Laptop Economics
I bought my first laptop computer in December 1997. It was a fully loaded Micron, and I spent about $5,000 for it. It served me well until September 2004. In October, 2004, I purchased my current Sony Vaio TR-5 laptop. It’s small, lightweight, fully loaded with an extended service battery that lasts me more than 5 hours. It also has a R-W CD/DVD built-in. It’s wireless is switchable on and off with a switch on the front of the wristrest. It’ has a 10″ screen — a little small, but I wanted a compact size when I bought this laptop, and about the size of a hard cover book. Other than a smaller than ideal screen (but perfect for the footprint I wanted), my only true complaint is the hard drive that is really too small. As I recall, it’s 40G. I can’t remember exactly how much I paid for this — somewhere between $4000 and $5,000. To make my calculations simpler, I’m going to say I paid $5,000 for it.
Lots of people try to buy the cheapest laptops they can find, but I notice they seem to spend a lot of time complaining about them or replacing them. It’s December 2009 — twelve years since I bought my first laptop. I did some calculations the other night to see what my annual laptop cost has been. I’ll try to walk you through my math — hopefully, it won’t be too embarrassing.
For the Micron, my average annual cost was:
6 years, 10 months = 82 months
Average cost per month: $5,000 divided by 82 months = $60.97
Average cost per month times 12 to get average annual cost: $731.71
For the Sony, my average annual cost was:
5 years, 2 months = 62 months
Average cost per month: $5,000 divided by 62 months = $80.65
Average cost per month times 12 to get average annual cost: $967.74
If I keep the laptop for another year, the average annual cost decreases to: $810.81
If I keep the laptop for another two years, the average annual cost decreases to: $697.67
Using these calculations, I see it would be best if I can use this laptop for another two years before replacing it with the MacBookPro of my dreams. Barring catastrophic failure, I don’t see a problem with that plan. For the way I use a laptop, this one will remain technologically viable indefinitely.
The added benefit to your delayed gratification is that you could put the $80.65/month into a savings account and pay cash for your MacBookPro.
Truly owning the computer of your dreams: Priceless.
You’re absolutely right about saving the money in advance. I I think had to make payments on the Micron (I wasn’t quite out of debt yet when I bought it in time for Squadron Officer School), but I paid cash for the Sony, and I’ll pay cash for the MacBook Pro, too. (Well, I’ll probably make the initial purchase on a credit card, but I’ll pay the balance when the bill arrives — essentially, paying cash.)
I just happened upon the invoice for the Sony laptop — it was just under $3200 –I guess I should redo the math for cost of ownership.
For the Sony, my average annual cost was:
5 years, 2 months = 62 months
Average cost per month: $3,200 divided by 62 months = $51.61
Average cost per month times 12 to get average annual cost: $619.35
If I keep the laptop for another year, the average annual cost decreases to: $518.92
If I keep the laptop for another two years, the average annual cost decreases to: $446.51
Using these numbers, I could replace the laptop at any time, but I don’t see a need to while it’s still working well.