[geeks] Re: Rip-off computer rental companies

[Michael Thompson]

<snip>
>I see there a HP 715/50 with 32 MB memory, 1 GB harddisk for a whopping:
>1149 Euro's (For the US people, about $ 1100?)

If I remember this correctly...most companies lease machines like this.
When you lease the machine you are paying for the depreciation in value of
the machine plus interest on the cost of buying the machine. The leasing
company tries to guess the residual value of the machine at the end of the
lease so they can determine the depreciation. If they don't guess correctly
they end up with returned machines that are on the books for far more than
their actual value. If they sell the machine for it's actual value they
will loose money on the original lease. Considering the rapid decline in
the value of used machines this is probably common.



Michael Thompson
E-Mail: M_Thompson at IDS.net