Buying a Macbook Pro in US for use in UK

snowyowl

Hi there

If I bought a Macbook Pro in the US would I have any problems using it in the UK? I'm in the US for Christmas and want to get one as a gift, so would prefer to buy it over there than carry it over. I'm concerned about the difference in voltage etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have absolutely no idea

Thanks

cyberbob

All you will need is an adapter to use it on a UK voltage

lfc321

cyberbob wrote: »

All you will need is an adapter to use it on a UK voltage

Not correct - Macbooks have dual voltage power supplies so this won't be an issue. All you will need will be a normal travel plug adapter so it fits into a UK socket. No need for a voltage adapter.

Note, though, that you may end up being charged import duty etc, and this can wipe out any savings you make by buying it in the US. You need to do the maths carefully. Also check the warranty details.

gaming_guy

the keyboard layout will be slightly different as well.

omen666

Would be worth unpacking it there as well before you bring it back to make it look like you brought it to the US with you otherwise Customs might want to charge import duty, same with anything else you buy out there, clothing etc

isofa

No major issue with keyboard layout at all. Use the control panel to tweak. Macs have always have @ above the 2 and " above the ' key on all UK and US systems.

lfc321

omen666 wrote: »

Would be worth unpacking it there as well before you bring it back to make it look like you brought it to the US with you otherwise Customs might want to charge import duty, same with anything else you buy out there, clothing etc

This might work (although technically it isn't legal). It won't make such a nice gift once unpacked, though.

Leopard

Power-wise, everything will be fine; there are no voltage issues with a Mac, you'll just need to change the two mains plugs with which it is supplied, which will be American 2-pin.

One of the plugs is an Apple-specific, slide-in device that slots directly into the charger unit itself. You can buy a British version quite cheaply on eBay (here's one) or you can buy, more expensively, a box sold by Apple that contains a whole variety of them for use anywhere in the world.

The second mains plug is on the end of an Apple-specific power lead, the other end of which slots into the charger unit in the same way as the slide-in plug. (You use one solution or the other, depending on how far you are located from a power socket.) It's best to buy the whole British-version lead (like this, on eBay). Alternatively, but rather inelegantly, you can cut off the moulded U.S. mains plug at the end of the lead and replace that with an ordinary British 13 amp, 3-pin plug.

You could also use a conventional U.S.>U.K. mains plug adaptor but I've always found that they don't grip the American 2-pin plug very securely and it can fall out. (Which, with a battery-powered laptop is not, of course, the sudden disaster that it would be with a desktop; it just stops charging.)

Keyboard-wise, as the ever-reliable isofa has pointed out, there's not a problem because (unlike Windows keyboards) all English-language Apple keyboards have the " and the @ in the same position. It will, however, have a # instead of a £ symbol written on the 3 key and it may not have a € symbol (as well as the @ symbol) on the 2 key.

(As an aside, if you're going to Mac-hack a Windows laptop or netbook it's handy to buy an American one rather than a British one because the " and the @ symbols will then end up on the correct keys. :cool: )

The above differences, both in keyboard and in plugs, are, of course, an obvious give-away if the MacBook Pro is inspected by Customs on the way back to England. I knew somebody who once went to the trouble of taking a British MacBook Pro keyboard, slide-in plug and power lead with him to America, together with a set of mini-screwdrivers, and swapped the keyboards over in his hotel room after buying a MaBook Pro locally (he then mailed the American keyboard to his home address in England) - but the serial number of a MacBook Pro will always reveal its provenance and (money apart) a criminal record would not be a beneficial thing to acquire.

Dont forget, as Marty J always helpfully reminds people, that local Sales Tax in America needs to be taken into account when doing the comparison calculations!

kalaika

Also, any manufacturer's warranty that comes with the laptop may not be valid in the UK as it may only apply to the USA and Canada. This will mean that if you need to make a claim on it, Apple UK will probably not honour the warranty.

isofa

kalaika wrote: »

Also, any manufacturer's warranty that comes with the laptop may not be valid in the UK as it may only apply to the USA and Canada. This will mean that if you need to make a claim on it, Apple UK will probably not honour the warranty.

Unless I'm mistaken, anything deemed portable by Apple (excluding the iPhone), carries a worldwide warranty and will be honoured in any country. In fact I'm sure I read that they upgraded all products to "worldwide warranty" a few years ago, but can't find the link...

Link to all warranty info, including countries covered by Worldwide: http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/

Leopard

kalaika wrote: »

Also, any manufacturer's warranty that comes with the laptop may not be valid in the UK as it may only apply to the USA and Canada. This will mean that if you need to make a claim on it, Apple UK will probably not honour the warranty.

Please don't make misleading assertions like this in a public forum.

Apple warranties are valid internationally in any country that has an Apple Authorised Service Provider. It's one of the good reasons for buying an Apple product.

What you won't necessarily get is in-home call-out service outside the region in which you purchased the item, but, depending upon where you are, you might do and you'll certainly have your warranty honoured at any Apple Authorised Service Provider.

Parts and availability could, however, be an issue if you needed, for example, a replacement Polish keyboard in Croatia or a wi-fi card that complies with radio communication regulations in a different country.