Unit price vs total cost: what a hardware budget should include
The cheapest laptop or printer is rarely the cheapest over five years. How warranty, energy, consumables and standardization change the real cost, and how to build them into a tender.
The unit price is the number everyone compares, but it’s only the first payment. Over the life of the equipment you also pay for setup, electricity, consumables, repairs, downtime and, eventually, disposal. Together these make up the total cost of ownership.
Warranty is usually the cheapest insurance
Laptops in offices typically stay in service for four to five years. Extending the warranty from one year to three, with on-site service, often costs less than a single out-of-warranty repair of a motherboard or screen. It also means the repair happens at your desk rather than after a week in a queue.
Energy adds up for anything that runs all day
A laptop’s power draw hardly matters for the budget. Servers, network equipment and desktops that stay on around the clock are different. A difference of 100 watts, running 24 hours a day, is about 876 kWh a year for every device. Multiply that by your electricity tariff and by the number of units, then by the years of service.
Efficient power supplies (look for an 80 PLUS rating on servers and desktops) and sensible sizing reduce this cost without changing how the equipment performs.
Printers: look at the cost per page
An inexpensive printer with expensive, low-yield cartridges can cost more within the first year than a pricier model with high-capacity toner. Compare the cartridge price divided by its rated page yield, then multiply by the pages you print each month.
Fewer models, less effort
Buying one or two laptop models instead of five makes everything after delivery easier: one system image to maintain, fewer spare parts, faster support and simpler training. It’s worth accepting a slightly higher unit price to keep the fleet uniform.
Deployment and disposal
Unpacking, installing software, tagging assets and delivering to several sites takes staff time. Including these services in the tender often costs less than doing them in-house. At the end of life, plan for secure data wiping and proper recycling of the equipment.
Putting total cost into a tender
When price is the deciding criterion, the specification is where total cost gets decided. You can build it in by requiring:
- a warranty period and service type that match the planned life of the equipment;
- energy efficiency ratings for equipment that runs continuously;
- a maximum cost per page, or a minimum cartridge yield, for printers;
- deployment services (imaging, tagging, delivery to each site) as part of the scope.
The lowest offer then also tends to be the one that costs least over the years. If you’re preparing a budget and want realistic numbers, send us your list. We’ll help you estimate the full cost before the tender is published.