a little high?

[sodapopinski]

I will be needing a new home computer because i'm putting this one in my cab. So I went to buy a new one yesterday, sweet system about 1000$ I looked into financing it..........28.9% I told them to piss off. Does this seem high to you?

[ChadTower]

Yes, $1000 seems way high.

[Zero_Hour]

28.9% isn't financing - it's loansharking. 

[DrewKaree]

Yeah, on both counts.

I know this will prolly sound dumb to ya, but if there's a Wal-Mart in your area, see if they sell PC's...some do (like mine), some don't, but you can pick up a cheap system and stick it on layaway.  No interest payments, cheap PC for you, etc.

Otherwise, save your money and build one yourself for that money, or buy an older system that will deal just fine with MAME and keep your PC for yourself.  Shouldn't cost more than $100 (ask Paige) and you save yourself the finance charges.

[Tailgunner]

Yeah, on both counts.

I know this will prolly sound dumb to ya, but if there's a Wal-Mart in your area, see if they sell PC's...some do (like mine), some don't, but you can pick up a cheap system and stick it on layaway.  No interest payments, cheap PC for you, etc.

Otherwise, save your money and build one yourself for that money, or buy an older system that will deal just fine with MAME and keep your PC for yourself.  Shouldn't cost more than $100 (ask Paige) and you save yourself the finance charges.

In that vein,

End of the month is coming up, check the dumpsters around any apartment complexes in your area. Odds are you'll find a usable MAME system or two for the cost of hauling them home.

[shmokes]

If you are not much of a computer geek and will derive little satisfaction or enjoyment from building I would not build.  It's very difficult to compete with Dell pricewise.  When building your own PC you are not able to benefit from economies of scale or cutting out the retailer, as Dell does.  Any savings are often eaten up by shipping costs as well, especially if you shop around and buy parts from various vendors in order to get the lowest prices on components (and therefore pay separate shipping costs to each vendor).

If you do build, try to get all your parts from one store unless the cost difference is enormous.  That one store is likely www.newegg.com . 

But just keep an eye on www.bensbargains.net .   And within a week you will see some really great Dell desktop deals as they are very common (in fact there is one there right now). 

[DrewKaree]

Is that DELL that's charging that much interest?  I didn't see who you said was ripping you off in interest, but by the time he ended up paying it off, he'll not only have a computer worth $100, but he'll prolly wanna upgrade it then too....back to the loanshark

[shmokes]

Well...prolly not, but I doubt he'll do very well with Dell financing either.  However, he'll have to finance all the parts to build a computer just like he'd have to finance a whole computer if he hasn't got the money.  That pretty much leaves him with saving (what he should do) or using a credit card.  If he can buy all the parts with a credit card then he can buy the whole system with a credit card and either way he'll get the same deal on financing.

Either way, it's probably cheaper and easier to buy a Dell than to build your own (we're talking about budget ($1000 and under) computers here.  It's definitely cheaper to build your own over buying a $4000 top-of-the-line Dell.  You will lose some options that are important to hardcores, such as living with proprietary parts and less freedom over customization, but those things are not very important to the average person who just wants it to work when they turn it on.

Speaking of working, if you build it you have to do all your own troubleshooting and when you figure out what the problem is you have to sort through all the different warranties and return policies of all the different parts in the computer.  With a major manufacturer you have 1 warranty that applies to everything the same and one point of contact when something goes wrong.

For many (read: the vast majority of) people, building is probably not a great idea.  That said, I haven't bought a premade computer (for myself) in, well.....ever.

[sodapopinski]

this computer that i'm buying is for home use, not a mame computer. its a repalcement.  I could get a mame system for dirt. I just wanted a fast new computer. It was the rate that bothered me. My friend said future shop will finance at 18%. still seems high though.

[Zero_Hour]

18% is at least in line with many credit card rates. Still too damn high though.

[shmokes]

If at all possible avoid financing at all, even if it means putting off the purchase for a couple months or working nights at a telemarketing place for a month.

I financed a computer once and it was a huge mistake.  You can't imagine how frustrating it is to still be making payments on the computer 2 1/2 years later when you've already began replacing parts in it.  2 years from now you'll be asking yourself, "What the hell was I thinking financing this thing???" mark my words.

[Crazy Cooter]

28.9%!

[sodapopinski]

well I could buy it on my visa at a rate of 11.5% but then I couldent buy some other things I need. I havent had this card long and have a credit max of 2000.
Other oiption: dont finance.
I might go up north for a month in fort mac and make some big money then I can just buy one flat out.

[sodapopinski]

well, mabey i'm not up on what is a good deal.
This system is a complete media centre.
3.2 ghz P 4
1.0 gig of ram
whole bunch of media stuff.
6.1 sound system.

I should just make one though.
remember these prices are canadian.

[cholin]

Ill tell you what...I got the following for just over 1100 CAD:

Asus P5GD1-VM (M-ATX, onboard 8 channel sound, lan, video, 8USB, SATA, PCI-E, AGP, etc)
P4 @ 3.0ghz
(69)sweet case (icute4048)
Western Digital 200gb SATA
Sapphire ATI x600 pro
(15)floppy drive
(85)lg dvd burner
512mb RAM
SMC router
a few more things i cant remember (less than 100 bucks worth)

^ prices that I remember...

So you tell me whether or not it's a good price.  For 1 grand Canadian you get quite a deal if you get the extra stuff.  3.2ghz = $$, 1gig ram=$$....

[shmokes]

well I could buy it on my visa at a rate of 11.5% but then I couldent buy some other things I need. I havent had this card long and have a credit max of 2000.
Other oiption: dont finance.
I might go up north for a month in fort mac and make some big money then I can just buy one flat out.

Man....then you couldn't buy some other things you need???  You need to realize now...before you start buying all this stuff, that credit is a bad thing.  It's good to have this card for emergencies and building a good credit rating, but it will end badly.  Think of this, let's say you max it out (which may never happen cos they will likely just keep increasing your credit limit as long as you make ontime payments, but...) and then cut it up cos you don't want to be tempted to continue using it.  If your minimum payment is $50 a month (it'll probably be more like $70)  It will take you more than three and a half years paying that out EVERY SINGLE MONTH, with nothing new to show for your money to pay that off (and that's not even accounting for the interest that you will accrue on that debt every month).  Three years is a LONG time.  Most of the clothes and other crap you put on there that you are still paying for are probably already thrown away. 

And every time you're at the store and you think, "Damn....the new Grand Theft Auto is out," or, "Man...I really need a new pair of jeans" you cancel out your minimum payment and it's just like you didn't even make a payment that month (i.e., your minimum payment is $50, but you just put $50 on it).  Or if you make a couple of those purchases you erased last month's payment as well.

Pretty soon you will start using credit cards to buy new things whenever possible, because you owe them so much money that using a credit card is the ONLY way to get new things.

If you can't afford to pay off your credit card by the end of the month EVERY month, you can't afford the things you're buying with it.  THAT is, of course, the reason you are using the credit card.  You'll be happier in the long run to be without most of the things you can get with a credit card, then to have those things at the cost of your freedom from credit card debt. 

Credit cards are really really really difficult to pay off, and the temptation they present is really really really difficult to resist.

I say this after racking up a bunch of credit card debt about 5 or 6 years ago and finally, about 4 years ago cutting them all up and going cold-turkey.  I will be out of debt in January of 2006 after about five years of sending as much money as I could to these people and not buying one more thing on credit card in that time.  Can you imagine how frustrating it has been to send a lot of money to people every single month for five years and get nothing in return?  I can't even begin to remember most of the things I bought on all that credit.  It's not like the utility bills I get every month cos I see the light and feel the warmth coming from my furnace.  I don't even remember what I'm paying for when I send my paycheck to the creditors.

Sorry for the long-winded lecture, but I've been there.  It is very difficult to get out.  At one point, if you get too much credit card debt, the most you can afford to do is pay your minimums and sometimes all that pays off is the interest that your debt accrues every month so your balance does not even go down.

It's scary <auto-censored>.

[daywane]

I have to say i agree.
eather toss a new one on lay a way, at Wal Mart ( I see Emachine is $600.00)
E Machine was crap but it is under new management and doing well.
or do what I did.
pieced my new PC . one piece at a time.
most of my stuff came from Tigerdirect.
Printer and monitor came from Wal Mart.
I would watch the Tiger ads every month. Waited for something to go on sale.
DVD burners $45.00 ad $12.00 shipping . Still not a bad deal.
toss all your stuff in a box. Took me close to a year.
Its up and running fine and has handled every thing I can think of to toss at it.
Now I catch my self wondering why I have my best PC on the internet for?
I am about to toss a smaller PC  on the web and use my 2.8 Pent 4  in a Mame cab. (driving maybe )