[JonWood]

> These laptops would cost a normal human about $600, but for some reason my company leases them instead.

For some reason the corporate world considers money spent in big blocks to be a different kind of money to that spent over an extended period of time. Unless they have a really good interest rate on their bank accounts I have no idea why, but spending more money in smaller amounts over an extended period is the holy grail.

[rbanffy]

If you buy a computer, it becomes a company asset and, from an accounting PoV, the money was not "spent". If you lease it (and give it back at the end of the lease) you only had expenses (and, from accounting's PoV, money spent).

Various factors may make one option preferable to the other. Taxes, executive bonuses etc.

If part of the yearly bonus is tied to investing less in infrastructure, an exec may opt for leasing hardware. OTOH, if the bonus is tied to lowering expenses, the exec may consider buying it.

[thomasz]

It's always about accounting and/or externalizing risk.