There's a new book out called Simple/Smart Fixed Asset Handling in QuickBooks, for the desktop editions. It shows how to set up Inventory Part Items in a special way to work with fixed assets.

It also has a link to a free spreadsheet for calculating depreciation (not tax depreciation, but methods like SL, 1.5DB, DDB, SOYD) and shows a procedure for getting depreciation transactions prepared by the spreadsheet imported into QuickBooks as a batch. (If you have 50 assets you'll have an imported transaction with 50 lines, because the entire fixed asset list is maintained in QuickBooks, in detail.)

There's no software cost beyond the cost of QuickBooks itself--and the price of the book, of course. I think the book's method is a big improvement over using Fixed Asset Items *if* you don't want to buy Accountant or pay the $300+ cost to add FAM to Pro or Premier.