Dilemma - what should I do?

LavenderLily_2

If you look at my sig you will see how much debt my DH and I have and the snowball calculator puts us at a debt free date of Feb 2009. :eek:

Anyway, for over a year now my DH has been saying that he needs a new computer. He is a network engineer but he mainly uses his home computer for gaming. He and my brother usually get together and play online games like Eve at the weekends. DH is a very hard-working man and he does a fab job of supporting our family (we have a 2 year old son) and this is what he does to unwind. :rolleyes:

Anyway, he needs a new computer because, and I know he is right, his computer is on its last legs and is so out of date that he can't play a lot of the more modern games now. My brother is going blind and there is limited time left before his vision becomes so bad he won't be able to play computer games any more so my DH wants to make the most of the time they have.

We talked about the situation and decided that, since the computer that he would need would cost approx £1200, we just couldn't afford it yet but then my DH suggested something which swayed me. He is currently quite overweight and I've been begging him to lose weight for his health but he's lacked motivation. However, he said if he could lose 2 and a half stones (so back in 'healthy range') could he then buy the computer? Excited at the prospect of him becoming healthy, I agreed. Problem is, he's already lost half a stone in the last fortnight and I'm panicking a bit. While it's great that he's getting fit, I'll be honest and say I didn't really take him seriously but now it looks like we'll be £1200 more in debt very soon.:eek: :eek: :eek:

What should I do????

hypno06

How would you fund the purchase of the computer. If you have to borrow, then you have to make sure that you are able to repay, otherwise no matter how "healthy" he is, it will not be doing YOUR health any good.

Weight loss always slows down though, so time is not running away with you too much x

Joek_2

Hi ya!

Point blank, there isn't any need to fork out that kind of dosh for a new computer, so don't panic.

I'm an unspeakable nerd when it comes to these things, and you could quite easily get one which would do everything he needs for possibly half that amount.

Now, if he's not afraid to get his hands dirty a bit, then he could very easily build his own by buying componants from sites like ebuyer.com, or dabs.com. As long as you take a bit of time, it's suprisingly easy to do, and actually rather fulfilling when you get the thing to work.

And you could quite easily get a very decent machine for about £400, or even lower.

Put it this way, a couple of years ago, I did it, and picked up everything for that price, and a year later I sold it on eBay for more than I paid for it!

And if you have a monitor still, then it lowers the price further!

So yes, nothing's free (unfortunately), but you really don't need to spend over a grand on a good PC - and anyone who tells you different isn't helping!

LavenderLily_2

Hi, yeah we would have to borrow it - we'd put it on our credit card which is 0% until Feb but then 12.9%. Thing is, we already owe so much that, even though we'll be able to keep up our repayments, it will just add about 6 months on to our debt free date

LavenderLily_2

Joek wrote: »

Hi ya!

Point blank, there isn't any need to fork out that kind of dosh for a new computer, so don't panic.

I'm an unspeakable nerd when it comes to these things, and you could quite easily get one which would do everything he needs for possibly half that amount.

Now, if he's not afraid to get his hands dirty a bit, then he could very easily build his own by buying componants from sites like ebuyer.com, or dabs.com. As long as you take a bit of time, it's suprisingly easy to do, and actually rather fulfilling when you get the thing to work.

And you could quite easily get a very decent machine for about £400, or even lower.

Put it this way, a couple of years ago, I did it, and picked up everything for that price, and a year later I sold it on eBay for more than I paid for it!

And if you have a monitor still, then it lowers the price further!

So yes, nothing's free (unfortunately), but you really don't need to spend over a grand on a good PC - and anyone who tells you different isn't helping!

Thank you! My DH was planning on building the pooter himself but this was the price he quoted me from his searches of the web. I will show him your links and see what he can do.

hypno06

Perhaps you can give him an "allowance" of, say, £15 for every lb that he loses towards the cost of his computer. That way, his budget for spending is directly related to how much weight he has lost, and you are likely to end up with a budget far lower than his original £1200?

2 and a half stone is 35lbs. So at £10 a lb, that is £350 and at £15 a lb is £525 (if my maths is right, which is debateable).

Sorry, I know nothing about computers themselves though that will be of any assistance!

Adrasteia01

https://www.komplett.co.uk have pcs and components.
I'm debating (with myself) as to whether I should get myself a new laptop off there.

jobbingmusician

If you go here, there are lots of people who will give you a friendly hand with computer building.

No personal interest, honest, it's just a forum that DH (who DOES build computers, even though he has sight problems too) belongs to, and they are a friendly lot. OK, I belong too, even though I'm a girlie, but just for the silly chat

If I hadn't built a computer before, I would post an initial post asking what things to be aware of. For example, I know they wear special wrist straps to reduce static..:rolleyes:

Uniscots97

Joek is right, I work in the IT industry (guess my name gives it away) and I spec'd a similar pc for my Dad and it came in at 370-400. So there's no way you need to spend 1200.

peterg1965

Another suggestion, if I may, dismantle the old computer when you get the new one and sell the parts on ebay. You would be surprised how much PC memory and other items sell for, even if they may be a bit out of date. Could you use th current case and just buy new bits, to save money?