The dangers of financing a Gaming PC (YT/Greg Salazar on Affirm, and services like them)

[Captante]

CTFD.

*(after all this IS the OFF-topic forum! I'll see my way out now.)

 

[Maxima1]

Sometimes, I see "a deal", and I'm like, "OMG! Gotta have it! Naow!".

Much like the Asus ROG GL10 gaming PC, that I posted in Hot deals. Marked down from $899 to $649. I bought it. then it got marked down to $599. then $499. And I started to feel like a chump.

Did you stock up on SSDs? lol

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ssd-pricing-could-tumble-as-nand-prices-predicted-to-drop-by-35

Thus, TrendForce has revised its already-gloomy predictions of a 15-20% decline in flash pricing down to 30-35%. These estimates are all the more jarring as they are expected to occur in a single quarter, the current Q3 2022.
[...]
A Further 20% Price Slide in Q4 2022?"

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can't imagine financing something like a PC. MAYBE put it on the credit line short term if my PC died and I needed one now, I guess that's technically financing, but I would not get a separate loan just for that. If I just want to upgrade, then I just save up. Any time I DO use credit, for anything I still put it in my head that I am spending whatever the full amount is, it's just that I don't have to pay it right away. That's why I can't justify buying a new car. I really want an EV but it's just not justifyable. I look at the entire price tag after taxes, fees etc, not just the monthly payment.

Been a while since I've built a new machine actually. Last one was my mining rig roughly 5 years ago, which ended up turning into what is my current PC. Swapped hardware around. Come to think of it... I have a spare motherboard/cpu/ram combo doing nothing right now. Need to find a use for that. It's an i3 system with like 12GB of ram if I recall. Older but still modern enough to do things like run VMs as pretty sure it has VT-D.

 

[brianmanahan]

reminds me of one of my uncles

he was so bad with money, he would rent all his furniture from rent-a-center

"i can't afford a desk for 200$ so i pay 20$ a month"

 

[JM Aggie08]

Reading shit like this gives me perspective. I really need to appreciate my financial situation more.

 

[Captante]

I can't imagine financing something like a PC. MAYBE put it on the credit line short term if my PC died and I needed one now, I guess that's technically financing, but I would not get a separate loan just for that. If I just want to upgrade, then I just save up. Any time I DO use credit, for anything I still put it in my head that I am spending whatever the full amount is, it's just that I don't have to pay it right away. That's why I can't justify buying a new car. I really want an EV but it's just not justifyable. I look at the entire price tag after taxes, fees etc, not just the monthly payment.

Been a while since I've built a new machine actually. Last one was my mining rig roughly 5 years ago, which ended up turning into what is my current PC. Swapped hardware around. Come to think of it... I have a spare motherboard/cpu/ram combo doing nothing right now. Need to find a use for that. It's an i3 system with like 12GB of ram if I recall. Older but still modern enough to do things like run VMs as pretty sure it has VT-D.

There's "temporarily cash-poor" and then there's "perpetually broke-poor" .... some folks are just so poverty-stricken and have so few resources (financial or mental) that they'll do things like take out payday loans for $100 every two weeks or use "rent-to-own" scam places like @brianmanahan mentioned to subsist.

And that's yet another HUGE advantage to building your own PC's. Provided you do your homework and plan properly with you choice of components you can "upgrade" piece by piece and never have to lay out a pile of cash all at once.

 

[jpiniero]

I haven't seen any actual numbers... but you'd be surprised at how many people finance iPhones.

 

[Captante]

I haven't seen any actual numbers... but you'd be surprised at how many people finance iPhones.

No I wouldn't.

Back in the day when cellular companies used to commonly "finance" phones by rolling the "loan" into a phone-service contract I technically "financed" a few mobile-phones myself with Verizon but these days I only buy unlocked phones outright for cash. (usually I'll aim for "last years flagship" @ around $250 max)

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I haven't seen any actual numbers... but you'd be surprised at how many people finance iPhones.

I 'finance' our phones through the carrier, given that it's interest free and smooths out purchasing on my end. Plus they usually have trade-in incentives, buy-back programs, etc. Yeah it's rent-seeking but it's not outright vampirism.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I haven't seen any actual numbers... but you'd be surprised at how many people finance iPhones.

These are probably the same people that switch it out every couple years too, to make matters worse.