PC Experts Please!

[Miffy2003]

Hello,

I have been hankering after a laptop for some time and an opportunity has come up for DH to puchase one through his work. Can you tell me if the following spec is OK and whether the price sounds reasonable for what it is?


Wireless LAN
Hard disk - 40GB
Memory - 512MB
DVD/CD Rom & DVD player / writer
High speed 56k modem

This would cost £6.22 per week and is basically "hired" for 3 years at which time you can buy outright for market price (whatever that may be for a 3 yr old laptop at that time) or upgrade to a newer one then.

Can you lovely techy people help me out as the above is all Greek to me?

Thanks muchly

Karen

 

[shellbell]

Hiya,

Martyn here - Shellbells DH. Im an PC Technician, so hopefully my advice helpful to you...

The spec youve given is really a standard laptop.

You havent listed the main component though - the cpu.

What processor is it? And what speed in Mhz is it?

On working it out...im afraid to say its not a good deal. In fact its a bit of a rip off really

£6.22 per week
* 52 weeks
* 3 years
= £970.32

and thats only hiring it! Then you have to buy it outright which for a few years old will still cost a couple of hundred.

So id say dont go for it.

Even the big companies like a PC World (ripoffs) give better value than that. If its the Higher Purchase, then PC World even do that.

I would research it more, before you decide.

I have found 1 example for you....

# Intel Celeron 335 2.8GHz processor
# 533 MHz FSB
# 256 Kb cache
# 256 Mb RAM
# 40 Gb Hard Drive
# DVD-RW Super Multi Drive
# 15" TFT display
# Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
# 64 Mb ATi Radeon integrated graphics
# 1 Year FREE warranty

all for £598.00 new

It only has half the ram, but a quick upgrade for £60 will double that. And although it doesnt have the wireless capability. All that is a slot card that fits.....another £20-£30

Need any further help send us a pm

Martyn

 

[Miffy2003]

Thank you Martyn, that's really helpful. I didn't give any more info as there was not any on the leaflet other than that - I've since looked at the website which doesn't say anything useful such as processor etc.

After I posted I worked out the cost and agree totally with you. I work in credit management and don't like the idea of rip off's!!

You say PC World are a rip off but that price you quote below looks good to me - where would you recommend I get a laptop from if not PC World or the like? A local computer person?

Thanks a million for your help!!

Karen PC Thickie

 

[disney13]

Hi Karen,

Is your DH a teacher by any chance? My Fiance was offered something like this last year (she's a teacher!). It works out to be VERY expensive to purchase the equipment this way. We actually bought a laptop from http://www.ebuyer.com.

Andy

 

[AlanUK]

ebuyer is a pretty good site.

We always use it as a stgood starting point when looking for quotes for computer equipment at work.

When buying laptops it would be sensible to remember that they can't be upgraded as readily as a standard PC and so you have to consider that you will be replacing it every 3-4 years if you want to stay up with the latest technology.

 

[allie5]

This may sound strange, but have you tried Lidl (the cut price supermarket)???. DH found out that the laptops they sell are actually exactly the same as the "Advent" brand sold in PC World. He wasnt convinced, but we have an Advent Laptop and when we peeled the Advent sticker off of ours, lo and behold, there was the name of the brand sold in Lidl!! Apparently, they have really good quality parts and are high spec machines. They tend to only get them in 2 or 3 times a year but its worth a look if there is a store near you!

 

[Miffy2003]

Alan - thank you!

Allie - funnily enough, Lidl is Jon's mum's favourite shop - I'm sure you will find this hard to believe

 

[juliebro]

The company I work for does a similar scheme where you pay £x per month for 2 years and the PC becomes yours at the end. For Inland Revenue reasons they have to say that you re hiring it and that you have to pay the market value of it at the end of the 3 years - but in reality they don't usually charge you anything - as they write off the value of computers over 2 -3 years.

The advantage of this sort of scheme is that you pay it out of your pre-tax earnings - so you immediately save 25% of the cost - or 40% if you're a higher rate taxpayer.

Also, under our company scheme you get a 2 year on-site warranty too.

It's worth having another look at the deal.

Julie

 

[Ware Bears]

You say PC World are a rip off but that price you quote below looks good to me - where would you recommend I get a laptop from if not PC World or the like? A local computer person?


Karen PC Thickie

To Karen from Another PC Thickie!!!........I am only self-taught on our computer, I can just about master the Disboards

We were advised by the computer manager at DH's work to buy our computer from Mesh which we did 3 years ago. They gave us a free 3 year warranty and when it broke down after about a year they sent someone out straight away to fit us a new part. Don't know what sort of laptops they supply but I would definitely buy from them again.

 

[Miffy2003]

Thanks Elaine - who are Mesh? (Hope I'm not totally showing myself up now by not knowing )

Julie - you make some good points there. I hadn't considered the pre-post tax thing and I definitely had not realised about the value / write off aspect.

The most appealing thing for me, value wise is it would be free! As it would come from DH's wages not mine

But still, I think perhaps I will leave it and reconsider in six months or so

 

[UKDEB]

Karen,

We're about to do this. It's a Government backed initiative to encourage families to own PCs. We have the option to buy packages to a certain value (£399.99, £599.99, £799.99, £999.99 and £1299.99).

It's a hire purchase agreement, but the payments are deducted from your salary before tax. The £999.99 package is £33.50 per month, but the net cost for a Basic Rate Taxpayer is £22.98 and for a Higher Rate Taxpayer, £19.77. The agreement is for 36 months and the cost to purchase the equipment at the end is estimated at £10 (I think they have to charge something to be within Inland Revenue regulations). So, for £837 (BRT) or £711 (HRT) you get £1000 of equipment and spread the cost over 3 years.

We have to buy from PC World, which under normal circumstances we wouldn't choose to do, but we've had a look and they are quite competitive - that is to say you'd struggle to find the stuff they stock much cheaper anywhere else. It's just that they stuff they stock might not be what you want!

I think I'd want to know exactly what make and model I was buying, though. It's sounds as though Jon's scheme doesn't allow you to choose - is that right?

Edited to add: Each time we change our PC I look at all the 'trendy' options. I was very keen on Mesh last time, but when I looked at the spec:cost ratio, they weren't very good value. I know it depends on what you want/need from a PC, but I always seem to go back to Dell.

 

[Miffy2003]

I think I'd want to know exactly what make and model I was buying, though. It's sounds as though Jon's scheme doesn't allow you to choose - is that right?

That's exactly right Deb. You can go for a "standard" or "advanced" desktop model or a laptop. None of them is described with any detail unfortunately!!

 

[Ware Bears]

Karen, here is a link to Mesh. http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/index.htm

DH's computer manager at work recommended them to us because they have full-size towers which he said were easy to expand on, unlike PC World and the like who sell the smaller towers. His first recommendation was Mesh, his second was Dell.

 

[allie5]

We have a Mesh desktop and its quite old now, but has given us 4 years excellent service. We would definately buy another one. They are very good prices, well built and you can customise them to whatever spec you need.

 

[dawnpisces]

Karen,

We're about to do this. It's a Government backed initiative to encourage families to own PCs.

Wonder if this has anything to do with the BBC MAYBE getting rid of the TV Licence fee?? I'm sure I heard on one of the consumer/debate programmes that it may be replaced by a fee/levy/tax on owning home computers and using the internet to make up for the loss in revenue?
I am recalling this from a dim and distant memory of a programme I was only half listening to so apologies for any inaccuracies!