Laptop Rental, Downtown DC, Local Shipping

March 4, 2013 12:21 PM

My laptop is no longer able to travel. I need a backup for a meeting over the weekend. Does anyone in the DC area know of a company that rents laptops on a daily/weekly basis in the downtown area or close in? I'm in downtown DC and metro accessible is do-able; drives to gaithersburg/columbia are not. It's too late to get one shipped from many of the online companies. Any leads appreciated. Thanks.
posted by elle.jeezy to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

Best answer I have ever found is to buy a laptop outright, then return it for the cost of the restocking fee once you are done (and have restored the machine to its original state).

I worked for a retail Apple specialist that had no rentals available, but we had a number of customers asking for that service. Our sales manager just pointed them to the 30-day return policy and the 10% restocking fee, then let them draw their own conclusions.

Some people feel that that is less than ethical, but if you are having a hard time getting your needs met on this, this is probably the best way to go. Just be sure that the return policy is liberal enough, and make sure that you keep everything as close to 'like new' as you can.
posted by drfu at 2:28 PM on March 4, 2013