iMac costs $500/ year -- Should you upgrade every two years??

[adamk77]

 

 

[propower]

I wish it was only $500
The options do not hold value anywhere near the stock configurations. SSD - extra RAM (3rd party) and AppleCare don't hold much value - they just make things easier to sell. (IMO of course


My 2017 3.8 with 1TB SSD and 8+32G Crucial Ram Trackpad2 with tax and AC was ~$3450. This had some small discount for being a business that seems to have gone away.
Trade in value at Apple - $1250 (this price is ridiculous)
So that's $1,100 a year!

Ball park for private sale is $2K - $2.5K. Using the low end ~$725 per year.
New 2019 i5, 1TB, Apple Care, Trackpad, 32G Crucial ram + tax = ~$3520.
So still around $750 a year )so only 50% higher than $500).

But this year as before - need more SSD, need more CPU. The CPU increase is a lot more than i5 to i7 was - so take that to i9 and 2TB SSD, (forgo the Vega for now) -
$4673! Expensive upgrades!

So looks more like $1200 or so a year at this time to get new and upgrade. The used price on the i7 from 2017 would make little difference here.

 

[TheyCallMeBT]

If you’re in the US, then it doesn’t cost you $500 per year unless you have the stupidest accountant in the world. If you do your own and use a decent tax program, it still doesn’t.

I make my living on my iMac and have for many years. A home user who doesn’t won’t be able to enjoy the tax benefits we enjoyed (till 2018, at least grrrrrr!)



I see nothing in the 2019 iMac i9 that makes it better than the iMac Pro for this — which is why I pulled the trigger on one yesterday.



Don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of trading up every few years like my iPhone.

This is the first time I’ve ever not leased mine going back to my $7,700 Mac Plus system in 1986 (I can still itemize every component). Business leasing made taxes easy in that you could write off 100% every year except the $1 you paid at the end. The tax code has removed the penalties for buying outright. When I tried to find a business lease for my new system, no one really does them for anything that small.

Usually, it’s TurboTax (formerly MacInTax) that forced the upgrade, not the applications I use to make my living. This year is no different — TT Home & Business runs like a glacier on my 2010 over OS 10.13.3. At least it runs but life’s too short for an app that slow.

Ok, FinalCut Pro is no picnic anymore, my AV use has increased and my DAW updates are starting to make my 2010 feel as old as I am. I’ve wanted to upgrade, the 2019 has been released, the iMac Pro is perfect for me and used prices came down a little.

All those posts explaining that people like I don’t really need something newer haven’t a clue about how many of us use our Macs.

So, it’s time to buy again...

... and write it off over time.

Yeah, I'm not an idiot nor is my tax preparer. Of course I deducted from my taxes. So that takes, what about $300 more off? But I was writing this thinking on the purchase side and also where everyone could relate.

When you said enjoy the tax benefits up until 2018-- what change are you referring to?
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If I want to sell something fast, I find eBay to be the fastest route because of the sheer number of of eyeballs. The downside is that you need to factor in the cost of the non-negligible fees. Nine times out of ten, I want to sell it fast so it tends to be eBay.

However, IMO the biggest downside to eBay is their joke of a "Seller's Protection Program". It's so heavily rigged in favor of buyers it's not even funny.

I'm not a business, but an individual who has been selling used personal stuff on eBay for the past 18 years. Over the course of 18 years, I have 100% positive feedback without even a single neutral feedback. I'm honest and open about any defects, include lot of detailed photos, answer any questions as transparently as possible, and try my best to ship it out the same day because I know the feeling of eagerly waiting for something.

I do not accept returns, and it is clearly marked on the eBay listing. I even call it out in the description. However, it doesn't mean anything.

A while back I sold a watch. 40 DAYS later, the buyer requests a refund, stating in his refund requests a simple one-liner, "It stopped working yesterday." From my perspective, it was working perfectly the past couple of years that I've owned it. And it was working for the buyer for 40 DAYS until it mysteriously stopped working.

I checked eBay's policy and it said that returns are only accepted within 30 days. So I rejected the refund. How am I supposed to believe that the buyer did not damage it himself when it was in his possession for 40 days? Anyways, I thought that was that as the eBay policy was clearly on my side.

Then the next day he requests a dispute through Paypal saying the item was "not as described". I opened a dispute, uploaded all the original photos, the original listing, the statement from the buyer saying that it stopped working 40 days after he received it.

I thought, "Even most brick and mortar stores don't accept returns after 30 days. I'm sure Paypal will side with me. It's been 40 days." Then Paypal sided with the buyer. I was surprised to learn that a buyer has up to 180 DAYS (that's like half an year!) to request a refund through Paypal!

Seller protection is such a joke. Will both eBay and Paypal refund me the fees? Nope, they didn't. I mean what's to stop anyone from claiming that the item isn't "as described" whenever he/she has a buyer's remorse? A month, two or even half a year later? What a joke.

I know things can legitimately fail. However, that's part of the risk you take by buying something used at a significant discount. If the item was dead on arrival, had physical damages during shipping, etc then I can work something out. The bottom line is that it has to be reasonable.

Just be mindful of this when selling expensive items on eBay.

That sucks! Yeah, I had heard stories about how eBay and Paypal take the buyer's side pretty much always. That's why I haven't sold on it in a while. I also don't really like selling my cameras or computers to people that I know. Because it might be three years later and they'll say something like.. "Hey, your camera started messing up the other day". Then I'll immediately turn around and say, "You mean YOUR camera?". I don't want to deal with a colleague or friend insinuating that it's my fault when the used electronic hardware messes up (family I don't care as much, I can handle them). So those things combined.. that's why I like trading in to Apple, or selling to B&H's used department or Gazelle for cell phones, etc. I sell it, and wipe my hands clean of it, no ties.

 

[mikehalloran]

Yeah, I'm not an idiot nor is my tax preparer. Of course I deducted from my taxes. So that takes, what about $300 more off?

Not if you do it right.

My point was that it does not cost you $500 a year. If you have to ask the real costs, it should be to your accountant. Of course, the government doesn't pay you to own one (unless you're in certain business categories such as oil, mining, agriculture or real estate, then yes they do).

When you said enjoy the tax benefits up until 2018-- what change are you referring to?

Have you finished 2018?

Many small business owners and work-from-home employees who are told to deduct their home office expenses by their employers were absolutely, royally screwed by the recent changes in the Tax Code.

If you weren't, good for you.

To go on in that vein is to take this off-topic into politics. Not going there.

 

[Yester5]

This is an excellent thread! Thank you OP and for all the excellent posts

 

[TheyCallMeBT]

Not if you do it right.

My point was that it does not cost you $500 a year. If you have to ask the real costs, it should be to your accountant. Of course, the government doesn't pay you to own one (unless you're in certain business categories such as oil, mining, agriculture or real estate, then yes they do).

Have you finished 2018?

Many small business owners and work-from-home employees who are told to deduct their home office expenses by their employers were absolutely, royally screwed by the recent changes in the Tax Code.

If you weren't, good for you.

To go on in that vein is to take this off-topic into politics. Not going there.

Ok, gotcha. I kind of keep a middle line between knowing enough about taxes and just paying my tax preparer to take care of it. Haha. And I'm self employed. I wasn't aware of those changes. If it's more about employees who work from home, it wouldn't apply to me. But my tax preparer is pretty good about communicating with me. I'll check with them to make sure that I'm good. Thanks for the heads up!
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This is an excellent thread! Thank you OP and for all the excellent posts

Thank you! I was hoping this would help some people. I'm glad I could contribute something to this forum, since the forum has helped me so much. And you're welcome!

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Yeah, we have a chain here called Simply Mac. They have about 50 locations in the US. They also do trade in if you're buying. But I'm guessing they wouldn't offer more than Apple. There's a good chance they would match it, but I'd rather just go through Apple. They don't tend to keep BTO models in stock.

So I just checked an AASP I used to work at, they guarantee 50% of the purchase value of the Mac if you upgrade within two years and purchased AppleCare. Just FYI.

 

[TheyCallMeBT]

So I just checked an AASP I used to work at, they guarantee 50% of the purchase value of the Mac if you upgrade within two years and purchased AppleCare. Just FYI.

Interesting. If it's a chain, what's the name of the store?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Jump+. I believe Carbon Computing does it too.

 

[nrvna76]

Not if you do it right.

My point was that it does not cost you $500 a year. If you have to ask the real costs, it should be to your accountant. Of course, the government doesn't pay you to own one (unless you're in certain business categories such as oil, mining, agriculture or real estate, then yes they do).

Have you finished 2018?

Many small business owners and work-from-home employees who are told to deduct their home office expenses by their employers were absolutely, royally screwed by the recent changes in the Tax Code.

If you weren't, good for you.

To go on in that vein is to take this off-topic into politics. Not going there.

I’m looking a lot into this for my wife’s small photography business. She’s been using our family computer since she started the business and now we’re considering investing in a new iMac specifically for her. Can you elaborate on what you mean by “not if you do it right”.

 

[nihil0]

Is it really nowadays necessary to upgrade every 2 years? The differences between basic top-tier 27 inch models from 2017 and 2019 are negligible (i5 cpu "boost" around 7%-15% /depends on what you use it for/ and gpu is only clocked slightly higher). Maybe every 4 years is better (but that only if in 2021 for 2017 users Apple will bring 15-30% cpu boost and videocard which has either hbm2 memory or more than 8 gb vram in basic top tier models).

 

[MRrainer]

It really depends on what you do with it. For what I do, even my 2012 i7 Mini + SSD is enough. It does start to get a bit sluggish, but that's with two dozen or more tabs open and lots of other stuff.

It's really a personal choice how much money you're willing to spend on IT related gear (smartwatch, smartphone, tablet, headphones, computer, laptop, printer/scanner, display....) in a certain period of time.

The more devices you have, the more you're going to spend on keeping them updated.