Laptop Rentals

With computers in general already having become a vital item of day to day life and now laptops are moving into this role the area of laptop and computer rentals has taken off, allowing you to hire a computer on a fixed fee over a fixed period. We are going to have a look at the costs, how the contracts work and what the pros and cons of this sort of arrangement are for normal users.

Why would you think about renting? Well renting covers many options, obviously if your computer were broken or stolen and you needed a laptop to cover the period before your insurance money came through to get a new one you might need to rent if you work free-lance or need your own computer for your work. There are other options available with renting though, rental companies offer a wide range of desktops and laptops from the most basic up to large, high end machines with powerful processors and graphics, a user may need this added power on a temporary basis even if their normal laptop is fine. Additionally rental allows you to hire a number of computers, often at a reduced rate if you were to need ten or twenty machines to run a course or training scheme over a limited period. Unless you or your company will need these machines constantly rental can be a huge saving with its associated IT support over buying the machines outright. Rentals are also aimed at businesses on a longer term basis as a way of providing IT kit and remaining up to date with the fast pace of hardware change. Even fully installed and integrated server setups are available for rent at reasonable prices.

Prices vary considerably based on the specification of the machine you are intending on renting, the number of machines and the contract length as well as on the provider with some being far less expensive than others so shopping around is vital. Determine the specifications of the machine you will need and the time period over which you will need it, this is easy to increase later if needed but will be more expensive to do so under most contracts than determining the period correctly at the beginning. If you are planning on a longer term lease make sure you check how that compares to buying outright, it would take less than a year for renting to cost you more than most systems would new. Things to look out for include the `hidden fees`, as so many of the customers are businesses quotes often exclude the twenty percent VAT and can also exclude insurance, an important option to take as you are responsible for any damage to the laptop. Delivery can also be expensive. Rentals start at around £65 per month for yearly contracts increasing to £100 to £150 for a single month.

Rental is best for a temporary need for a normal user or a practical option for a business, especially new businesses who cannot afford the initial capital outlay of equipping themselves fully with expensive IT equipment. Shopping around aggressively is extremely important as the market is still a relatively new one so the deals on offer vary wildly making hunting for the best laptop deals extremely worthwhile for rentals.

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