So, just kicking around the idea of leasing a PC (or Mac) instead of buying. Just investingating the idea. It's not as sure as thing like invesitgating the idea of buying a rusted out Maserati that has had mouses living in the engine bay, dining on the wiring for years. I mean, that's a done deal there! No, just thinking about it.
I can only seem to find sites for leasing to businesses. Do leases exist for personal use? Anybody doing/done it? Any feedback?
not with pc's being as cheap as they are on the consumer level.
Yeah for $500 you can get something that'll last for years. If you want to DYI it just throw another $100 at it every 6 months and you'll stay current.
A business will lease them because it becomes an expense instead of something you need to depreciate over x years. There is zero benefit to a non business to lease one.
Steve_Jones said:A business will lease them because it becomes an expense instead of something you need to depreciate over x years. There is zero benefit to a non business to lease one.
Ok, that makes sense.
I need something capable of editing 4K with no issues, and 8K in a pinch. So it's going to take some coin. If I could have leased something and saved a few bucks, that'd have been great.
Is this a fulltime gig? I mean obviously its personal.. but how much video are you really editing.
There will be a small effect on realtime performance from a weaker machine, but most of the difference between a $ machine and a $$$$$ machine is going to be in render/compile time, which can be scheduled and completed while you sleep/do other things.
Its likely the only real bar to 4k or 8k video editing is ram (and that is relatively trivial these days). When you are ready to export the completed video if you can wait an hour instead of 15 minutes, you can save a ton of $.
Sounds like the critical part will be the video card. I would look there first. There is a new generation of cards about to come out (which will make the current ones cheaper of course), so consider that.
I always check tomshardware.com for reviews and comparisons. High end cards can be pricey ($500+) so shop carefully.
The big issue though will be the monitor. 4K is not an issue and pretty common, 8k's are rare and look to be in the $3000 range! It will get a bit weird editing 8k on a 4K monitor (unless you plan on immediately knocking it down / cropping it immediately).
One option is to build a 4K machine, then upgrade the monitor and card in the future when they get cheaper.
Video is a beast though, it will stress every part of the computer (RAM, backbone, CPU, GPU, VRAM, monitor,storage) so it's hard to cut corners.
A better canoe would know he's not a business.
Steve_Jones said:A business will lease them because it becomes an expense instead of something you need to depreciate over x years. There is zero benefit to a non business to lease one.
I work for one of the largest cloud computing companies in the world.............we still don't lease machines for employees.
I'm sure lease or purchase, they still depreciate over 3 years.......hence our replacement schedule.
In reply to z31maniac :
We used to lease machines as well, but stopped ages ago. From what I gather, since we always ended up buying them at the end of the lease, the whole deal ended up not being cost-effective. While the work we do (Revit, ACAD, etc.) isn't quite as CPU intensive as editing 4K video, the simple logistics of switching to a new computer is time consuming, so we avoid it unless a machine becomes a problem. The Dell laptop on working on now has been my main work computer since 2016. So far, it's been reliable.
I bought a slightly out of date and refurbished gaming machine from Amazon for $600 that has been outstanding at 3d rendering and video editing. You might go that route.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to z31maniac :
We used to lease machines as well, but stopped ages ago. From what I gather, since we always ended up buying them at the end of the lease, the whole deal ended up not being cost-effective. While the work we do (Revit, ACAD, etc.) isn't quite as CPU intensive as editing 4K video, the simple logistics of switching to a new computer is time consuming, so we avoid it unless a machine becomes a problem. The Dell laptop on working on now has been my main work computer since 2016. So far, it's been reliable.
Getting my new machine setup this year was such an incredibly huge PITA. We have so many different things we have to install (at least I'm down to 2 VPNs instead of 3 now!)
Why they have the machines sent to us from Dell, then we have to install a new base image on the machine (that took 8 tries over 3 days on my machine) I'll never know. Seems like it would be more cost effective to have the IT folks set up the machine and send it to us to finish would be faster and cheaper.
I can say that it took long enough to set up my machine, that my salary effectively increased the cost of the machine by 4-5x over the initial purchase price.
z31maniac said:I can say that it took long enough to set up my machine, that my salary effectively increased the cost of the machine by 4-5x over the initial purchase price.
This is the downside of large businesses. A lot of us could say this about our machines :(
I'm amazed that Microsoft hasn't yet introduced a solution that allows you to migrate almost everything from one computer to another. You know, like you could do with phones 10 years ago.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Actually I think there is some migration tool, but a lot of companies aren't set up to use them or migrate using backups.
ProDarwin said:z31maniac said:I can say that it took long enough to set up my machine, that my salary effectively increased the cost of the machine by 4-5x over the initial purchase price.
This is the downside of large businesses. A lot of us could say this about our machines :(
I'm amazed that Microsoft hasn't yet introduced a solution that allows you to migrate almost everything from one computer to another. You know, like you could do with phones 10 years ago.
Yeah, have to take the good with the bad. We do have some specific things that can't necessarily be migrated, like workspaces in Perforce.
But there is a bunch of other stuff that they could have ready to go and just say, "Enter the temp password and create new passwords."
Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint all suck... But honestly, for me, thanks to Teams and Sharepoint it would take 25 minutes to swap everything over to a new computer.
Z31, I work for a fintech company that is about half the size of your employer. We have our laptops set up by IT (all security items for the average employee) and it still takes too long. For instance, I accepted my offer at the company on April 2, drug test on April 3 or 4, background checks in the next few days, first day at the office was April 16. My manager ordered my laptop on April 9th, per the invoice. I got my laptop on April 19th.
My coworker just had to replace his. He knew it was going to give up the ghost soon, so started the process before he needed it. Still took 4 weeks to get it in his hands.
Large corporations are just slow moving for things like this. I know one group was able to circumvent it by showing how critical it was for them to have backups, so they have 5 on the shelf at all times ready to go. But when every single group is fighting for every bit of capital they can find, it isn't likely that they'll waste any on a laptop they might not need, when they don't fail all that often.
In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :
It's not the time it takes to get it. I think this one, we ordered on Thursday and had it and the new docking stations on Monday. It's the actual setup. The new docking stations are insanely expensive. 2 docking stations was $400 for an $1100 laptop
Just installing the new base image on the hard drive takes around 4 hours. THEN, once it finally works you can start downloading all the other stuff, drive encryption, and all that.
z31maniac said:In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :
It's not the time it takes to get it. I think this one, we ordered on Thursday and had it and the new docking stations on Monday. It's the actual setup. The new docking stations are insanely expensive. 2 docking stations was $400 for an $1100 laptop
Just installing the new base image on the hard drive takes around 4 hours. THEN, once it finally works you can start downloading all the other stuff, drive encryption, and all that.
This is already done for us by IT. Still slow. Not sure why other than purchasing sucks?
State Farm was like that too, although that may have been the fault of my manager.
mtn (Forum Supporter) said:Z31, I work for a fintech company that is about half the size of your employer. We have our laptops set up by IT (all security items for the average employee) and it still takes too long. For instance, I accepted my offer at the company on April 2, drug test on April 3 or 4, background checks in the next few days, first day at the office was April 16. My manager ordered my laptop on April 9th, per the invoice. I got my laptop on April 19th.
My coworker just had to replace his. He knew it was going to give up the ghost soon, so started the process before he needed it. Still took 4 weeks to get it in his hands.
HA.
HAHAHA.
I work for VeryLargeCorp. and replacement times are more like 6 months. We move very slowwww at some things.
z31maniac said:Steve_Jones said:A business will lease them because it becomes an expense instead of something you need to depreciate over x years. There is zero benefit to a non business to lease one.
I work for one of the largest cloud computing companies in the world.............we still don't lease machines for employees.
I'm sure lease or purchase, they still depreciate over 3 years.......hence our replacement schedule.
I didn't say all of them do it, I just pointed out why some do. There can be a benefit, but only for a company, none for an individual.
ProDarwin said:z31maniac said:I can say that it took long enough to set up my machine, that my salary effectively increased the cost of the machine by 4-5x over the initial purchase price.
This is the downside of large businesses. A lot of us could say this about our machines :(
I'm amazed that Microsoft hasn't yet introduced a solution that allows you to migrate almost everything from one computer to another. You know, like you could do with phones 10 years ago
re: MS... they "kinda" have with OneDrive. Cloud replica of your data that can be dropped on to another machine. But applications & settings aren't so easy.
As far as the machine - Amazon is selling recent (off lease?) refurbuished & legally licensed desktops with an i7, 16GB RAM, 500G SSD for under $400. Add more storage if needed and bump the video card and you have a reasonably powerful platform. Go to 32G or 64G ram if needed. I
I was a bit surprised at how low they are.
This is for a business, but it's just getting off the ground. I'm doing drone photography, videography, and virtual tours. Commercial and residential. The business is new enough that I wouldn't qualify for any kind of financing, and I don't really want to do that. I have found a few good recipes for PC builds. That may be the way I have to go.
Greg Smith (Forum Supporter) said:re: MS... they "kinda" have with OneDrive. Cloud replica of your data that can be dropped on to another machine. But applications & settings aren't so easy.
At most large companies, you aren't storing any data on your local machine anyway. Its the applications and settings that are the problem.
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