5 ms·

In your opinion what is the difference between leasing a computer and leasing a car?

by dman 13y ago

al2o3cr 13y ago
Off the cuff, cars cost 10x as much and aren't obsoleted by better cars that drive 3x as fast after two years...
- silverlake 13y ago
  Nor do laptops anymore.
  - dragontamer 13y ago
    A $300 Dell Venue 8 Pro Intel Atom tablet is faster than a Macbook Pro of 4 years ago. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7263/intel-teases-baytrail-performance-with-atom-z3770-cinebench-score http://www.anandtech.com/show/7263/intel-teases-baytrail-per...
    - spicyj 13y ago
      Computers are getting cheaper, but the high end isn't improving much over time.
      - dragontamer 13y ago
        DDR4 is around the corner, PCIe SSDs are as well. But the real improvement is battery life. Intel Haswell machines are lasting 10 to 16 hours now, and this number will only improve as Intel moves to 14nm and 10nm designs. EDIT: Woops, I mean 22-hours. http://blog.gsmarena.com/toshiba-squeezes-22-hour-battery-life-out-of-haswell-powered-kirabook/ http://blog.gsmarena.com/toshiba-squeezes-22-hour-battery-li... Computers aren't getting faster because no one cares about that. The majority of the design effort is now into battery life. A Dell Venue 8 Pro lasts 8+ hours on a single charge, on a tiny 20Whr battery (while being faster than the 4-year-old Macbook Pro). The 4-year-old Core2Duo Macbook Pros lasted only a couple of hours on behemoth 60Whr batteries. Battery efficiency will matter when it comes down to lightness and style. Better battery efficiency will lead to thinner, sleeker, lighter designs. Generally speaking, the "progress" of modern computers is battery efficiency, leading to smaller batteries, leading to lighter and smaller computers.
    - sscalia 13y ago
      Doesn't matter. Does Photoshop feel measurably faster on a 4 year old Macbook Pro vs. a new one? Does email? Does web browsing? Minus some spergy cases (PC gaming, 3d rendering, virtualization, etc) most computers are just fine for everyday tasks for a long while.
      - sscalia 13y ago
        Someone didn't like "spergy" Heh.
      - dragontamer 13y ago
        Then get the $300 Asus Vivotab Note, instead of spending $60/month on a lease on a new laptop. Within 6 months, you'll have made your money back and then some (Especially since the $300 tablet can do everything a 4-year-old computer can do, while having superior battery life, significantly less weight, support of a Wacom Active Stylus and a touchscreen) Yes, I have run Photoshop and Gimp on a $300 Baytrail Tablet. Yes, they work. I can personally verify that fact. On the other hand, I do notice significant performance increases when comparing these cheap, tiny computers against my beefy Desktop. Regardless, I speak from experience. Benchmarks do not lie however, these $300 Baytrail tablets are faster than Macbook Pros from 4 years ago. Regardless of how you slice it, computers depreciate significantly faster than cars. For those where "just enough" performance is good enough, you might as well buy these modern $300 netbooks / tablets than lease a top-of-the-line laptop for $60/month... unless you really throw away your laptops after less than 5 months of usage. A brand new cheap computer is better than a top-of-the-line computer from 4 years ago. And for those who are chasing the top end, modern premium computers are released too often for this lease business model to make sense IMO.
        auctiontheory 13y ago
        Regardless of how you slice it, computers depreciate significantly faster than cars. Actually an MBP [1] holds its value better than many Detroit products[2]. [1] See eBay. [2] http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/27/cars-resale-value-lifestyle-vehicles-depreciation-residual-used.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/27/cars-resale-value-lifestyle...
    - Fomite 13y ago
      For the record, since I do computational research work on a machine with an SSD, almost everything I do feels faster on a more modern machine.
    - bananas 13y ago
      Nope. That's a Core 2 at 1.86 GHz in a MacBook Air which is technically pants. My 2011 2.7GHz i7-2620M MBP would destroy that in a second. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2620M http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2620M
      - dragontamer 13y ago
        And what a difference that 18-months makes in the line of computing, right? Lets take a look at the Macbook Pro of 2010. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core2-Duo-P8600 http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core2-Duo-P8600 Either way, progress marches forward rather significantly.
    - mschaecher 13y ago
      A brand new kia or scion is gonna be faster out the gate and cheaper than a 4 year old cadillac. But the cadillac wins on looks, power, durability, safety, fuel, utility, terrain/environmental performance, can hold more people and those new cars won't have interiors half as nice on their new models 4 years from now as today's 4 year old cadillac model does. Oh and if the race is longer than 30-40 yards that caddie will catch up and smoke those cars with it's V8. tl;dr apples to oranges and all that shit
ef4 13y ago
One of the big drivers for car leasing is tax policy. From my cursory understanding, you can generate bigger short-term, tax-deductible business expenses with a lease than a purchase. Since computers presumably depreciate faster than cars, the benefit is probably smaller for computers.
nickconfer 13y ago
One business model has worked for a long time and the other has failed a lot. Haha, maybe that statement itself is not very correct though considering the car industries recent history. I think you've started a very interesting discussion here with you're comment. The 10x cost reference was a good point, but computers not dropping value over time also seems more feasible.
yeukhon 13y ago
I find some huge difference as a user. I don't have to drive if I don't have to. If I want to drive I can lease a car for a few hours or a few weeks. I don't have to change the car's interior. I don't need to install new software to match my taste. I pick up the key, unlock the car and I am ready to go on the road. I put all my personal accessories under a bucket so when I return I know I have everything in the bucket and ready to go home. I may need a spare laptop for a day or two. But I have to download the software over again and again. I use Firefox, but I also need Chrome. I need to download Adium as IRC client. I need thunderbird to be my email client. I need iterm2 to be my terminal. I need to set up a bunch of things. When I return I need to make sure I have the laptop restored to factory state. But I am paranoid some data maybe kept secret? What if the computer comes with malware already? If I need a Mac computer to do testing, this business is great. When I am done testing I can return the machines.

In your opinion what is the difference between leasing a computer and leasing a car?

by dman 13y ago

In your opinion what is the difference between leasing a computer and leasing a car?

al2o3cr 13y ago

Off the cuff, cars cost 10x as much and aren't obsoleted by better cars that drive 3x as fast after two years...

silverlake 13y ago
Nor do laptops anymore.
- dragontamer 13y ago
  A $300 Dell Venue 8 Pro Intel Atom tablet is faster than a Macbook Pro of 4 years ago. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7263/intel-teases-baytrail-performance-with-atom-z3770-cinebench-score http://www.anandtech.com/show/7263/intel-teases-baytrail-per...
  - spicyj 13y ago
    Computers are getting cheaper, but the high end isn't improving much over time.
    - dragontamer 13y ago
      DDR4 is around the corner, PCIe SSDs are as well. But the real improvement is battery life. Intel Haswell machines are lasting 10 to 16 hours now, and this number will only improve as Intel moves to 14nm and 10nm designs. EDIT: Woops, I mean 22-hours. http://blog.gsmarena.com/toshiba-squeezes-22-hour-battery-life-out-of-haswell-powered-kirabook/ http://blog.gsmarena.com/toshiba-squeezes-22-hour-battery-li... Computers aren't getting faster because no one cares about that. The majority of the design effort is now into battery life. A Dell Venue 8 Pro lasts 8+ hours on a single charge, on a tiny 20Whr battery (while being faster than the 4-year-old Macbook Pro). The 4-year-old Core2Duo Macbook Pros lasted only a couple of hours on behemoth 60Whr batteries. Battery efficiency will matter when it comes down to lightness and style. Better battery efficiency will lead to thinner, sleeker, lighter designs. Generally speaking, the "progress" of modern computers is battery efficiency, leading to smaller batteries, leading to lighter and smaller computers.
  - sscalia 13y ago
    Doesn't matter. Does Photoshop feel measurably faster on a 4 year old Macbook Pro vs. a new one? Does email? Does web browsing? Minus some spergy cases (PC gaming, 3d rendering, virtualization, etc) most computers are just fine for everyday tasks for a long while.
    - sscalia 13y ago
      Someone didn't like "spergy" Heh.
    - dragontamer 13y ago
      Then get the $300 Asus Vivotab Note, instead of spending $60/month on a lease on a new laptop. Within 6 months, you'll have made your money back and then some (Especially since the $300 tablet can do everything a 4-year-old computer can do, while having superior battery life, significantly less weight, support of a Wacom Active Stylus and a touchscreen) Yes, I have run Photoshop and Gimp on a $300 Baytrail Tablet. Yes, they work. I can personally verify that fact. On the other hand, I do notice significant performance increases when comparing these cheap, tiny computers against my beefy Desktop. Regardless, I speak from experience. Benchmarks do not lie however, these $300 Baytrail tablets are faster than Macbook Pros from 4 years ago. Regardless of how you slice it, computers depreciate significantly faster than cars. For those where "just enough" performance is good enough, you might as well buy these modern $300 netbooks / tablets than lease a top-of-the-line laptop for $60/month... unless you really throw away your laptops after less than 5 months of usage. A brand new cheap computer is better than a top-of-the-line computer from 4 years ago. And for those who are chasing the top end, modern premium computers are released too often for this lease business model to make sense IMO.
      - auctiontheory 13y ago
        Regardless of how you slice it, computers depreciate significantly faster than cars. Actually an MBP [1] holds its value better than many Detroit products[2]. [1] See eBay. [2] http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/27/cars-resale-value-lifestyle-vehicles-depreciation-residual-used.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/27/cars-resale-value-lifestyle...
  - Fomite 13y ago
    For the record, since I do computational research work on a machine with an SSD, almost everything I do feels faster on a more modern machine.
  - bananas 13y ago
    Nope. That's a Core 2 at 1.86 GHz in a MacBook Air which is technically pants. My 2011 2.7GHz i7-2620M MBP would destroy that in a second. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2620M http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2620M
    - dragontamer 13y ago
      And what a difference that 18-months makes in the line of computing, right? Lets take a look at the Macbook Pro of 2010. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core2-Duo-P8600 http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Z3770-vs-Intel-Core2-Duo-P8600 Either way, progress marches forward rather significantly.
  - mschaecher 13y ago
    A brand new kia or scion is gonna be faster out the gate and cheaper than a 4 year old cadillac. But the cadillac wins on looks, power, durability, safety, fuel, utility, terrain/environmental performance, can hold more people and those new cars won't have interiors half as nice on their new models 4 years from now as today's 4 year old cadillac model does. Oh and if the race is longer than 30-40 yards that caddie will catch up and smoke those cars with it's V8. tl;dr apples to oranges and all that shit

ef4 13y ago

One of the big drivers for car leasing is tax policy. From my cursory understanding, you can generate bigger short-term, tax-deductible business expenses with a lease than a purchase. Since computers presumably depreciate faster than cars, the benefit is probably smaller for computers.

nickconfer 13y ago

One business model has worked for a long time and the other has failed a lot. Haha, maybe that statement itself is not very correct though considering the car industries recent history. I think you've started a very interesting discussion here with you're comment. The 10x cost reference was a good point, but computers not dropping value over time also seems more feasible.

yeukhon 13y ago

I find some huge difference as a user. I don't have to drive if I don't have to. If I want to drive I can lease a car for a few hours or a few weeks. I don't have to change the car's interior. I don't need to install new software to match my taste. I pick up the key, unlock the car and I am ready to go on the road. I put all my personal accessories under a bucket so when I return I know I have everything in the bucket and ready to go home. I may need a spare laptop for a day or two. But I have to download the software over again and again. I use Firefox, but I also need Chrome. I need to download Adium as IRC client. I need thunderbird to be my email client. I need iterm2 to be my terminal. I need to set up a bunch of things. When I return I need to make sure I have the laptop restored to factory state. But I am paranoid some data maybe kept secret? What if the computer comes with malware already? If I need a Mac computer to do testing, this business is great. When I am done testing I can return the machines.