While we probably all have sympathy for anyone who pays too much for an item, surely "Caveat Emptor" applies.
Robert There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 5 November 2003 9:02 a.m. To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: year-old laptop pricelist 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]> > >
