Advice on buying a mac whilst in the USA

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I am going to be traveling to NY in early 2007. With the dollar being so weak against the pound at the moment, purchasing a mac whilst there will be far far cheaper. I am looking at getting a macbook 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo which retails for around £913 in the UK but I can grab it for £826 with student discount as I am currently at university (this is why I am after a laptop as I am a graphic designer).



The same mac to buy instore from apple in the USA is only £660 which is cheaper than the cheapest macbook in the UK. Obviously, financially it makes far more sense to purchase one whilst I am over there.



Is there anything I should know about going down this route? E.g. when I bring it back to the UK will I lose my warranty? I believe if the macbook is still packaged in its original box and sealed I'm likely to get stung by import duty (any ideas how much this will be btw), but I was told by a friend if I send it back to myself from the US to a residential address I wont have to pay any import duty as it can be declared as a gift (not the case if am company/business was sending it direct from their premises). Anything else or any otherways of picking up the same laptop at a similar price would be of great help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    I don't believe you will have any problems. Just buy the 3 year warrantee.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    Why would you suggest that I get the 3 year warranty? Do macs have a habbit of breaking or something?
  • Reply 3 of 8
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Discard the packaging and take back the laptop in a standard laptop case. You may get import duty problems even if you declare it a gift.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    I say: do it. Listen to amorya about the duty, and get used to having, as far as I know, a slightly different keyboard layout.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by perl105


    Why would you suggest that I get the 3 year warranty? Do macs have a habbit of breaking or something?



    No, they don't tend to break more easily than other manufacturer's notebooks. It's just a fact that a single repair on such a delicate piece of technology - no matter how small the part is - will cost you more than the extended warranty costs!



    Apple - as almost everyone else in that industry - charges a fixed amount of money per repair if the machine is out of warranty. So replacing the keyboard will cost as much as replacing the mainboard or the screen or anything else in or on your notebook. So it is strongly advised to buy AppleCare with your new notebook. You can do that anytime during the first year after purchase of your notebook.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    How does the keyboard layout and differ?



    Amorya said to discard the packaging, is this just the extrior packaging or the manuals and cds and anything else that comes with..... what about reciepts?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    THe idea here is not to declare the item through customs. This is the same idea as sending it to yourself as a gift.



    Also:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...ican_keyboards
  • Reply 8 of 8
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel View Post


    I say: do it. Listen to amorya about the duty, and get used to having, as far as I know, a slightly different keyboard layout.



    The only real difference is that you miss out on the §± key. Which is useless anyway! The £ vs # is just a cosmetic difference, and you can change that in software. The return key is a different shape too, but it's easy enough to adapt to.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by perl105 View Post


    How does the keyboard layout and differ?



    Amorya said to discard the packaging, is this just the extrior packaging or the manuals and cds and anything else that comes with..... what about reciepts?



    I meant, don't come through with a laptop in its box. They'd get suspicious! If you keep it in a carrying case, it'll look just like it's your laptop that you took on the trip. You could always fold the box up and put it in your hold luggage, if you wanted to keep it. CDs are fine to keep. I usually bring my OS CDs with me on a trip anyway, just in case something breaks -- no-one's going to question that.



    Amorya
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