I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this question. I am a new VA setting up my business. My husband is temporarily working from home using our laptop while he searches for permanent full time work. I'm afraid that our hours will conflict on the laptop once I get started with the business. I don't want to buy a laptop just for me because: 1-when he's working full-time it won't be necessary I can have full use of the laptop and 2- I want to progress to a desktop with graphic design capability pretty quickly. That's what my background is in. But I want the business to be up an running before I spend the dollars for that.

Has anyone heard of a source where I could rent a laptop?

If you need a second laptop, I would highly recommend you purchase one so that you can have your own software, etc. on it. The laptop hard drive would have to be completely re-formatted to clear all of your data from it and there is no guarantee that this would happen. No matter which way you go, I suggest you get a portable hard-drive (you can pick them up for under $100 at many office supply stores or through Amazon.com) and keep your data on that or, at least, use it for backup of your files.

Check the Best Buy and office supply fliers. I purchased a decent Gateway laptop computer 2 years ago for about $450 from Best Buy that still handles most of my needs. I plug it into a regular monitor on my desk and use a usb keyboard and mouse with it. It has the added functionality of being portable, if needed.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

I know you can at Aarons rents or Rent A Center. However these places ask that you have to pay for at least 6 mths.of renting. Not upfront but You have to keep it and pay for it for at least 6 mths. I have seen some other places you can rent but only in Florida near Orlando. By the time you spend the only to rent a laptop you could have bought one. So my advice is to Go ahead and look into getting that Desktop or figure out a time schedule to work for you both. QVC is a great option if you can't fork out so much money right now. I get to make payments [interest free] for about the same as you would at somewhere like Aarons Rents and you get to keep it after the 5 to 6 mths. Thats what I did.
Hoped this helped some. Good Luck!

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Marian Carter
Don't say " I should've had a VA"

Originally Posted by Office Goddess

If you need a second laptop, I would highly recommend you purchase one so that you can have your own software, etc. on it. The laptop hard drive would have to be completely re-formatted to clear all of your data from it and there is no guarantee that this would happen. No matter which way you go, I suggest you get a portable hard-drive (you can pick them up for under $100 at many office supply stores or through Amazon.com) and keep your data on that or, at least, use it for backup of your files. Check the Best Buy and office supply fliers. I purchased a decent Gateway laptop computer 2 years ago for about $450 from Best Buy that still handles most of my needs. I plug it into a regular monitor on my desk and use a usb keyboard and mouse with it. It has the added functionality of being portable, if needed.

Office Goddess,
Thanks for the advice - I didn't think about having to clear the data from it - that's a good point. The portable hard drive is a good idea too.

Originally Posted by micarter

I know you can at Aarons rents or Rent A Center. However these places ask that you have to pay for at least 6 mths.of renting. Not upfront but You have to keep it and pay for it for at least 6 mths. I have seen some other places you can rent but only in Florida near Orlando. By the time you spend the only to rent a laptop you could have bought one. So my advice is to Go ahead and look into getting that Desktop or figure out a time schedule to work for you both. QVC is a great option if you can't fork out so much money right now. I get to make payments [interest free] for about the same as you would at somewhere like Aarons Rents and you get to keep it after the 5 to 6 mths. Thats what I did. Hoped this helped some. Good Luck!

Looks like I had better just bite the bullet and buy a desk or laptop. You're right about the renting - after 6 months I could have paid for one anyway.

Yes you could. I looked into all the options when I first started as well and chose the QVC option because I was working on a shoestring budget but needed the computer, badly! You can check out their website and see if it works for you. Good luck!

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Marian Carter
Don't say " I should've had a VA"

I agree with Marian, by the time you pay the rental you could have purchased one. However that is not the real point here, it is the one Lily brought up. Your clients are going to want to know what security and confidentiality methods you have in place. If I found out my assistant was using a rental computer I would be thinking twice about using them due to security issues.

There are many inexpensive alternative available and being a business owner there are some things that you just need to splurge on. Buy something that may be able to be upgraded in the future so that it will eventually meet all your need.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Originally Posted by leedrozak

I agree with Marian, by the time you pay the rental you could have purchased one. However that is not the real point here, it is the one Lily brought up. Your clients are going to want to know what security and confidentiality methods you have in place. If I found out my assistant was using a rental computer I would be thinking twice about using them due to security issues. There are many inexpensive alternative available and being a business owner there are some things that you just need to splurge on. Buy something that may be able to be upgraded in the future so that it will eventually meet all your need.

Your second opinion is great advice, thanks.