BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Where did John get the laptop, I wonder?

**Posted by kgreen20** May 1, 2016 6:18 pm

At the beginning of the show, John was too poor to afford to buy his own smartphone, so how was he able to afford a laptop? They're no less expensive than a smartphone would be, I know. Any ideas as to how he was able to get one to do his blog on?

**Posted by Ivy** May 1, 2016 6:37 pm

Maybe it was second hand, or he already had it for a long time or it was a present.

**Posted by Liberty** May 1, 2016 8:05 pm

How do we know he can't afford a phone? He had Harry's phone at the beginning, so wouldn't have needed one. Did I miss something on the show or the blog?

Anyway, yes, maybe he could already have had a laptop, bought when he was employed. Or it could be a case of priorities (perhaps he needed it to look for jobs, make a CV, etc.).

**Posted by nakahara** May 1, 2016 8:27 pm

In my opinion, John had some issues with money at the beginning of the series, because his London flat was too expensive to maintain. But that fact doesn´t mean he was as poor as a churchmouse even before he returned to London. As a doctor, his pay in the army was probably quite nice and he could buy any laptop or other such triffle easily, any time. It was only after he was discharged from the army and lost his income that he had some difficulties with money. But even in this situation he could afford to pay for Ella´s sessions, so....

**Posted by besleybean** May 1, 2016 8:29 pm

To be fair, the army may pay for Ella's sessions.

**Posted by kgreen20** May 2, 2016 4:26 pm

Or else it was run by the NHS. Good point about his army pay, nakahara. Perhaps it was easier for John to afford a laptop while he was in the army than it was after he was discharged, especially if it was secondhand.

Yes, he had Harry's smartphone, not his own; his finances being what they were, a new smartphone was not an option for him. He wouldn't have had to look for a flatshare if he were well-off enough financially to afford to buy his own smartphone.

Last edited by kgreen20 (May 2, 2016 4:27 pm)

**Posted by Liberty** May 2, 2016 5:36 pm

Realistically, he probably would be looking for a flatshare in central London, even when he had work - I believe rents are very high. But I don't understand why he would need/want two smartphones? Harry's was supposed to be a fancy, expensive one.

**Posted by kgreen20** May 2, 2016 5:48 pm

To quote John, he couldn't afford London on an army pension, and I gather from the way he said it that he meant not just central London, either (which is expensive to live in, I agree). A new smartphone would have been an expense he just couldn't afford.

**Posted by nakahara** May 2, 2016 7:05 pm

If John was more like me, he simply wouldn´t be interested in buying a new smartphone, if the older model he owned was still perfectly functionable...

**Posted by TeddyWally** May 24, 2016 11:55 am

Well maybe someone just gave it to him? It doesn't mean that he bought it himself

**Posted by Ariane DeVere** May 24, 2016 1:55 pm

I'm of the opinion that he already had the laptop before he was discharged. It could easily be a couple/few years old.

It was only after his discharge that money would have been a problem, I imagine, i.e. once he'd gone onto pension instead of salary. Also, with his tremor, limp and general PTSD he was unlikely to get any kind of work for some time, hence the search for a flatshare.

**Posted by kgreen20** May 24, 2016 8:39 pm

Good point, and both of you may well be right. John probably did get the laptop while he was in the army, either as a gift or as a purchase. As you said, Ariane, money wouldn't have been the big issue while he was in the army that it became when he was discharged. And even if he did buy it, it may have been secondhand, and therefore, a few years old (which would have made it much cheaper than a new laptop would be).

Obviously, he did not choose to get a cell phone while he was in the army, as we Americans would call it. Or if he did, it wasn't a smartphone like the one Harry gave him after his discharge, If it wasn't, both the phone and the plan he would have been on would have been much cheaper than a smartphone would be. It may have given out before he was discharged, leaving him in need of a new phone when he returned to England to live (a need that his sister met when she gave him hers).

Last edited by kgreen20 (May 25, 2016 6:50 pm)

**Posted by Liberty** May 25, 2016 6:57 am

Smartphones can be quite cheap here (from under £30). (An army captain's salary is way above the national average, so I'm sure he could have bought both a phone and a laptop when employed). But even if he owned a phone when he was employed, he might have replaced it with Harry's if that was a better one. I still don't understand why he would buy one if he had Harry's?

**Posted by kgreen20** May 25, 2016 6:25 pm

For that matter, why would he accept Harry's if he already had one? Harry would have seen no need to give him hers, even to get rid of it, if he already had his own smartphone. And as Sherlock said in "A Study in Pink," "You're looking for a flat share; you wouldn't waste money on this--it's a gift, then." And I have a feeling that he was right.

Last edited by kgreen20 (May 25, 2016 6:25 pm)

**Posted by Liberty** May 25, 2016 6:44 pm

Oh, I see what you mean now! I took it to mean that John wouldn't waste money on an expensive phone like that. Maybe Harry didn't give him it because he needed a phone, but because she was having difficulties with Clara. And he accepted it because it was better than the one he had (if he had one). I think it's a good point though, that if he could have bought the laptop before he was looking for a flat share, then he could have bought the phone while he was still employed too. So Sherlock's deduction about it being a gift is on false premises, really. The inscription is a much better indicator of it being a gift. (Funny that it doesn't it occur to him that John might have stolen it - I suppose he had John summed up!).