Hi John,
Check with your employer as they may be able to organise a laptop
through their corporate supplier for a better rate (if they have one
that is). Also, if a laptop can be claimed as a work related expense
you might be able to get your work to take it out of your before tax
salary which will effectively make it cheaper again. I did this a
couple of years ago so my iBook + extra ram + backpack was priced at
just over $2,000 but I ended up out of pocket only about $1,300. The
savings are all dependent on your top marginal tax rate of course.
If the work situation doesn't apply to you you might be able to find
a friend who could help you out. The FBT year in Australia runs 1
April - 30 March and you can claim 1 laptop per FBT year. This would
mean a friend would still be able to get another new laptop in the
not too distant future.
You can also claim 33% depreciation on it each year (for 3 years),
further reducing your tax bill (although you shouldn't really do this
if you've bought it with before tax dollars).
Speak to the accountants at work about it. You can also claim for
other things (or part thereof) like PDAs, internet, mobile phone, etc.
If you can do the tax thing then that will be the cheapest. Otherwise
with the strong Aussie dollar you could possibly get one sent from
the USA but you'll need to be careful when it comes to customs as
they'll probably charge you duty on it. If you can get a friend in
the USA to wrap it like a present and send it to you that *might*
help - not sure.
Hope that helps!
Stuart
</tax lesson>
On 24/01/2008, at 8:18 PM, John Hunt wrote:
> I live in Australia, and I'm buying a Dell pc next month to replace my
> trusty but rusty thinkpad r50e.
>
> I don't have a great deal of money as I'm saving up for a wedding
> etc..
> but I've heard and read in the past that it's possible to get money
> back
> from these manufacturers if you don't agree to the windows install
> thing
> upon booting.
>
> Is this true? Is it possible? Would it be more hastle than it's worth?
>
> Dell Australia unfortunately don't sell any machines with Linux on
> (afaik!) Which is a real shame.
>
> Any ideas anyone?
>
> Cheers,
> John.
>
> --
> John Hunt - johnrhunt@???
> http://john-hunt.com/
>
>
> --
> Please post to: Hampshire@???
> Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire
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