4 ms·

What does the figure you make from using your computer have to do with its retail value? By that measure Mark Zuckerberg's dorm-room Dell was worth billions.

by cutler 9y ago

BoorishBears 9y ago
I’m not sure if you’re being intentionally obtuse or if you honestly can’t see the difference between what you’re describing and what I am.
acdha 9y ago
Many people do work which is time sensitive: processing more per hour or turning around results faster is quite literally money in the bank. Think of a photographer: if you charge a fixed fee any boost in productivity allows you to take on more clients. If you’re a freelancer at a public event, getting your final photos out quickly might be what decides whether someone buys from you or a competitor. For a small business that kind of margin is often the difference between making it or failing.
scarface74 9y ago
in the grand scheme of things $5000 is not that much money if computer work is your livelihood. Especially considering that if you are a developer, that may be the only equipment or software you have to buy. Even at a low rate of $100 an hour, I could make that on the side with 50 hours of work.
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  if your computer is your livelihood, presumably you already have work lined up for those 50 hours using your current hardware. you'd need to be able to bill an extra 50 hours due to the increased productivity from a faster machine to have this not be an impact to your finances. otherwise, it's still an extra expense you need to consider, and for a lot of people, $5k is still a non-trivial amount of money. if computer work is your livelihood, you're likely bringing in income and have regular expenses. adding an extra $5k in to that mix is not something most people will do without moderate consideration. "I could make that on the side with 50 hours of work." if you're already working full time, fitting in another 50 hours of billable work is non-trivial, and may take months to actually do.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    I had a $4000 setup in college in 1992. A Mac LCII with a //e card, 10 MB of RAM, a monitor, a LaserWriter LS and SoftPC. But let me give you another real world example of how little $5000 is in the grand scheme of things. Last year, my after tax rate as contract to perm was a little over $50 an hour. I easily put in an extra 100 hours in a month. I’m not going to spend $5000 on the iMac Pro because I don’t need it. But I probably will spend around $3000 on a 27 inch 5K iMac with 32GB of RAM just because that’s what I want and it should last at least 5 years just as a development machine for hobby projects and learning. What would be an extra $2000 if it were going to make me money?
    - mgkimsal 9y ago
      > I easily put in an extra 100 hours in a month. There are around 700 hours in a month. Most people are already "working" (billable/salary/etc) for ~180 of those. Eat/sleep/travel/family/friends/life eats up a lot more. Fitting in a extra 100 hours of anything in a single calendar month will be extremely difficult for most people. If you have the spare time and money, I'm presuming you may be younger and not have a family that you have responsibilities towards (nothing wrong with that, and just an assumption). The majority of heads of households I know - even professionals earning decently - would indicate they have competing interests for $5-$10k on discretionary purchases. You went from a 'low rate' of $100/hr to $50/hr in your examples? I get it - $5k isn't a massive crippling amount of money for most western professionals. Most of those professionals would probably want the $10k pimped out version too, and that expense just isn't trivial for most individuals. Larger companies with equipment budgets and whatnot - less of an issue, for sure.
      - scarface74 9y ago
        No, I'm neither young nor single. I'm in my mid 40s. I went from $100 a month - as an independent consultant where you own your own business and the $5000 would be pre-tax to a real world example for me - Earned $80 hour as a W2 contractor where the consulting company gets a cut and pays the employer's part of the taxes. The $50 is after tax. I'm not saying the extra 100 hours was easy. But I had to do what I had to do and I was willing to do it for the extra money. It's actually somewhat easier for a married person with a supportive spouse to put in extra hours. My one child who is in the house is in high school.
- akvadrako 9y ago
  Also, it's a business expense, so you can deduct VAT and save half on taxes.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    Exactly. In the US it wouldn't save money on VAT but it would be tax deductible as a business expense meaning it's really 50 hours worth of work - not 70 hours like it would be for a personal expense.

What does the figure you make from using your computer have to do with its retail value? By that measure Mark Zuckerberg's dorm-room Dell was worth billions.

by cutler 9y ago

What does the figure you make from using your computer have to do with its retail value? By that measure Mark Zuckerberg's dorm-room Dell was worth billions.

BoorishBears 9y ago

I’m not sure if you’re being intentionally obtuse or if you honestly can’t see the difference between what you’re describing and what I am.

acdha 9y ago

Many people do work which is time sensitive: processing more per hour or turning around results faster is quite literally money in the bank. Think of a photographer: if you charge a fixed fee any boost in productivity allows you to take on more clients. If you’re a freelancer at a public event, getting your final photos out quickly might be what decides whether someone buys from you or a competitor. For a small business that kind of margin is often the difference between making it or failing.

scarface74 9y ago

in the grand scheme of things $5000 is not that much money if computer work is your livelihood. Especially considering that if you are a developer, that may be the only equipment or software you have to buy. Even at a low rate of $100 an hour, I could make that on the side with 50 hours of work.

mgkimsal 9y ago
if your computer is your livelihood, presumably you already have work lined up for those 50 hours using your current hardware. you'd need to be able to bill an extra 50 hours due to the increased productivity from a faster machine to have this not be an impact to your finances. otherwise, it's still an extra expense you need to consider, and for a lot of people, $5k is still a non-trivial amount of money. if computer work is your livelihood, you're likely bringing in income and have regular expenses. adding an extra $5k in to that mix is not something most people will do without moderate consideration. "I could make that on the side with 50 hours of work." if you're already working full time, fitting in another 50 hours of billable work is non-trivial, and may take months to actually do.
- scarface74 9y ago
  I had a $4000 setup in college in 1992. A Mac LCII with a //e card, 10 MB of RAM, a monitor, a LaserWriter LS and SoftPC. But let me give you another real world example of how little $5000 is in the grand scheme of things. Last year, my after tax rate as contract to perm was a little over $50 an hour. I easily put in an extra 100 hours in a month. I’m not going to spend $5000 on the iMac Pro because I don’t need it. But I probably will spend around $3000 on a 27 inch 5K iMac with 32GB of RAM just because that’s what I want and it should last at least 5 years just as a development machine for hobby projects and learning. What would be an extra $2000 if it were going to make me money?
  - mgkimsal 9y ago
    > I easily put in an extra 100 hours in a month. There are around 700 hours in a month. Most people are already "working" (billable/salary/etc) for ~180 of those. Eat/sleep/travel/family/friends/life eats up a lot more. Fitting in a extra 100 hours of anything in a single calendar month will be extremely difficult for most people. If you have the spare time and money, I'm presuming you may be younger and not have a family that you have responsibilities towards (nothing wrong with that, and just an assumption). The majority of heads of households I know - even professionals earning decently - would indicate they have competing interests for $5-$10k on discretionary purchases. You went from a 'low rate' of $100/hr to $50/hr in your examples? I get it - $5k isn't a massive crippling amount of money for most western professionals. Most of those professionals would probably want the $10k pimped out version too, and that expense just isn't trivial for most individuals. Larger companies with equipment budgets and whatnot - less of an issue, for sure.
    - scarface74 9y ago
      No, I'm neither young nor single. I'm in my mid 40s. I went from $100 a month - as an independent consultant where you own your own business and the $5000 would be pre-tax to a real world example for me - Earned $80 hour as a W2 contractor where the consulting company gets a cut and pays the employer's part of the taxes. The $50 is after tax. I'm not saying the extra 100 hours was easy. But I had to do what I had to do and I was willing to do it for the extra money. It's actually somewhat easier for a married person with a supportive spouse to put in extra hours. My one child who is in the house is in high school.
akvadrako 9y ago
Also, it's a business expense, so you can deduct VAT and save half on taxes.
- scarface74 9y ago
  Exactly. In the US it wouldn't save money on VAT but it would be tax deductible as a business expense meaning it's really 50 hours worth of work - not 70 hours like it would be for a personal expense.