Leasing a Laptop

Posted by:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Anyone considering laptop leasing or renting, should know a few things in advance. Choosing to lease a laptop as opposed to buying can sound like a good idea, but have some pitfalls you may not be aware of. Renting or leasing an item means you enter into a contractual agreement with the person or company you are renting from. There may be some disadvantages associated with leasing an item that you should consider before deciding.

The primary drawback to renting as opposed to buying a laptop is that you don’t actually own the item. No matter how many payments you make the laptop still belongs to the company you are leasing it from. Another point to consider is the amount of money you will spend in the long run. Leasing a laptop can actually cost you more over time then if you would have spent the money to purchase one brand new. The contract leases can vary and often you become tied into a 1 or 2 year lease that although may have a fixed rate, turns out to cost you more in the end then if you had chosen to buy a laptop.

Another consideration is the long term concept of the contract. You might change your mind and want to cancel at some point. Most rental contracts are set up to discourage people from doing this so they charge an additional fee for cancellation. There are also other factors involved in the contract coverage itself such as the warranties and maintenance of the unit. How do you determine the amount of warranty coverage you will need? If you want the use of the laptop on a short term basis you would be better to choose the least expensive coverage.

Of course it’s impossible to know if the machine you are renting is going to need any type of repair work done. If something should go wrong and you don’t have the appropriate coverage for the repairs you will have to pay for it out of your pocket. When you purchase a new laptop it comes with a warranty already in place for a specified period of time.

It’s very important to consider all the aspects involved when thinking about laptop leasing. Make sure you take the time to look over all the printed material associated with the rental contract. By calculating all your rental and service fees for the amount of time you think you will use the machine, you may find it more cost effective to buy your own, especially if you are looking at some of the larger sized ones such as a 20″ laptop.

For more information on this and other related topics, please visit Voices in Technology

Related Posts:


Leave a Reply