Yearsticker

Cost Sheet

What will each computer cost you a year?

Put the computers you are choosing between side by side. Each gets a sticker with its cost per year, per month and per hour of use. Nothing goes into a Deal Folder unless you save it (the numbers are in the page address, so the server's access log sees them: privacy).

Worked example: Laptop for school and home

  1. Keep mine: new battery and SSD$236/yr
  2. Refurbished business laptop$276/yr
  3. New 15-inch laptop$316/yr

New

New 15-inch laptop

Cost per year

$316

$26.33 a month · $0.22 an hour of use

Paid up front price, tax, setup, plan
$1,159.92
Yearly costs × 5 years
$500.00
Electricity 43.8 kWh a year
$40.10
Repairs
$0.00
Less what it sells for
−$120.00
Total over 5 years
$1,580.02

+$80 a year more than the lowest

Refurbished

Refurbished business laptop

Cost per year

$276

$23.02 a month · $0.19 an hour of use

Paid up front price, tax, setup, plan
$577.32
Yearly costs × 4 years
$400.00
Electricity 51.1 kWh a year
$37.43
Repairs
$150.00
Less what it sells for
−$60.00
Total over 4 years
$1,104.75

+$40 a year more than the lowest

Keep mine

Keep mine: new battery and SSD

Cost per year

$236

$19.69 a month · $0.16 an hour of use

Paid up front price, tax, setup, plan
$151.20
Yearly costs × 2 years
$200.00
Electricity 58.4 kWh a year
$21.39
Repairs
$100.00
Less what it sells for
$0.00
Total over 2 years
$472.59

Lowest cost per year

Change the numbers

Default 18.31¢ = U.S. residential average, July 2026 (EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A). Your bill shows your own rate.

1 New 15-inch laptop

Buying it

Running it

Ending it

2 Refurbished business laptop

Buying it

Running it

Ending it

3 Keep mine: new battery and SSD

Buying it

Running it

Ending it

Add a computer Computers 3–6 come with Sheet Pass, $1.95 a month or $19.50 a year. Free during preview.
4 Another computer

Buying it

Running it

Ending it

Leave a box empty for 0. Watts: a plug-in power meter gives the real figure; the charger's watts are only an upper limit. How it is worked out