Buying a laptop - need advice

C

corup7ion

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
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The laptop is $2900 flat. I am a student and have no financial aid from parents, or anything, (other than a job) and my credit is near obsolete ( haven't acquired any). I would like to take out a personal loan for the laptop. My job actually requires me to use a laptop, so I need one ASAP. Any ideas? or companies that might give a loan to low credit consumers?
 
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As I posted in your last thread:
It would help if you told us what you're looking for in a laptop.

Some other questions:
What B&M do you have nearby? Best Buy? Fry's? etc.
What exactly are you planning to do with this laptop? Gaming? Photoshop? etc
How many hours of battery life do you need?
What size are you looking for? 13.3"? 15.4"? 17"? etc
 
Best buy is an hour away, and I don't see how those questions are relevant. I know what computer i'm buying. it's $2900. The question is how to get a loan for it.
 
corup7ion said:
The laptop is $2900 flat. I am a student and have no financial aid from parents, or anything, (other than a job) and my credit is near obsolete ( haven't acquired any). I would like to take out a personal loan for the laptop. My job actually requires me to use a laptop, so I need one ASAP. Any ideas? or companies that might give a loan to low credit consumers?
Click to expand...

corup7ion said:
Best buy is an hour away, and I don't see how those questions are relevant. I know what computer i'm buying. it's $2900. The question is how to get a loan for it.
Click to expand...

You will be very hard pressed to find any bank that will give you a personal loan for $2900 if you have no credit history. Personal loans are much more difficult to get than say a small car loan. If you stop paying on a car loan, they can track down and repossess the car. The car acts as collateral. A personal loan that has no collateral is very risky for a bank. If you stop paying, sure they can ruin your credit (which you have none of to begin with), but they have no way of recovering any of the remaining money. So basically, they will not give you a loan.

Now on to more important things. This is going to sound harsh, but why the fuck would you waste $2900 on a laptop while you are a student making very little money? And on top of that, try to take a loan out to pay for it! At this rate you will be in debt for the rest of your life. In addition, even if you could get a loan, the APR would be sky high. Your $2900 loan would end up costing you $4000 or more in the end after interest. If that is, say, four years from now, the laptop will be worth maybe $500. Are you starting to see why this makes no financial sense what so ever? You would be better off taking a pile of cash and setting it on fire.

Take what money you do have, and buy a cheaper laptop with cash. There are a lot of decent $600 models out there. In addition, if your job truly requires you to have a laptop, tell them to buy you one. If they refuse, then you do not really need a laptop in the job's eyes.
 
$2900 for laptop?

Make that:

Find an extra part time job at McDees and additional part time job at Burger King.

But seriously, I bet if you listed the specs that Danny Bui inquired about, we can help you find one that is just as good, for much less, and in turn doesn't require you getting a part time jobs at two fast food joints.
 
what'ss mcdees?

131l1057.jpg
 
corup7ion said:
Best buy is an hour away, and I don't see how those questions are relevant. I know what computer i'm buying. it's $2900. The question is how to get a loan for it.
Click to expand...

Your post didn't make that clear. It sounded like you needed both laptop buying advice AND loan advice.

Anyway, Elemental's advice seems good to me.
 
Why would you ever take out a loan to buy a laptop? You're in school, working part time. If you really need a laptop for your job, your company will most likely provide one, or at least give you money towards one. Taking a loan out for one is just absurd. You'll pay way more over time, and $2900 for a laptop is way too much anyway. You could find something for about 1/3 the price that would probably give you the same performance. And don't get stuck in a rut on this one. If the laptop is truly for business, you should be able to get something pretty cheaply. Don't use it as an excuse to get yourself a loaded laptop for gaming, and pass it off as a purchase for your job. I don't know your personal situation, but perhaps you could ask a few friends to borrow small amounts of money toward the laptop. Typically, friends are more lenient and will be okay with you paying back on very loose terms.
 
Well it's deeper than just for my job. I'm going off to college and want a good gaming computer that is mobile. I'd love finding something cheaper for my money. But let me tell you this bad dogs specs.

8 GB DDR3 RAM
1GB Nvidia GT130M DDR3
1TB HDD
18.5 inch monitor,
microphone, all that jazz
Vista home premium 64 bit
(Not sure what processor to choose at this point, but probably a intel quad core 2.53ghz)
 
Doesn't it always SUCK BIG TIME when you have to drag info out of people asking questions and looking for advice? The first post above is meaningless, it just says someone has $2900 for a laptop and not much else. And then it's people asking questions of the person that's asking for advice to get more info so they CAN provide advice and catching a wee bit of flack for it.

Now, with the post above, we see "Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, I want it for more than just what I originally hinted at, I want it for games too..." and more info comes to light.

As the second post above stated:

DEFINE WHAT YOU WANT, in a single post, and then people can help. If not, move on... but there's absolutely no reason to think you'll need to be spending $2900 on a laptop to get a decent one that fills the bill, that's a bit insane. There are machines less than half that amount that are monsters and quite capable for years to come.

All I can say is: if the job requires you to have/use a laptop, the job should be providing one...
 
If you can't afford a computer without financing it you don't need it. Joe Average hit the nail on the head. IF your job requires you to have a laptop they need to supply you one.
I know you're young but you really need to think about this. is it really worth going into debt, $3000+ plus interest so you can play video games?
Coming from someone that made stupid desicions when he was in his early 20's. Don't go into debt for a toy. It's not worth it and it will cost you a lot more than you think in the long run.
 
"want a good gaming computer that is mobile."

Im going to think that you wont be making that 18.5 inch screen laptop very mobile, very often, do you also go to the gym?
 
I was honestly just asking for advice on how to get a small loan. I didn't come here to start a flame fest. People are trying to give me advice on things I don't need. Since it's now everyone scolding me for being young and getting a loan, let me defend myself.

I spend roughly 70% of my life, on a computer. I also am going to be playing college football. I don't know what you were trying to say with the gym thing, but I am very fit/ athletic. The computer is 8lbs. NOT MUCH AT ALL.

I'm not that young. I'm an adult. 18. I can go and die for this country, yet I can't get a $3000 loan. Here's where I'm coming from:

If your saying "I'm going to start off my life in debt" This is how I look at it. I have 20,000 in student loans. I'm in debt. whats 3000 more if it is going to make my life so much more enjoyable. I have been wanting a laptop for 5 years. I know theres a difference between want and need, but it is a combination of both. I'm not going to get talked out of this, don't call me a blithering idiot for it. I made my choice and just wanted advice on a good firm for getting a small personal loan.

It's not just.. "video games" either. I spend every day of my life on a computer. I don't want a feeling in the back of my head every day of my life being stressed out because this 500 dollar piece of trash is lagging up a storm. Webcams and microphone so I can stay in touch with family, RAM being able to do huge photoshop programs for college classes, anything i need. I just don't want to be limited. See my side of this. Not just from a parent's point of view.
 
I hope you save that post for your viewing pleasure when you turn 40. You'll get a good laugh out of it then, I'm pretty sure (I'm not saying I'm that old! lol).

Look, I've been in your position before where my "wants" completely kicked the shit out my rational thought. I think many of us been there, hence so many posts advising you not to do this. I personally made the mistake of purchasing a $3400 desktop replacement notebook about 5 years ago that I regret purchasing only after 5 months of use. I consider myself pretty fit (I hit the gym at least 3 times a week) but lugging around 9 lb notebook + a huge power brick + bunch of accessories became quite the workout. I now use a 14" notebook, which in my opinion is a great compromise between portability and performance.

Anyhow, consider a few things before jumping into this notebook purchase.

- Do you really need 18.5 inches of LCD real estate? Why not a 17 incher? This would help to bring down the weight some.
- 8 GB of notebook RAM is ridiculously expensive. Stay with 2x2GB (4GB) and you'll save a bundle. You can always upgrade the RAM yourself later and it's cheaper this route.
- 1TB notebook HDD? Last I checked, the largest notebook HDD was only 500GB. I suggest you get a fast 250GB (7200 rpm) drive to shave cost. You can always add an external if you need all that space and it will be cheaper going this route as well.
- Most notebooks now come equipped with built in camera and microphone. They are almost standard features now. I use bluetooth headset (Jawbone 2 kicks ass btw) with my notebook and it works great with Skype. Of course, you'll need to have internal (or external) bluetooth dongle in your notebook for this to work.

If you want, I can recommend a kickass 17 inch 1920x1200 res notebook that will meet your needs and then some (has GTX 280M graphics card). It'll cost you a little over $2000 for this notebook. Let me know if you want to know more about it.

As far as getting a loan for your notebook... I don't think it's going to happen. Keep in mind that although you're legally an adult now that you're 18, in the eyes of the world (and the banks), you'll never really be considered as an adult until you're actually supporting yourself financially. Don't be sore about this, we all had to (or will) go thru it.

I think the best route to take is getting a summer job to pay for your new toy.
 
Cant you use your student loan toward buying a laptop? I'm with them on saying this is a horrible idea, but whatever. I think most any student loan should cover a computer for school.
 
I still don't get it. Really, I don't.

This isn't a place for loan advice, we're here to provide support (HA!) towards the hardware you do eventually get and things in a similar vein, but if you want financial advice, well, this simply ain't the place for it.

Nothing you said in that last post is any different than most all of us at 18, as I read it I thought (in between the laughs, good laughs not snide ones) "hell, this guy has the same situation I did, and many others, at that age, the old Catch-22: I need a loan but I don't have any credit, and I can't get credit without getting a loan..." which is the end-all-be-all problem for most people around that age unless their parents are independently wealthy or they're from Beverly Hills...

There's nothing wrong with wanting the best laptop you can get, hell, we all want that. But as soon as you get it, I PROMISE YOU, a week later you'll be looking to upgrade because it's just not fast enough... seriously, you will. And it'll never end, it's called "Upgradeitis," a horrible condition that pretty much every HardForum member is afflicted with... no cure, ever... ;)

Oh, and the "I can die for the country but can't get a loan" was cute. Honestly, you're better off not dying for this country anymore; it's not worth the $3000... it probably never will be ever again, sadly (and I say that as a born and bred American... it's just how it is).
 
corup7ion said:
Well it's deeper than just for my job. I'm going off to college and want a good gaming computer that is mobile. I'd love finding something cheaper for my money. But let me tell you this bad dogs specs.

8 GB DDR3 RAM
1GB Nvidia GT130M DDR3
1TB HDD
18.5 inch monitor,
microphone, all that jazz
Vista home premium 64 bit
(Not sure what processor to choose at this point, but probably a intel quad core 2.53ghz)
Click to expand...

overkill much? you can't seriously need that in a laptop, other than for putting the specs in your sig and growing epeen. did you even try to carry around a 18.5 inch laptop? that's not a mobile device anymore, that's a folding desktop.

i'm very aware that this is [H]ardForum, but you didn't think that through at all. not even considering that you basically can't pay the thing.

by the way, the original post is highly confusing.
 
lol

I just got a new Dell XPS Studio 16 and the 16'' screen is killing me, wish I would've gone smaller.
 
One of those ~$1300 Toshibas would do just as well in 9/10s of things... and when it starts sucking in 8-10 months and you have zero upgrade path because it's a laptop at least you would only feel half as stupid.

Get a job. I had one from sophmore year of high school on.
 
8 GB DDR3 RAM
1GB Nvidia GT130M DDR3
1TB HDD
18.5 inch monitor,
microphone, all that jazz
Vista home premium 64 bit
(Not sure what processor to choose at this point, but probably a intel quad core 2.53ghz)
Reply With Quote
Click to expand...
This thread is stupid, that laptop isn't worth $2900...... there are better ones for $900 like the Asus G50, or $1300 Clevo M860TU, or the upcoming Asus K-Series... the 130M GT is as good as the desktop 9500 GT 128 bit genius, you also won't notice >4GB RAM. You should slit your wrist before throwing away your money like that.

Do yourself a favor and go to Notebook Review and fill in the questionnaire .
 
Oh god. some good advice and some bad. If you guys didn't know, the upgrade from 2 GB to 8 is about 80 dollars more. And the TB is 2x 500 GB. The cost is coming from the processor, i dropped it down and it's a 2000 dollar laptop. i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY Doubt, theres a better laptop for 900 dollars. please. point me in the direction of it if I'm wrong. I've had a job since I was in 8th grade, it's not like I have no work ethic . I'm using student loan money, and have been cutting of specs to be more realistic. I have a sweet 18 inch carrying case that slings over your back, so I'm not too worried... At this particular time I'm just worried about upgrade ability.. I do NOT want a computer that can only run grand theft auto....
 
corup7ion said:
Oh god. some good advice and some bad. If you guys didn't know, the upgrade from 2 GB to 8 is about 80 dollars more. And the TB is 2x 500 GB. The cost is coming from the processor, i dropped it down and it's a 2000 dollar laptop. i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY Doubt, theres a better laptop for 900 dollars. please. point me in the direction of it if I'm wrong. I've had a job since I was in 8th grade, it's not like I have no work ethic . I'm using student loan money, and have been cutting of specs to be more realistic. I have a sweet 18 inch carrying case that slings over your back, so I'm not too worried... At this particular time I'm just worried about upgrade ability.. I do NOT want a computer that can only run grand theft auto....
Click to expand...
You come on asking for advice, and then act like a complete tool. Very nice...
 
still would like to know where you would like to get this laptop from lol. what brand is it?
 
Lebowski said:
If you can't afford a computer without financing it you don't need it. Joe Average hit the nail on the head. IF your job requires you to have a laptop they need to supply you one.
I know you're young but you really need to think about this. is it really worth going into debt, $3000+ plus interest so you can play video games?
Coming from someone that made stupid desicions when he was in his early 20's. Don't go into debt for a toy. It's not worth it and it will cost you a lot more than you think in the long run.
Click to expand...

Ditto. You DO NOT need a 3000 dollar laptop for college. Maybe 700. Dosent matter how much time you spend on it. If your that worried about gaming, then bring your desktop. Im 18, and its fairly simple to realize that i dont need to spend half my tuition on a laptop. The most id say to spend is 1000...not even that. Photoshop will run fine on the 700 dollar laptop on newegg, along with GTA and all the other games you want to play.
 
The economy is in freefall, major industries are being taken over by Obama the Magnificent and his gaffe-o-matic VP, banks are becoming more strict than ever with loan requirements, you're in college with already massive student loan debts, and you've got no credit history. All this means that you have virtually no chance of securing a $3000 loan for a computer. It sucks, no doubt, but that's the way it is at the moment... and for years to come, most likely.
 
the only way to secure money for this thing is by terribly unscrupulous means that you will regret down the road.

That being said, you could:

1. Take out a loan against the title on your car (if you own one)
2. Go apply for a lot of student or first time credit cards (send all the apps in at the same time so the later ones don't catch on)
3. Steal the money.

Any way you look at it, no, just don't.

It is impossible to get a personal loan without good/excellent credit. Think about it this way, would you give $3,000 to that guy Tom that lives down the hall in the dorm?

I read your other thread trying to decide on the laptop, and everyone there was telling you the same thing as everyone here is trying to beat into you're skull. Do not take ignore this advice. You WILL regret buying a $3,000 laptop. It WILL come back to haunt you down the road. We are trying to SAVE you from this mistake because we have made it or seen others make it or just know that it is a very poor decision both financially, personally, and computerly.
 
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