We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Computer from USA
welshrarebit_2
Posts: 42 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I need to replace my laptop and I would like to get a Apple Mac
Does anyone know about buying from the US? My cousin lives in NYC and says that the Apple shop on 5th is full of brits buying computers as they are a lot cheaper. If I were to buy one there how would the cables and things work? I assume I would need to buy them over here? We run our own business so I would prefer to get the program with word and Exel, should I get them here? Would I be covered with warranty?
Any advice would be much appreciated
Thank you
Caren
Does anyone know about buying from the US? My cousin lives in NYC and says that the Apple shop on 5th is full of brits buying computers as they are a lot cheaper. If I were to buy one there how would the cables and things work? I assume I would need to buy them over here? We run our own business so I would prefer to get the program with word and Exel, should I get them here? Would I be covered with warranty?
Any advice would be much appreciated
Thank you
Caren
0
Comments
-
You need to make sure the power supply for the main unit, speakers and screen support 240V and not just 120V. In addition, you'll probably need to buy mains leads over here.
As for warranty, knowing Apple they'll charge for it.
Just a question though. If money is a factor, why the hell are you buying Macs?0 -
Isn't money always a factor? If you want a mac why wouldn't you want to get it as cheaply as possible?They say it's genetic, they say he can't help it, they say you can catch it - but sometimes you're born with it0
-
Just a question though. If money is a factor, why the hell are you buying Macs?
Maybe because he wants one, but would like to get it as cheaply as possible? It would be a total waste of money just to buy something you didn't want because its cheaper.
The cheapest MacBook in the US Apple Store is $1,099, which is about £556. The cheapest MacBook in the UK store is £699.
If you buy in the US, you'll have to pay customs and VAT on it when you bring it back to the UK, which will be around £100 or so, bringing the price up to £656. Then you'll have to buy a UK charger, which for an official one is £59 from the Apple Store, bringing the price up to £715. You'll also have to pay to have it shipped here obviously, plus you might run into problems with the warranty (though I'm not exactly sure how that would work). It's not really such a bargain when you factor in all the other costs involved with buying from a different country.
They often have some very good offers in the refurbished section of the Apple Store. If you want the cheapest MacBook you can find with a full warranty, this might be your best option.0 -
You need to make sure the power supply for the main unit, speakers and screen support 240V and not just 120V. In addition, you'll probably need to buy mains leads over here.
As for warranty, knowing Apple they'll charge for it.
Just a question though. If money is a factor, why the hell are you buying Macs?
Thank you, Conor, for demonstrating, yet again and so usefully, the profound degree of your prejudiced ignorance. And how devastatingly little you do actually know about Apple kit.
All Apple power supply units are internationally self adjusting. All you have to do is slide the local (Apple) plug into it; takes nearly a whole second.
All Apple computers are also covered by an international one year warranty which can be extended by a further two years.
Caren, sensibly, has enough independence of thought to have worked out what actually would be best for her needs.
Perhaps, irrespective of her design taste, she's also looked at this forum and observed that that 99% of the paralysing grief on it is from people who are using Windows.
She doesn't need to be bullied into buying something something severely lesser by an ignorant, uniformed bigot: she's got a brain.
Go for it, Caren!
The wisest way to do it, though, would be to take a trip to America and bring one home.
The difference in Mac retail prices will more than pay for your air fare.
PS. as for Conor, Weegie-Geek put it best.weegie.geek wrote: »
One last thing. Holy !!!! Conor....
I can only guess that you've only just been introduced to other people and society in general, because my god, you're an !!!!!!.
Go ahead, Caren, buy a Mac, if that's what you have the sense to want. Look at the brainpower of those who would dissuade you. That should be argument enough.
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
0 -
The wisest way to do it, though, would be to take a trip to America and bring one home.
The difference in Mac retail prices will more than pay for your air fare.
I'd have to disagree with that. As I set out above, paying the VAT and customs duty when you arrive back in the UK will eat up your savings.
Also, I forgot in my last post about sales tax, which would be added onto the cost of the MacBook if you got it in New York. I think it's about 8% there, so the $1,099 MacBook will actually cost $1,186 (£600). Once you add on another £100 (at least) for VAT and customs, you're not saving anything at all. In fact, it would probably cost you more. And that's not even including the cost of flights.
If you want a cheap Mac, a refurbished one from Apple is the way to go.0 -
No-one mentioned the big problem with US Macs (or any other US computer) - they have a US keyboard, so you need tippex or some spare keys with things like '£' on them.
So for buying - go refurbished0 -
I do know somebody who decided upon which Apple laptop to buy in America and who purchased, in advance, in England, the correct British keyboard for it. (When laptops suffer a terminal accident, the keyboard usually survives intact and they are sold for spares.)
Said person took the keyboard to America on the flight out (together with the requisite two screwdrivers for installation) in baggage.
The laptop was purchased and the keyboards were swapped in the hotel room.
The American keyboard was then mailed back to England (for subsequent sale on eBay) and to anyone who examined the laptop it would have had the convincing appearance of a British laptop that had been taken to America on its owner's business trip.
That person was not I, and I do agree with Marty and Alan that Caren (and anyone else in search of a Mac) should look to the "Refurbs" section of the Apple Online Store in Britain. Upon my advice, my companion did so last March and she was absolutely delighted with the seemingly brand new MacBook Pro that arrived by courier, with free shipping and a year's (extendable) Applecare warranty, first thing next morning. The discount from new price was 31%. And, of course, it came with British documentation, with a British keyboard and with a British power lead and plug. So she was, and remains, one very happy Easter bunny indeed. :icotbaske
No doubt that is another facility of Apple that Conor isn't aware of.
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
0 -
no need for a full power adaptor, you can just pick up this
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8794G/B?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTM2Nzg
and this will give you power adaptors, which are compatible with the power adaptor included in the box... much cheaper..
tax in NYC is 8.325% of the purchase value, so your $1099 laptop is actually $1190.49 which at 1.92 exchange rate is £620
(add on the possibility of 17.5% VAT - £728, vs £699 in the UK)
now whether all these brits in all the apple stores in NYC, pay VAT or not, is a totally different matter..
btw.. the SoHo store on Prince St is a much nicer store to visit than the rowdieness and tourist filled 5th Avenue store.
oh, and as for microsoft office, yeah you can get that for a mac, or you can get the cheaper, but still useable iWork..
or as it is an intel mac, you could install windows on it, and run windows office, or you could run linux on it.. oooh the operating systems you can install are endless on a mac....
unlike a pc, which can run everything but OS X (legally!)0 -
No need for a full power adaptor, you can just pick up this
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8794G/B?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTM2Nzg
and this will give you power adaptors, which are compatible with the power adaptor included in the box... much cheaper..
Forty bucks ??? !!! :eek:
All you need is one of THESE and/or one of THESE. :money:
If you're really mean, you could just cut the plug off the end of the lead supplied with the US charger and fit an ordinary 13 amp UK plug to it.
Shame on you, Markymoo!
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
0 -
no shame at all... $40 is still hell of a lot cheaper than £59 that someone else was stating... as they said you needed a brand new power supply...
M0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.8K Spending & Discounts
- 244.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.1K Life & Family
- 257.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards