M5 Studio base pre-ordered using Apple Upgrade lease

[Apple fanboy]

Welcome to the current economic circle: Can't grow a savings because cost of living and goods are high. Can't afford anything because they don't have a savings. People mistake low monthly payments with "I can afford this" all the time. Financial Literacy should be a High School subject students should have to take all 4-years to graduate in our society. I most places it's a single semester "Life Management" class.



I need to go back and look. Is tax included in their residual/buyout price at the end of the lease? People need to be aware of that if it isn't.

Amen. There should definitely be more teaching for students on personal finance in schools.

I learned from an early age. Save up for what you want and buy it. Don’t borrow to do so (with the exception of a house of course).

 

[m1maverick]

Well it doesn’t bother me if I’m honest. I have no need to borrow any money.

It could affect you in that you could see insurance rates increased or the denial of insurance / a job altogether.

 

[m1maverick]

I need to go back and look. Is tax included in their residual/buyout price at the end of the lease? People need to be aware of that if it isn't.

Does it matter? If you buy you pay the tax, if you lease and then buy out you pay the tax. Either way you pay the tax.

 

[sevoneone]

Does it matter? If you buy you pay the tax, if you lease and then buy out you pay the tax. Either way you pay the tax.

You and I know that, but we're in a thread discussing how the average consumer may or may not understand how this works. The lease contract you get back from Klarna and Apple does show you the tax amount added to each payment. The buyout price, from what I remember, does not. It would be nice for them to list the price with a +$xxx.xx sales tax next to it because it might come as a surprise to some people otherwise. That's all.

 

[enricoclaudio]

You and I know that, but we're in a thread discussing how the average consumer may or may not understand how this works. The lease contract you get back from Klarna and Apple does show you the tax amount added to each payment. The buyout price, from what I remember, does not. It would be nice for them to list the price with a +$xxx.xx sales tax next to it because it might come as a surprise to some people otherwise. That's all.

Can’t be more clear, at least to me:

 

[4sallypat]

You and I know that, but we're in a thread discussing how the average consumer may or may not understand how this works. The lease contract you get back from Klarna and Apple does show you the tax amount added to each payment. The buyout price, from what I remember, does not. It would be nice for them to list the price with a +$xxx.xx sales tax next to it because it might come as a surprise to some people otherwise. That's all.

Some states do not have sales tax like Oregon so those buyers will have $0 tax added onto their monthly nor their final buyout price.

 

[Abydos]

I suppose if you have an absolute need for this, ok, but as a vanity purchase/lease it doesn't add up. but this is an SEP in my book. - I wish you the best

 

[bxs]

I went through the motions to purchase the 2026 M5 Ultra with 96GB memory, 2TB SSD and trading in my 2025 M3 Ultra with 96GB memory and 2TB SSD. The Apple trade-in amounted to $2,085. Given that my 1.3 yr old M3 Ultra has a better market value for more than Apple's trade-in I'm selling the M3 Ultra privately. My M3 Ultra has 19 months of its AppleCare+ remaining. I might sweeten the private sale with a one or two 4TB OWC TB5 Envoy Ultra Pro SSDs.

My primary interest in the M5 Ultra stems from its internal SSD performance, which is expected to be double that of the M3 Ultra's internal SSD, and surpass my current external 4TB OWC TB5 Envoy Ultra Pro setup as 8TB RAID-0. Additionally, my long running (days and sometimes weeks) CFD application which is highly multitasked, memory-intensive, and frequently transfers large GB-sized files between memory and the SSD, should see a significant reduction in processing times.

I also favor having six (6) independent TB5 ports vs. the 4 on the M5 Max. I use M4 mini as a file server and connect to it from the Ultra using a TB Bridge.

Use 3x 27" Apple displays (2 are 15 yrs old harking back to 2011, and the 3rd is a more modern Apple Studio Display) that the M5 Ultra will handily accommodate... just hope the two 15 yr old displays keep trucking along for awhile.

 

[GregoryPeckEPA]

Leasing? I'd rather own the computer.

You know it's really bad when people convince themselves leasing isn't so bad. Yikes. I guess the education system has pretty much crumbled.

We are so cooked!

 

[GregoryPeckEPA]

and literally Apple is eating the item depreciation

Uhhhh, no they aren't, you are. What kind of math are you doing bro? The mental gymnastics in this thread are just bananas.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It could affect you in that you could see insurance rates increased or the denial of insurance / a job altogether.

I’ve been at my last job for 18 years. I’m unlikely to be getting another one for my remaining working life.

As for insurance I don’t think I’ll have any problems related to credit scores.

I think people worry about this stuff far too much.

 

[JesterJJZ]

You know it's really bad when people convince themselves leasing isn't so bad. Yikes. I guess the education system has pretty much crumbled.

We are so cooked!

Depends who you are and your work demands. I generally hate the idea of leasing. But this isn't quite the same.

I would generally buy a new system every 6 years or so. Spending about $10,000 on it. Video editing, FX, Compositing etc...

That's a pretty big chunk of change to let go of in one go.

For $230/mo I can get that same $10k system and swap it out for a better one every 3 years.

Farting around for a couple hours before lunch for one day a month pays for that.

It's less than $8 a day, For an M5 Ulta w/256GB Ram and 2TB SSD.

It's a no brainer for people that need powerful machines and would like to upgrade often.

What you lose in depreciation you gain in flexibility.

 

[jay-A]

Ten years ago people were buying macs, now they're renting them. And people keep on telling the prices are fair. Go figure.

 

[Happy_John]

Depends who you are and your work demands. I generally hate the idea of leasing. But this isn't quite the same.

I would generally buy a new system every 6 years or so. Spending about $10,000 on it. Video editing, FX, Compositing etc...

That's a pretty big chunk of change to let go of in one go.

For $230/mo I can get that same $10k system and swap it out for a better one every 3 years.

Farting around for a couple hours before lunch for one day a month pays for that.

It's less than $8 a day, For an M5 Ulta w/256GB Ram and 2TB SSD.

It's a no brainer for people that need powerful machines and would like to upgrade often.

What you lose in depreciation you gain in flexibility.

This comment does some back to a general theme on this thread, though.

It's not clear as "leasing = good" vs "leasing - bad".

It come down to whether a Mac is for you, an essential work tool that us you to generate income.

If so, yeas, there are a lot of reason why you might choose a leasing option.

If you are buying a Mac for private, personal use, i.e., having a Mac of a certain spec is not essential for income, and you're using it for general computing and communication, leasing is a riskier option than buying outright.