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Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

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Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#71

Post by auctiontheory »

dragontamer wrote: post #66
auctiontheory wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You were downvoted for saying exactly what I was about to say: for most consumer use, my 2009 MBP does everything I need. It beats me at chess. A/V transcoding could be faster, but that's really an edge use case for me, and probably most people, even on HN. What I do care about is ergonomics, specifically the keyboard, and I have yet to find a $300 (or $600) Windows or Android machine with a keyboard comparable to a…

Your fanboy radar betrays your better judgement. This is a thread about how computers get better over the years. A modern Macbook Pro is leagues better than one 2 years ago (SSD, PCIe, Retina Screen, smaller), and the one 2-years-ago is leagues better than a 4-year-old Macbook Pro (Sandy Bridge vs C2D, GPU upgrades, etc. etc.). I chose the Dell Venue 8 Pro because it is a cheap $300 machine to emphasize a point. Comp…

I'm trying to make a point about technology and the rate at which it improves.

Make whatever point you want, but TFA is about an MBP subscription service. People buy MBPs for usability and reliability, not for hardware specs. Always have.

When you claim that one computer is "leagues better" than some other computer, I say "prove it - according to MY criteria as the purchaser and consumer - not your criteria as a chip overclocker."

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#72

Post by te_chris »

auctiontheory wrote: post #59
bsima wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought april fools also, but I'm really hoping it's true. My 4-year-old MBP has finally been outpaced by software speed needs.

I occasionally wonder whether to replace my 2009 MBP (upgraded to SSD and 8GB, naturally). What software finally vanquished your laptop?

For me it was the 15' haswell rMBP's that did it. Quad core i7, pciX ssd, that screen, amazing battery life. Literally the best laptop ever made.

I just wait for nothing now. CS and Xcode were super annoying on my old machine

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#73

Post by mschaecher »

dragontamer wrote: post #40
silverlake wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nor do laptops anymore.

A $300 Dell Venue 8 Pro Intel Atom tablet is faster than a Macbook Pro of 4 years ago. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7263/intel-teases-baytrail-per...

A brand new kia or scion is gonna be faster out the gate and cheaper than a 4 year old cadillac.

But the cadillac wins on looks, power, durability, safety, fuel, utility, terrain/environmental performance, can hold more people and those new cars won't have interiors half as nice on their new models 4 years from now as today's 4 year old cadillac model does.

Oh and if the race is longer than 30-40 yards that caddie will catch up and smoke those cars with it's V8.

tl;dr apples to oranges and all that shit

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#74

Post by dragontamer »

auctiontheory wrote: post #69
dragontamer wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking of the typical car vs the typical computer. >> New cars typically lose about 20% of their value the moment they’re driven off the lot, and about 65% after five years. MBPs are one of the few computers that hold their value the best. But after 5 years, you're looking at a depreciation rate of 75%+ (going from $2000+ in 2009 to only $500 in 2014). But we're looking at the _best_ computer that holds its val…

Did you read the article? These guys are leasing MBPs, not Dell Inspirons. Your MBP depreciation numbers ($2000->$500 in 5 years) are also wrong.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-13-Inch-Macbook-Pro-2009-4GB-2...

You're right. Macbook Pros depreciate down to $400, (if you have $100 office tacked on). I guess its closer to $2000->$300 in 5 years.

Without Office... it looks like the Macbook Pro depreciates to $175.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-Laptop-MB990L...

Not looking good for a laptop that 5-years ago costed $2000.

Realistically, I'm seeing $500 on certain EBay deals, but really its anywhere between $175 to $500.

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#75

Post by sdnguyen90 »

zrail wrote: post #9

Apple itself has a Macbook "subscription service", actually. It's called a "Fair Market Value lease" and works basically like a car lease. http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/browse/finance/lease

I recently applied for a lease for a relatively new business that has been pretty profitable in a short time and got rejected. The Apple rep wouldn't tell us why. Will definitely be trying this service out.

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#77

Post by bradleyland »

nickconfer wrote: post #12

This seems like a difficult business to execute on. 1) You need capital to buy the machines to give out and slowly collect $60 on. Once the capital runs out, more is needed, but without getting capital quick enough, new customers have to be turned down, growth slows, and capital becomes even more difficult to acquire. 2) Since the tech and product can be easily purchased by anyone, there is room for other businesses…

There are much bigger, fundamental problems with the computer rental business. Key amongst them is the selection bias involved with "renting" anything with a relatively low purchase value.

While consumers frequently make poor financial decisions, most are able to identify that renting is going to be more expensive over the long run, thus consumers prefer to buy outright, or to use credit financing that results in ownership, even if the terms of said financing are poor (e.g., using a credit card to buy a laptop). In a given population of consumers, the ones that are going to choose the rent option either do not have the credit available to use the finance-to-buy option, or simply don't have the means to make the payment that would be required with traditional financing.

I worked for a rent-to-own company (Curtis Mathes) in the 90's, so I have some experience in the space. Overwhelmingly, Curtis Mathes' customers were people who could not get credit otherwise. They couldn't get credit otherwise because they made devastatingly bad financial decisions. When you rent low-dollar items like $1,000 living room sets, this is the customer you get. Renting MacBooks is frighteningly familiar.

If I were Technichi, this is the ball I'd keep my eye on. Curtis Mathes faced tremendous challenges that non-rent-to-own companies only see as a small blip. For example, one of the biggest problems at our location was first-payment-default. A customer would take home a full set of furniture on a promotion such as "$1 pays your first week's rent", then never make another payment. Delivery staff would pick up the furniture, which would often go straight in to the dumpster because the delinquent customer had trashed it.

When you cater to the "Oh, I can afford $XX a month!" crowd, these are the problems you have to solve.

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#78

Post by chrisrhoden »

adamnemecek wrote: post #34
chrisrhoden wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://twitter.com/TechnichiLLC It's real.

All tweets are from today. How does that prove anything?

I guess that I just assume that people are quick to congratulate themselves on a joke well pulled.

Re: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

#79

Post by bsima »

auctiontheory wrote: post #59
bsima wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought april fools also, but I'm really hoping it's true. My 4-year-old MBP has finally been outpaced by software speed needs.

I occasionally wonder whether to replace my 2009 MBP (upgraded to SSD and 8GB, naturally). What software finally vanquished your laptop?

Honestly Chrome is the worst. I'll have 10-12 tabs open (including apps like Asana and Gmail, plus a few extensions) and it takes a while to switch tabs, especially when I'm also doing development work, with Atom open, a few iTerm tabs, Activity Monitor, Finder windows, Messenger, Telegram, and Mail. Add a few daemons for servers or databases running in the background it just locks my system up.

Plus I work with data sets, and my HDD is filling up fast...

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