All the tax issues aside, I would suggest from business experience that the laptop was in fact overpriced.
A Celeron 1.2G laptop a year ago from someone like acer would have retailed (from memory) around the $2000 - $2200 mark. Factors that affect the price significantly are things like screen size and quality, DVD / CD / CD-RW capabilities and hard drive. I have noted that the last two years has seen little price change in new laptops, just specs going up and things like CD-RWs becoming more standard over CDs. (Having said that, IBM are selling Celeron 2GHz laptops for about $1650ish at the bottom end of their market now... but thats seems to be an exception rather than a rule) Sorry its not hard data, but I can probably ask a few suppliers to check if you really need to know. Although I would think your laptop provider is just going to say, "so what, it was a year ago - go away". It is a shame to see companies ripping off organisations that do public good, like toy libraries and schools... I work mostly with education (mainly primary schools, creches, etc) and it amazes me what some people will use as a cash- cow... there should be laws against it. Let me know if you need further help with this Regards Steve > my better half is a tax specialist lawyer, and she maintains that the > depreciation rates allowed by the IRD are very close to real life. > > The rate for compters is 33% DV (diminishing value), ie: > > pay $3,000.00 > > after one year take off 33% and its residual value is: > > $2,000.00 (give or take a dollar) > > after two years the firther depreciation is $660 (ie 33% of 2,000), and > its residual value is $1,340.00 > > Of course, as Derek is pointing out, laptops may in fact depreciate at a > greater rate, because of their "special" features. > > (Actually i just checked the ird site, lappies have a 40% DV rate, so > Derek is not far off agreeing with the IRD). > > > On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:06:35 +1300 (NZDT) > Derek Smithies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > as a rule of thumb, you can say a laptop devalues by 50% in a year. > > > > However, given that some laptops do a lot of travelling, they die after a > > year (100% devaluation, disk dead, keyboard dead). > > > > Although, I have a laptop here that is 3 years old. In my view, it is > > almost worthless. Too small, too slow, and hard to use. > > > > Derek. > > > > On Tue, 4 Nov 2003, Carl Cerecke wrote: > > > > > I would be grateful if anyone could point me to a year-old laptop > > > pricelist in $NZ. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Carl. > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Derek Smithies Ph.D. This PC runs pine on linux for email > > IndraNet Technologies Ltd. If you find a virus apparently from me, it has > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] forged the e-mail headers on someone else's machine > > ph +64 3 365 6485 Please do not notify me when (apparently) receiving a > > Web: http://www.indranet-technologies.com/ windows virus from me...... > > > > -- > Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >
