a home, you will probably be renting for a period of time. And renting is like taking out a loan, except when you are done renting you are left with nothing. When you are done paying a mortgage, you have a home that is probably the biggest asset you will own (with the exception of a retirement account). And if you are buying the right home, it is going to increase in value, not decrease in value. So think of it as a long term investment.
 
Yuke said:
Of course it doesn't cover accidents/theft - that's what insurance is for.

Regardless, if any component of the laptop *fails* (IE: is defective) they'll repair/replace. It's not a substitute for being careful with your laptop, it's peace of mind that if the inverter for your display burns itself out, or the battery stops holding a charge after a couple years of heavy use, that you're not in the market for a new laptop.



Good call that he should be looking for insurance for it - I forgot to mention that in my own reply. But I view insurance as an addition to Applecare, rather than an alternative to it. They cover different things. Insurance is also relatively cheap - something like $50 a year (depends on your insurer).



Sure, but it's still heaver than the 13" Air. Speaking from experience, I feel the extra weight. Sure, it's not much more, but it is noticeable. The more he carries it around, the bigger a difference even a pound of extra weight will make.
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Good points, for sure. But I just wanted to point out that 4.5 pounds probably weigh less than the average textbook.

Also, I'm still not quite sure where I stand on AppleCare. Sure, the service from the Genius Bar is exceptional - as long as you have something that is covered. The main things here would be a faulty motherboard or display, which would usually manifest themselves within the first year.

Also, AppleCare does not replace batteries that wear out from normal wear and tear (it only replaces defective ones). If your computer's batteries just wear down normally, you still need to spend $200 to get them replaced (in addition to AppleCare).
 
Centsy said:
Perhaps, but (depending on your location) you will probably going to have to be making big bucks to buy a house with cash. And depending on how long you need to save that cash for a home, you will probably be renting for a period of time. And renting is like taking out a loan, except when you are done renting you are left with nothing. When you are done paying a mortgage, you have a home that is probably the biggest asset you will own (with the exception of a retirement account). And if you are buying the right home, it is going to increase in value, not decrease in value. So think of it as a long term investment.
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Simple advise, work hard, get the grades look to working with an international company, we rotate every to years, changing country & lifestyle; housing, schooling (dependents), air travel, med care are all paid benefits. Salary is industry competitive and we have a stock plan, sounds perfect. You will work harder than you can ever imagine, selection is extremely narrow, live and adapt in some amazing locations and equally be sent to some less than desirable places. You will be expected to deliver and you will or you will be out, in short welcome to the Oil & Gas sector of the energy industry. This all being said housing will be your last concern ;)
 
Queen6 said:
Simple advise, work hard, get the grades look to working with an international company, we rotate every to years, changing country & lifestyle; housing, schooling (dependents), air travel, med care are all paid benefits. Salary is industry competitive and we have a stock plan, sounds perfect. You will work harder than you can ever imagine, selection is extremely narrow, live and adapt in some amazing locations and equally be sent to some less than desirable places. You will be expected to deliver and you will or you will be out, in short welcome to the Oil & Gas sector of the energy industry. This all being said housing will be your last concern ;)
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So your advice doesn't apply to most people. :rolleyes:

Also sounds like a great environment for a family.
 
The best advice that I can give is to save up your money instead of doing the whole financing thing. That would be a lot to pay in 12 months. But if you think you can do it and pay it all on time, it's your call.
 
Slivortal said:
Good points, for sure. But I just wanted to point out that 4.5 pounds probably weigh less than the average textbook.
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Absolutely. It'd be awesome if textbook publishers would put aside the desire to empty student bank accounts long enough to make affordable e-textbooks a reality.

Slivortal said:
Also, I'm still not quite sure where I stand on AppleCare. Sure, the service from the Genius Bar is exceptional - as long as you have something that is covered. The main things here would be a faulty motherboard or display, which would usually manifest themselves within the first year.
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I never buy it up front - I set a reminder about a month or so before the complimentary year ends, so I don't miss it. For a (relatively) cheap, very well-behaved, non-portable system (like the Mini I use as an HTPC), I generally won't buy it. For an expensive laptop that's seeing a lot of travel, or a system that sees a lot of problems in the first year, I generally will.

Slivortal said:
Also, AppleCare does not replace batteries that wear out from normal wear and tear (it only replaces defective ones). If your computer's batteries just wear down normally, you still need to spend $200 to get them replaced (in addition to AppleCare).
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I had the battery in my 2008 MBP replaced 2 years in, when it refused to charge past 10%. Didn't cost me a dime with AppleCare. However, that may have been considered a defect, rather than normal wear. (Either that or they were just feeling generous that day =) )

Probably helped that I didn't barge in demanding a replacement - I just wanted them to try a known "good" charger with my battery, and a known "good" battery with my charger, since I didn't have extras of my own at the time. When their battery worked fine, they offered me a new one on the spot.
 
I put it on my best buy 18 month 0% credit card. I already spend about 6 grand this month. So I'm gonna back this off in 6 months.

Also, I have other expenses with interest that I need to take care of. I'm also selling my macbook air 11 inch and my mac mini to pay for this so I really only paid like....700
 
DON'T BUY A 2500 DOLLAR LAPTOP IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.

I know you are probably going to ignore my post and all the other ones telling you the same thing but get your priorities straight in life.
 
Queen6 said:
“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.” ;)
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"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me."

Your "advice" still doesn't apply to the 99% :rolleyes:
 
Queen6 said:
nope it`s just an option
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I can tell you as someone who is preparing to leave a high paying career to a career that will cut my salary in half (one reason I have a large savings right now), money isn't everything. I've been lucky to land in a good career that has made life fairly easy monetarily but I'm done with it.

If you enjoy your career, than good for you.
 
bioyuki said:
I'll probably get flamed for this, but if you can't afford it, don't buy it. I find it very hard for a college student to justify actually needing a BTO RMBP.

You're in college, don't go into a ridiculous amount of debt; buy a cheaper MBP or MBA, save the rest or spend the rest on food/beer.
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This is college (whose costs, never mind the shrinking ROI, are outrageously obscene), BYOD will soon be mandatory (and not a mere sign of being nice on the part of the IT department), and worker wages aren't ever going to get back on par, adjusted with inflation, compared to how people were forty years ago...

http://www.workinglife.org/wiki/Wages+and+Benefits:+Real+Wages+(1964-2004)

But plenty of news articles talk of stagnating wages, inflation eclipsing cost of living, students increasingly stuck in debt, or knowing people in real life who did their part for society and got higher degrees, just to be stuck in a $10/hr job because companies offshored jobs (while getting taxpayer money to prop them up in the process... )

and for more cool info:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2...ncome-inequality-Take-our-quiz/Median-income/

Enjoy the day. Even people, aged 70 onward, who saved have been robbed of their nest eggs and - on forums - they're openly wondering why they bothered...

Sorry for the cynicism. 40 years ago, half the things I hear about would make sense. In our new normal, nothing does anymore...
 
leenak said:
I can tell you as someone who is preparing to leave a high paying career to a career that will cut my salary in half (one reason I have a large savings right now), money isn't everything. I've been lucky to land in a good career that has made life fairly easy monetarily but I'm done with it.

If you enjoy your career, than good for you.
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Tend to agree, no one said it would be easy, I like the lifestyle and as long as I keep enjoying doing what i do i will continue, the $$$ is secondary all the same i am not ungrateful.

Good luck with the career change I know many who want to opt out across a variety of industries, however they become trapped for many reasons, it`s a bold move. I will remain in the "field" i have seen too many burn out chasing the next position. I get to dress how I want, dont need to worry about what i say, basically get left alone, as long as i get the results, and my office is very different to most :p
 
dba415 said:
DON'T BUY A 2500 DOLLAR LAPTOP IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.

I know you are probably going to ignore my post and all the other ones telling you the same thing but get your priorities straight in life.
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If people didn't spend, where would these companies get the money to stay in business?

Simple economics. Without a demand side earning money to spend, the supply side can't survive either. Unless they get handouts from taxpayers... funny how it's, contrary to popular belief, a 2-sided street...

And you don't need to shout; the lack of lower case letters was resolved around 1978 when higher density chips allowed the encoding of both upper- and lower-case character sets...

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Queen6 said:
Tend to agree, no one said it would be easy, I like the lifestyle and as long as I keep enjoying doing what i do i will continue, the $$$ is secondary all the same i am not ungrateful.

Good luck with the career change I know many who want to opt out across a variety of industries, however they become trapped for many reasons, it`s a bold move. I will remain in the "field" i have seen too many burn out chasing the next position. I get to dress how I want, dont need to worry about what i say, basically get left alone, as long as i get the results, and my office is very different to most :p
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I'll agree with that as well.

Still, as we're all told, life isn't easy. It's always about effort, stress, risk, etc. Captain Kirk told us so, when he kept freeing savage races from those computers controlling their lives and thinking for them... :cool::D
 
thermodynamic said:
If people didn't spend, where would these companies get the money to stay in business?

Simple economics. Without a demand side earning money to spend, the supply side can't survive either. Unless they get handouts from taxpayers... funny how it's, contrary to popular belief, a 2-sided street...

And you don't need to shout; the lack of lower case letters was resolved around 1978 when higher density chips allowed the encoding of both upper- and lower-case character sets...
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what does this have to do with my post? Is this some kind of terrible attempt at making a straw man fallacy?
 
Queen6 said:
You have already clearly made your choices. I put myself where I am today, people look for those that can provide solutions, not excuses ;)
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Do tell. You have no idea what choices I've made. On the other hand, its very easy to tell you're a very prideful person, who seeks the approval of others. You flaunt your job, salary and "success" with almost every post. It's not hard to tell what your motivations really are.

Oh, I almost forgot the obligatory cliche passive aggresive winky face....;)
 
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