Mac Mini in the UK

The mini is considerably cheaper in the States than in the UK. The top spec mini is approximately £70 cheaper.

ditzy said:

The mini is considerably cheaper in the States than in the UK. The top spec mini is approximately £70 cheaper.

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Remember the US prices are exclusive of the state tax, which might bring the prices closer.

You could look to take advantage of the 0% finance Apple are running. I did and went for the cheaper model, as it only cost £55 to update the memory.

Kebabselector said:

Remember the US prices are exclusive of the state tax, which might bring the prices closer.

You could look to take advantage of the 0% finance Apple are running. I did and went for the cheaper model, as it only cost £55 to update the memory.

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I know I added the tax. It's £502 without tax and £577 with tax. But sold over here for £649. It's approximately £70 more over here with tax, without it's nearly £150.

ditzy said:

I know I added the tax. It's £502 without tax and £577 with tax. But sold over here for £649. It's approximately £70 more over here with tax, without it's nearly £150.

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Find someone in the states you trust and have them order it.

I bought a fully speced mini for $1074-so about £670 at Friday's exchange rate. And this included sales tax. Add a few quid for shipping and you should be good to go.

Keep in mind that ordering from america and having it shipped over runs the risk of being hit for a customs charge, essentially paying tax twice.

If you are after saving money on a mini then I'd say refurb is the best way to go.

kurosov said:

Keep in mind that ordering from america and having it shipped over runs the risk of being hit for a customs charge, essentially paying tax twice.

If you are after saving money on a mini then I'd say refurb is the best way to go.

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Yup, you've got to factor in the cost of having it shipped from the US to the UK, then you'll pay VAT and import duty and in many cases the UK courier's handling fee. Parcelforce, for instance, charge something like £13
As for buying a refurb Mini in the UK, they're somewhat of a rarity.

kurosov said:

Keep in mind that ordering from america and having it shipped over runs the risk of being hit for a customs charge, essentially paying tax twice.

If you are after saving money on a mini then I'd say refurb is the best way to go.

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This would of course result in a North American power adapter. But I imagine getting one of those that works on European power is much cheaper than a whole new Mini.

I know for European Cell phones I have imported here, there is a very simple (and cheap) plug adapter. The actual A/C conversion is done by the appliance itself.

As for questions regarding duty-this I do not know anything about. Can't a private party ship to a private party with no issues? I am into trance music, so I frequently order CDs from Amazon.co.uk, Ebay.co.uk and Amazon.de, and coming this way I have never paid any duty or tax.

Here's a little tip I learned from working at Amazon. If you wrap the parcel as a gift customs won't charge you. I can't remember if thats because they don't open gifts or because gifts just don't get charged.

I can't imagine that they don't open any gifts at all though, I think smugglers would have field day otherwise.

windywoo said:

Here's a little tip I learned from working at Amazon. If you wrap the parcel as a gift customs won't charge you. I can't remember if thats because they don't open gifts or because gifts just don't get charged.

I can't imagine that they don't open any gifts at all though, I think smugglers would have field day otherwise.

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I think it's gifts up to a certain value (£50 springs to mind), which the Mini wouldn't be under.

I bought two, the first one that came out, and one last year...

....from the USA, purchased from a Apple Store (Florida Mall, Orlando), and then went over to Walmart (or you could go to Target too) - get a $5 travel adapter.

Fly home, unpack it, plug into travel adapter, start it up, and it works just fine.

Saved a bomb!! Over the years, i've bought iBook, PowerBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini's, iPod's, ipod speaker thingies, accessories, and much more! I've probably saved sh** loads.

PS: The voltage on these things are Universal, so they work just great.

Bought the RAM modules to upgrade from Crucial.

PS: I'm off this Friday 13th for two weeks again - goodies!!!!!!!

nazuk said:

....from the USA, purchased from a Apple Store (Florida Mall, Orlando), and then went over to Walmart (or you could go to Target too) - get a $5 travel adapter.

Fly home, unpack it, plug into travel adapter, start it up, and it works just fine.

Saved a bomb!! Over the years, i've bought iBook, PowerBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini's, iPod's, ipod speaker thingies, accessories, and much more! I've probably saved sh** loads.

PS: The voltage on these things are Universal, so they work just great.

Bought the RAM modules to upgrade from Crucial.

PS: I'm off this Friday 13th for two weeks again - goodies!!!!!!!

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I just bought the standard mini from the florida mall two weeks ago, Just a note to anyone importing from the us, Apple's website states that the power adapter for the 09 mini is universal but the adapter itself states only 100-120v. After some research I decided to use mine anyway as it appears to be a mis print on a certain batch of power supplies. I can confirm it works fine.