FOAK: HCI schemes - good idea?

You know - the buy[1] a PC out of gross income type thing.

It seems that you can get one specially discounted down the retail
price, but spread it over 3 years, cos HMT are paying the financing
costs, in a way.

It means I can get a nice little laptop for ~£30 a month, which is
tempting.


[1] Lease - with tiddly residual payment at the end.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..78895.../...20405.../..31257.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned - Bronze Award.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Salad Dodger

You can get a nice little laptop for a lot less than £1080.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - There are few things in life more sinister than a
public toilet with the lid closed.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

I'd say *not* all that tempting when you consider..

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/inspn_1300?
c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

 

Sorry, my mistake £33 gross, so around £19.50 net.

It says here HCI price £1070, financed price £1212.

Cost over 3 years (net) £715.

List price - *slightly* lower spec - £630

Looks like someone's taking HMT to the cleaners.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..78895.../...20405.../..31257.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned - Bronze Award.

 

Heh - "slightly" - building it to the spec on offer comes in at £1270
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..78895.../...20405.../..31257.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned - Bronze Award.

 

Our lot do it. The big saving is the three years include support.

If you're IT literate then buying one off the shelf may work out cheaper
but for those who haven't a clue, and TBH this is the target audience of
the Gov't scheme, it's worthwhile.

The employer covers their admin costs by reduced NI payments, IIRC.

 

It's the mandatory 150 quid of support payments that piss me off to the
extent I won't consider it.

 

Our company is offering this too. I fancy a Powerbook but I've already
got three Macs and I don't want the inside of my house to start
resembling an electronic version of my garage.

 

Yes, I think that's right. And obviously for the buyer, it's bought
before tax is deducted.

 

I just asked my employers for a PC laptop and an iBook, and they gave
me them - didn't cost me a penny.

Seems a more sensible option to me...

 

that's as maybe, but they hand out laptops like smarties at our place -
I reckon at least 15%-20% of IT staff have 'em.

 

They're pretty much optional here - anyone can opt to have one,
usually instead of a desktop[1], with only the flimsiest of reasons
needed. On our US site, they don't actually have desktops anymore.


[1] I have both, as does one of my colleagues, but none of the
'ordinary' users do so.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Lucky you, I'm struggling to get my hands on 2 sticks of 1Gb RAM.
Apparently I need to find something to capitalise them against.

 

20-30.. Pah!

90-95 here.. and that's all staff, not just IT staff.

 

HTF did I read 15-20 as 20-30..

right, I'm off to book some time off.

 

I've had a laptop on order for 2 months now. Blood and stone come to mind.

 

Similar here, though most people who have laptops tend to have desktops
too - the main reason for having the laptop is to be able to take a
machine with us when we're travelling to one of our other offices[1],
and also for a VPN connection for working from home.

[1] I spend ~10% of my time in our Paris office[2] which while its
significant for me, isn't enough to justify a permanent desk/machine
here.
[2] here now - still shit.

 

that sucks - all I need for any purchase is a business case. And since
I'm the boss[1] a sufficient business case can just be "I want it".

[1] sort of.

 

Yeah, I need one of those too.

The arrival of the new boss isn't helping matters. I think we're about to
go through the "let's revisit all the technology decisions that have been
made in the last 6 months, because I'm new here" process. So I suspect my
request for more memory for my architects is "being put in the context of
the SAP vs. Oracle debate"

 

Rubbish.

I had desktops and laptops available for all my recent new recruits on
day one, if they needed them.

The one thing that's hard to get hold off in our place is Blackberries,
but since I don't actually want one[1] I'm not bothered.

[1] though I may be forced to have one...