Do you still use your personal laptop if your employer provides a laptop for you?
I have recently left my employer and had to return the employer-owned laptop. What are the reasons for purchasing/owning a laptop for myself if most employers in the IT industry are providing this hardware for you? (Wondering if I should buy a new laptop for myself now or wait until my future employer provides me with one)
Good Answers (7)
Roger S
Owner and Principal Synthesist, TechSynthesis and Senior Programmer/Analyst at QSS
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If you start your own business (or even just a website) using your employer's laptop, your employer may own some or all of your business. If all you're going to do is work for your employer, sure, you don't need your own computer. But if you plan to do anything else -- from having a personal blog to updating your resume to starting your own company -- you want your own computer.
Ken R
Senior Systems Manager at AT&T - Midrange Operational Security and Compliance Team.
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I have a laptop issued for work, but I bought my own laptop out of the ownership question. I am able to install what I want, handle it how I want, etc. Given the rise in identity and information theft, companies are clamping down on what a user can and cannot do, even on laptops.
And, I have also thought about your situation too. Though I back things up, etc, if I would go into the office tomorrow morning, and while I am there, find that I am being let go, there may be personal items on the laptop that I may need to get that I no longer have access to.
But, some of it does come down to the policies of the company you work for. If the company you work for allows you alot of freedom with the laptop you were issued, then it is not so much of an issue, unless you lose your job. However, more and more companies have policies that restrict what you may and may not do on those laptops.
Some of these concerns that are driving corporate policies include:
1) Unlicensed software and potential fines
2) Potential legal issues with inappropriate content on a work-owned computer
3) Data and system security
Expect that one will have less and less freedom with how a corporate owned laptop may be used.
Absolutely! As a .NET developer, I don't get much chance to get on my Macbook until I get home. It's lighter, heats up less, and is much more functional for my passion when I'm home, music.
On top of that, it's a much more portable laptop that gives me all of the access I need whenever I'm on the road, as well as being functional to a point for development work utilizing Parallels. I can run multiple OS's side-by-side and move easily from Linux to Windows development with a small usb powered hard drive.
Jon:
With the overwhelming number of corporate IT responses it's no surprise you're getting quite of few "no personal use" responses. This usually boils down to you evaluating the situation at your new employer and making a decision after you weigh the risks.
What seems more relevant to me is whether or not you *need* a laptop until you land at the new gig. That might be a stronger driver for you.
A hybrid solution I've used in the past is to get a portable external hard drive, load your OS, applications and personal files on the drive (make sure to back it up somewhere else!); boot from this drive when you want to do "personal" tasks on your work machine, then reboot off the internal drive to do the work stuff. No co-mingling of data...
Good luck.
I'd say it's fine to use your work laptop for personal use, depending of course on the amount of freedom you have within your company. Take the proper security precautions, of course. I'd recommend separate partitions with separate OS installations -- one for work and one for play. I also can't stress enough that the work partition (at the least) MUST be encrypted (http://www.truecrypt.org/ is a good option). All those horror stories about customer information being lost by big corporations are due in large part to inadequate security measures.
A quick answer - if you demand the best, then buy your own laptop for personal use and work, but if you prefer to save money then just wait for the new work laptop. The work laptop will probably be restricted in the software it will run, but it is free! Just make sure you put your personal data in a separate directory, and back it up to an external drive every week. If you get your own laptop, I recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 .
Links:
I use my work laptop almost exclusively now- simply because it is faster. However, I think of everything done on the company laptop as being known or able to be discovered by my company. I don't think anyone would mind that I'm writing a few emails to family in off hours or doing tutorials that will improve my skills at my job in my off time. I wouldn't do anything that I didn't want my employer to know about. I do still use the personal laptop for certain personal activities (keeping track of bank accounts and bills, playing online games, etc)
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Marc A
Product, Program and Project Manager
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Hell yes!!
Employer laptops are notoriously crappy for gaming!
This laptop that was issued to you for the sole purpose of mobility when it comes to your day to day tasks. You are required to use it for office related activities only. Using a personal laptop for office purposes could be a security issue in your new company. I suggest that you identify your needs when it comes to having a laptop. If you think that you are going to use it for gaming and for personal emails, like Jon mentioned, then get yourself one. If you will be using it for office stuff often, then just buy a thumb drive for back up.
Brian L
Manager IT Governance Freescale Semiconductor
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For me the main thing that receiving an employer assigned laptop has done is make me retire the Desktop computer in the house. The wife and I each have a assigned work laptop, as well, we both have a personal laptop, It can be a pain with 4 laptops around when we are both working/playing from home in the evenings, but I find that it is much better to seperate business from pleasure! My recommendation is to go ahead and buy you a laptop will fit your personal needs.
Salman K
GM Business Development, AET
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Jon,
There are some things in life better owned. It leaves one more independent.
I strongly recommend that you get your own. And do "not" use your official machine for personal work or to store data.
Rarely...
Sheilah E
Owner, ★SME Management:.......... Business Management and Accounting Consultant
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Employer issued laptops are for WORK, not personal use. Buy your own laptop to use for your own needs.
Sheilah
Darrin B
Owner, Tek Solutions, Inc. a BusinessTechnology and Services Consultant
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YOUR laptop is for your personal business, your jobs laptop is for the companies business. Neither system should ever cross that line.
Raghav H
Interested to network with me ? Just send an Inmail to me !!
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Employer gives it for Work and you need one to do your personal stuff
Buy your own and you can put what you want on it. Work ones tend to be locked down and when things go pear shaped you will probably lose all your personal info.
I guess buying ur own laptop is better in any case
Jan S
President, Simpson Management Group
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You should have your own laptop - and you keep it updated - so if you have to buy a new one every three years - you should do so -unless of course you buy a MAC - most employer assigned laptops are either used (it's like buying a rental car that has been driven 100K) or like the last time I had one - had a manufacuturer's virus and defect - that was really wonderful - You should find a great techie guy within the company that can help you if you need any technical help - good luck - watch out which operating system you get on the laptop - I have Vista - the worst -worse than XP -
Michael S
CEO Professional Blog Service. Love to network.
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Jon -
I always use my own. It eliminates issues with ownership of work produced with the computer and keeps the IT department from being able to spy on me without breaking a lot of laws.
Just being redundant at this point, but I wouldn't even take my laptop home from the office most days. Work stuff stays on the work laptop. I don't really want work stuff on any other computer, in fact.
Illona C
Information Technology and Services Professional, Technical Writer, Business Analyst
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Well, not all companies permit you to install software othe than their "approved" software. If you want to install something for Taxes, a Game, etc. you cannot.
Also, what wll you do with any personal filesyou want to keep? Sure you can write them to CD, but did you just have to do that with the laptop you returned?
Also, some people have a desktop PC at home that is their own and use the company supplied laptop as needed.
illona
yeah i do since my personal laptop is a MacBook Pro and my employer provided me a Dell.
It depends on the company policy.
I don't like the idea to use my company laptop for personal needs.
If you tend to use it for personal needs consider a virtual environment for personal applications/data. A solution like VMWare for instance...
Robert G
Principal, Robert Gezelter Software Consultant
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Jon,
It is simple. The employer's laptop and ALL OF THE THINGS STORED ON IT are the property of the employer. More importantly, as some have discovered, it can be copied and examined at will by said employer (at least in many jurisdictions).
Does it matter? Yes. I am not an attorney, but owner's consent for a search is, I suspect sufficient to perform that search. For that matter, internal IT can just walk in and take the laptop.
I would recommend caution.
