[SAGE] Lease v. Buy

[Gilbert Wilson <gilbert@watchhouse.org>]

Hello all,

I've been lurking on the list for a while -- this is my first post.  
I'm curious as to what advice people have on leasing computer equipment 
verses buying it.  Specifically, good v. bad v. ugly?  What do people 
have to say on this issue?

Some background:

We're a small nonprofit that has never had a technology plan.  Costs 
over the years have been unplanned and, I would also add, out of 
control.  As the new system administrator it is absolutely necessary 
that I get a handle on planning and costs.  This is for my own sanity 
as much as anything else -- I don't want numbers spiraling out of 
control on my watch!

As I examined what it is we need, how much it costs, and attempted to 
plan in conjunction with depreciation I figured basic hardware/software 
costs of maintenance and upgrades would require somewhere around 4-5k a 
year (I don't remember off hand, I'm writing from home and don't have 
my figures in front of me.)  At the end of four or five years everyone 
would finally get a new computer, and we would actually have a planned 
server upgrade.  The process would then begin again...

In an interesting twist I was playing on Apple's website this afternoon 
and discovered I could get everyone at the organization brand-spanking 
new equipment at once for the same yearly expense.  Hot damn!

While in the long term (four years) we would be paying more for the 
equipment then it is worth we do get the added value of full hardware 
support and replacement that comes from a lease (worth the slight 
increase in my opinion, especially in the case of laptops).  In 
addition, leasing would make our spending predictable and deliberate; 
something that should have been enforced a long time ago.

I have to look into the details to make sure everything is what I think 
it is, and this brings me to that question up above...