So save the $25 a month for three years, (while presumedly using your old crappy laptop the whole time, whose software support and resale value will go to zero by the time you are done saving), and THEN buy the laptop, rather than pay the same $25 a month as you go and get use of a much better, modern laptop the entire time? That's what you're advocating?
Certainly you understand the concept of a 0% lease. You've paid $2K, but the residual value (or, what you 'owe') is that $1K balance.
Yeah, there is a tradeoff for Apple. Lower the price and they get more sales but less profit per unit. Increase it then profit per unit increases but volumes fall. Somewhere there is a sweet spot for them and I see no reason why they wouldn't return to that when the shortages end.
Even exotica like Ferraris are mostly bought on finance.
Yep. The fact that all stock MacBook Pro configurations are available for next-day delivery on their online store speaks volumes. Plus the fact that third party retailers seem to have plenty of MacBook Air stock across screen sizes, colours, storage sizes etc.
If it takes a person three years to save for a MacBook Air at a paltry $25 a month, they are doing it wrong. Yes, I am advocating for saving over leasing (in the vast majority of cases anyway). If more people saved some of their money in this world, they would be better off. Saving teaches people a valuable life lesson. I'll let you go ahead and research the lack of savings and the future it brings to these people. Again, I'm not going to be beholden to some swine infested finance company, on top of getting myself into a legally binding contract, just to pay for a laptop/phone/tablet.
With all their cash and assets I am surprised that Apple hasn't built their own or 'in collaboration with' fabrication and assembly plants in China, India, Taiwan and America. That way they could have greater control over their entire supply chain, both with RAM/Storage and CPU fabrication and packaging. They could use it to stabilise, supplement and secure their own supply (and not be held to ransom by increased prices due to global shortages as we have now) and maybe even supply ARM based chips, RAM and NAND to other suppliers. It might take 5 years to build but so did the current Apple Campus. They have the cash so why not invest it.
Despite receiving a price increase in June, the MacBook Air is currently experiencing a "major" shortage, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Well not really. Apple can't keep up with demand so they are losing out on sales. Their cost prices have increased but despite upping the retail price they will still likely see their hardware profits stagnate or increase marginally compared to what the would have been. Tim was the master of stock efficiency so his successor is coming in at the worst time, with potentially a stock on incomplete MacBooks, iPads and iPhones all waiting for their RAM and NAND storage.
I get what you are saying. But earning a few dollars in interest or from an investment (the later of which most people never actually do anyway) by leasing it and getting myself into a legally binding contract with a financing company for three years, adding a monthly bill, and adding a hard inquiry to my credit report are absolutely not worth it for a computer IMO. Also, if you have enough of these leases and payment plans, it will lower your credit score (in the US). I'm going to be completely debt free in two years after I pay off my house. Trust me, this is the place everyone should strive to be. I'm nowhere near close to retirement age either, btw. And in full disclosure, I've spent a period of time in my life being in a fair amount of debt, and having a lot of monthly payments to keep up with. There's no joy in it.
The more credit lines you open and the more credit you utilize, the lower your score will typically be, even if you are making payments on time. Overall, I don't think the credit system in the US very good though. Anyway, to each their own I suppose.
This is a content-free answer. "Swine infested", really? So I guess you go through life wth no credit accounts at all? No legally binding contracts for you? Pay cash for everything?
I never said I was against using credit and loans, I said I am against using credit or a getting tied to a lease/loan for a laptop/phone/tablet. Your credit score isn't just tied to the ability to get loans. A good credit score helps you get rental housing, lower utility deposits, and better insurance rates, to name a few examples.
Once again, you've glossed over the points that I've made. And yes, outside of my home that will be paid off in a couple of years, I pay for everything w/ my Amex card (or cash), which I pay in full each month so I never accrue interest while keeping a line of credit open so as not to lower my score. I also use my Amex and not a debit card because when fraud happens, it is far easier to deal with Amex than it is most banks, in my experience. The sad reality is, in the US we have to have a line of credit or two that we make timely payments on (hopefully), just to boost our scores. I don't think this is right, but I digress. Anyway, we will have to agree to disagree here. I've labored on this topic with you long enough.
Sadly your very rational and valid points don't land for a lot of people as is apparent by popularity of such payment plans for just about anything and everything.
Yes, it's crazy that people can and have been financing Door Dash orders using the 'Pay in 4' plan.
