Hardware Outright purchase VS Leasing Agreements

[andyturpie]

Afternoon folks,

 

Just wondering if I could ask what peoples experiences are in the "complete school refresh" area, did you purchase desktops/laptops outright or go for a leasing agreement, we are looking to move into the leasing route, I need to give evidence to the govenors so I have come cap in hand to ask your thoughts, experiences, pluses and minuses of each of the routes.

 

Would be good to get lots of feedback on this subject.

[Millgate]

Hi Andy,

 

A few of my schools have gone down the leasing route, saves spending £xxxk all in one go. Especially with budgets as tight as they are.

 

If you like, i can arrange a conf call for you with one of our partners to go through exactly what it en tales, pros and cons etc. I can also provide you with pricing. No obligation at all, just to get you a bit more info for you to give to the powers that be!

 

Let me know if this is of interest.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

[adhutton]

The only down side to leasing, in my opinion, is the massive amount of time you have to spend every 3 or 4 years (usually during the 6 weeks hols.) removing hundereds of old computers and then unpacking and re-installing hundreds of new ones, joining them to your domain etc....

 

I have done it once and it took 5 of us nearly the whole of the six weeks to do!

 

All of that process adds some extra cost to your overall lease fees.

 

Take a look at these photos and you will get an idea of the scale of the task.....

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1103965915472.2015857.1116467581&l=41b4eaa38b

 

Andrew

Edited July 14, 2011 by adhutton

[Butuz]

Simple question is - can you afford to buy it all in one go? Not many schools could. If you can then buy it outright. If you can't then you'll have to lease it.

 

Remember - if you lease then you will be paying £thousands through the nose in interest. So don't lease if you don't have to.

 

Butuz

[Roberto]

The only down side to leasing, in my opinion, is the massive amount of time you have to spend every 3 or 4 years (usually during the 6 weeks hols.) removing hundereds of old computers and then unpacking and re-installing hundreds of new ones, joining them to your domain etc....

 

I have done it once and it took 5 of us nearly the whole of the six weeks to do!

 

All of that process adds some extra cost to your overall lease fees.

 

Take a look at these photos and you will get an idea of the scale of the task.....

Computerz | Facebook

 

Andrew

 

This is a very good point that shouldn't be neglected - this sort of thing is part of the cost of "administering" a leased computer fleet and needs to be taken into account with other work and upgrades that can be planned/scheduled during a replacement cycle if you have to do all your machines in one hit.

 

We've not gone down the route of leasing. For what its worth, my personal feeling about any and all aspects of "Total Cost of Ownership" is that all the various price models cost you about the same in the long run and the only significance of the choices you make is how much of that cost you pay "up front" and how much as ongoing fees.

[Dos_Box]

The only down side to leasing, in my opinion, is the massive amount of time you have to spend every 3 or 4 years (usually during the 6 weeks hols.) removing hundereds of old computers and then unpacking and re-installing hundreds of new ones, joining them to your domain etc....

 

I have done it once and it took 5 of us nearly the whole of the six weeks to do!

 

All of that process adds some extra cost to your overall lease fees.

 

Take a look at these photos and you will get an idea of the scale of the task.....

Computerz | Facebook

 

Andrew

 

That looks like ICT Direct's warehouse!!

[maveriick]

That is a cool Photo. We here have a 5 year cycle life on our PC's on avereage each school replaces 100+ computers each year. 1/4 to 1/5 of the total computers at each school depending on when they purchased them. Also keeping a good mix means not having to replace 100% of computers at any one year. We are in the middle of an RFP for next year.