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Buying a computer on credit?

K

KilGil27

Junior Member
I was looking into getting a MacBook Pro before I went off to college in the fall. However, I won't have the money to buy it outright before school, so I was looking into getting an Apple credit account. I was wondering if it would be worth it, or if I should just get one when I can pay for it all at once
 
Well look at it this way. I bought a Powerbook a couple years ago on a credit card, fulling intending to do the college thing and build credit. It's two years later, I'm still paying on the Powerbook and I don't have the laptop anymore (had to pay a deposit somehow). I wouldn't do it again, but it may work out for you. It's just better not to carry any debt, you never know where you'll be in a few months.
 
It is never a good idea to buy anything on credit that is not absolutely essential. Why not save up the money then buy it?
 
Don't do it.

I wouldn't worry about buying the laptop for college, I've never needed one (and I go to one of the better institute of technologys). Any time I've been involved in a group project where we needed a laptop, somebody else was in it that thought they needed a laptop for college.

Although now being in a fraternity and not living in the house, it makes it difficult to do homework and hang out at the same time. We've got our own computers, but its not the same. Would be nice to have one, but I can't justify spending the $$$ on a Macbook. My desktop suites about 90% of my needs.
 
actually kilgil, depending on what you're planning to do, you could do with much less than a macbook pro. A palm pilot with a keyboard will set you back about 450cdn, and a desktop to go with it will set you back aprox 1000 or 1200 cdn. This setup is probably alot more versatile than the macbook pro. It's what i'm going to do come september =p. Of course if you're going into the sciences, then i suggest against getting any laptop that isn't a tablet pc altogether. You're going to have a hell of a time typing out all those symbols heh. Oh and palm pilot + pc = no debt heh.

oh yes, and get the palm TX if you decide to. It's the newest model so far, and it has wifi.
 
I don't want to sound like I'm giving a scare/sob story, but credit is something to be VERY, VERY careful with. When I was in school I did a similar thing--got an Apple Loan to buy a computer, used a credit card to get some computer recording equipment. You never know what life will throw your way...a few years later I was delivering pizza, and my car started breaking down literally every few weeks...having no choice but to repair the car (or have no income at all) I was spending money I didn't have; the bills started getting out of hand, pretty soon the balance of my loans/card was over the credit limit..and life became, honestly, a financial nightmare. At that point I realized I'd never really needed the things I bought on credit, and passionately wished I'd never ventured into it.

Basically, credit cards or nonessential loans are trouble waiting to happen. I've known several people, including myself, who were otherwise very responsible people who got hit with severe unexpected expenses and ended up in a very bad situation w/ credit.

Just my perspective on it. It's not a bad idea to have one credit card, for insurance against smaller, necessary, unforseen expenses--light car trouble, speeding tickets or whatever. But I agree with earlier posts--don't use credit for anything non-essential that you can't unquestionably pay off in a month or two.
 
Unless your doing graphic design [or some other major I can't think of], you don't need a expensive mac laptop.

Hell, why not build a cheap desktop. I'm a college student who's attended both a big univ. and a extremely small college with tons of access spots for laptops and easy rentals for free...

RARELY was a laptop used by anyone outside of they're dorm room. Contrary to popular belief, nobody carries a laptop around college nor takes note with them in class.....your more likey to see people coming to class without a shirt than people with laptops....

I almost garuntee you will have your labtop sitting on your desk, imobile 99.5% of the time....
 
Don't do it. I used a laptop a lot at uni in the labs, but only because i had it. The year before i got by fine witout one. A USB key and a desktop are more than enough.

Going into debt for a "might be of help" is not a good idea.
 
well, I appreciate all your imput, I realized it probably wasn't the best idea. I can put up with just using my desktop I have now
 
probably the worst thing you could possibly buy on credit given the depreciation versus interest.

I'll admit, my first "bought without mom and dad's money" computer was purchased this way. It was obsolete and replaced before it was paid off.
 
I wouldnt do it on a mac since they are so overpriced and probably depreciate quicker than normal computer. If they hold their value I would do it.


I've financed my last 3 laptops. 2 of them had 0% interest and a lot of sites still offer that (check out HP and Dell)

The third I paid off within a year. The key is too make a time table of when you can actually make the payments, realistically. Find a loan calculator online. Figure out what you think are reasonable monthy payments (i.e. 100 bucks) and see how long it would take to pay off the loan at whatever interest.

This site my help you with the numbers
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calc/MinPayment.asp

1000 dollar laptop @ 10% will end up costing you 1048 if you make 100 dollar monthly payments.

Not Bad.

But just be smart. Don't get carried away. You can always sell your laptop if you have trouble making payments and hope you dont get screwed over too much.


The best thing though would be to save up a couple hundred bucks and buy one used or a cheapo at comp usa.
 
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