For those who can... Lease your Mac Pro

[jgbr]

Looking at the debates on Mac Pro's, when right to buy, the aPple product cycle and pace of technology my advice is to lease with technical upgrade.

Today my quote for a 2000 GBP (£) is about 600 pounds a year, presuming the mac pro update is every year, i am paying 600 pound's a year to upgrade for a new machine with care.

So Business users, Self Employed and those with commercial power.. lease.

What have your experiences been for leasing? ideas and suggestions.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Personally a lease is a fool's loan. You never truly own your product.

 

[FF_productions]

If you are a business owner, self-employed, need latest + greatest etc, then I see a good reason to lease as the OP had just said.

For some it's a personal computer, and instead of having to swap machines every so often without getting ripped off, we'd like to hang on to the machine for as long as possible and get the mileage out of it. I want to keep this Mac Pro for years upon years, unless my workflow changes, I don't see the need to swap machines every 2 or so years.

Still a good point though..

 

[jgbr]

But i am guessing on a mac pro upgrade once a year, so i get the latest model every year and dont have to worry over apple care: technically i dont own the machine but can buy it of them at any time and every time apple bringa new one out: i get it.

so im actually paying 600 pounds for a machine a year , alot less then 2-3k!

 

[dbam987]

Nice, but can be a hassle

That is a very good idea if you need the absolute latest every year. But, it can be a giant hassle to have to reinstall and restore all your data files on every new machine you get. Granted, Time Machine makes things much much simpler with an external drive, but it's still a hassle.

Mac Pro's are very powerful to begin with. Getting the base model of the current Mac Pro will easily last a good 6 to 7 years before needing some sort of upgrade. So, $600/year times 6 years is $3600. You end up saving $800 over the $2800 base price. You can do whatever you please with it if you own 100% of it. I bet with a lease there's restrictions on what you can do, such as upgrading the graphics card, or adding an extra hard-drive.

On the plus side you do get an awesome new machine every year... ooohhh... very tempting indeed.

 

[kingkezz]

Plus it's tax deductible!

 

[ZeelessOne]

Why have I never thought of this...

I reformat my harddrive for fun!

I'll have to look at closer details before I have anything more to say.

 

[Keebler]

But i am guessing on a mac pro upgrade once a year, so i get the latest model every year and dont have to worry over apple care: technically i dont own the machine but can buy it of them at any time and every time apple bringa new one out: i get it.

so im actually paying 600 pounds for a machine a year , alot less then 2-3k!

i would check into the conditions of the lease to see if leasing allows a new machine every year. sounds too good to be true b/c if so, why wouldn't everyone do it?

tax wise, it is beneficial. any accountant will tell you that and they're right.

however, I haven't leased a machine yet for 1 good reason - if i 'need' a new machine, i know that our beloved macs hold their value well like a foreign car so reselling is a viable option to put money down towards that new machine. Plus, upfront, you pay more when you buy, but since the macs can last a long time, i find the value is worth it in the end. My macs have all been paid for over and again so i know if i want a new machine, i'll sell an old one and still be in the clear.

if was using pcs (and hell would be frozen over too), i'd probably lease b/c reselling would be like reselling a north american vehicle - value goes way down after driving off the lot.

regardless, good luck with your purchase. i have an older mac pro and it still rocks to this day.

cheers,
keebler

 

[pprior]

...Mac Pro's are very powerful to begin with. Getting the base model of the current Mac Pro will easily last a good 6 to 7 years before needing some sort of upgrade...

6-7 years! Man I don't know if you're just using your mac pro for safari and word or what, but in photo editing and video editing 6-7 years will see file sizes and processing requirements that are WAY ahead of what we have now. 3-4 I can see, but 6-7, man that's forever.

 

[dbam987]

6-7 years! Man I don't know if you're just using your mac pro for safari and word or what, but in photo editing and video editing 6-7 years will see file sizes and processing requirements that are WAY ahead of what we have now. 3-4 I can see, but 6-7, man that's forever.

Maybe I am a bit optimistic, but for my day-to-day tasks it seems reasonable for me that the Mac Pro will last that long. It took the market a long while to put dual-core processors into pre-built machines, and it might be another year or two before triple-core's and quad-core's become dominant. Getting the current Mac Pro will keep a person ahead of the curve for quite some time after that, until octo-core's are created.

 

[schnee]

I upgrade every 3 years. When I factor in the lease vs. own price, and resale of my G5, it was cheaper for me to own.

 

[sash]

Actually, it's an interesting idea, I've never thought about this possibility. It could be different here in Belgium though (I mean the leasing terms).

 

[ungraphic]

6-7 years! Man I don't know if you're just using your mac pro for safari and word or what, but in photo editing and video editing 6-7 years will see file sizes and processing requirements that are WAY ahead of what we have now. 3-4 I can see, but 6-7, man that's forever.

I bought my Dual G4 Powermac in 2001. It lasted me until last year. Thats 6 years.

I'm a graphic designer.

600 X 6 = 3,600 + hassle + not optimal for upgrades

 

[CanadaRAM]

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here about what leasing is.

It is not a rental that you can turn back in at will.

A lease is a locked in committment to pay, say, 48 payments, and then either pay a buyout, or abandon the equipment.

If you roll over a lease into a new piece of equipment, you have to take the remaining owing on the first machine, and it gets added to the purchase price of the new one.

$2000 machine, lease it for a year, at $51.50 plus tax per month on a 48 month lease, you'll have approx $1639 plus tax remaining owing after your 12th payment.

Get a new $2000 machine, and your $1639 gets rolled into the $2000, for $3639 indebtedness, less whatever the lease company agrees on a return value of the used machine (likely $1000 or less) -- so you have a new machine, but you owe more than you started with.

Sometimes the lease company will promise to keep the payments level -- they do this by extending the term of your lease longer and longer... this means you are paying major interest charges.

 

[sash]

Well, I haven't found a word about leasing possibility on the Belgian Apple online store's site...

sash

 

[m1stake]

Maybe I am a bit optimistic, but for my day-to-day tasks it seems reasonable for me that the Mac Pro will last that long. It took the market a long while to put dual-core processors into pre-built machines, and it might be another year or two before triple-core's and quad-core's become dominant. Getting the current Mac Pro will keep a person ahead of the curve for quite some time after that, until octo-core's are created.

Very true, the dual core G4s are still viable machines.

 

[Sun Baked]

All depends on your tax situation, if you can buy the machine and write it all off today ... might make some sense to buy it, write it off as an expense, and pay taxes on its cost recovery liquidation later.

If you buy a lot of machines, and have to use the equipment lifecycle chart, leasing may make more sense since even though you may pay more -- you can fully write off the value of the lease.

---

Basically, sitting down with you accountant might work better that beating the numbers into shape yourself.

 

[seclusion]

Leased my Mac Pro and after 3 years I'll owe an extra $800 in interest.
So for me over the 3 years I throw away a little under $300, but most importantly I am stuck using this thing for at least 3 years. I was a yearly updating hound. Spent most of my time tweaking new systems and troubleshooting hell. So now I use my Mac Pro and have actually been productive writing songs etc. I'll probably always pay $100 a month for a computer. I can right off the interest and get a machine that will work now.
A $1 buy-back, so I get the machine after it's all over.
Wow, looks like a year is already gone.

Later
Brian