USA Macbook Air for use in the UK

As far as i'm aware the warranty is valid worldwide! I am hopefully puschasing a macbook from usa soon also because of the good exchange rate!

Yeah I'm pretty sure the warranty is worldwide too. Its like that for MacBook Pros so it'd seem daft to not include the Air. As far as issues are concerned, yes you could do with a UK plug but you can use a converter. I had a US Mac Mini and I got sick of the converter so I just cut the plug off and wired on a UK plug.

Macs come without the region set - so you always set it yourself. You can change this 5 times before being locked. In fact the only real issue I can think of is that the keyboard will be US instead of UK, but I don't think there are any differences!

I had a friend who bought a Mac in NY and uses it in the UK and I'm not aware of him encountering any problems. The only thing to watch out for is that you don't get stung with import tax. What you could do is mail the empty Air box home and keep the actual computer in your carry on luggage, so as not to raise suspicion.

pieseller said:

i am going on holiday to new york and am contemplating purchasing a macbook air to bring back home to the UK (good exchange rate)

i have researched the problems that may occur and would like to hear other peoples input on the issue. i know the keyboards are different and that i will need to buy a UK power supply. But are there any other technical issues i may not have thought of, such as wireless configurations, language settings or region codes if i hook up a superdrive to play DVDs?

i know the warratny is also only valid for the USA.

any help or input on the issues would be much appreciated

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Warranty should be transferable, powersupply is dual voltage you will just need to change the plug adapter, there is no optical drive.... if you get one over here then simply set it to region 2 when you first plug it in, wireless configurations are the same, language settings can be changed in the localisation/language pane of system preferences.

pieseller said:

so how does the power supply differences affect the computer?

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The computer doesn't notice the difference. The power supply works with 110V-240V and always supplies the same output voltage.

I think all you need is a USA to UK plug adapter, the charger will accept 110-220v so no need for a converter

pulsewidth947 said:

The only thing to watch out for is that you don't get stung with import tax. What you could do is mail the empty Air box home and keep the actual computer in your carry on luggage, so as not to raise suspicion.

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Laptops are zero-rated for duty, but you would still have to pay VAT.

$1,799 = about £900 + VAT = roughly £1,057.50 - all depending on the exchange rate you get, naturally.

If you're lucky, and maybe don't bring the box back with you, you might get away without paying the VAT unless HMRC stop you at arrivals

US to UK

I'm going the other way: US to UK.

Can someone explain in detail the 'plug adapter vs. converter' situation?

Do I need to buy something additional from Apple or a generic plug converter?

Thanks.

Plug/Converter Clarification:

Any Apple power brick has an adapter which can be taken off (either for replacement with a long wire, or for a different countries adapter)

ALL you would need to do is take off this piece, and replace it with the UK one, this is what i have done for my US iPhone.

You can buy a UK adapter (made by apple) for about £5 from ebay, you can also buy a 'World travel kit' from Apple, which costs quite a lot, and contains a euro adapter, us, uk, and possible others!!

to sum up: Apple chargers are designed to be used internationally, with just a 5 second adapter change!

pieseller said:

i am going on holiday to new york and am contemplating purchasing a macbook air to bring back home to the UK (good exchange rate)

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As other's have said there will be few problems, if any. I've done the same with previous Apple laptops and other equipment. Warranty is global and hence not a problem but do yourself a favour and buy AppleCare with it - it's cheaper in the USA and registers just fine when you're back in UK (UK, not USA, T&Cs would apply).

Wrap the box up and send it home via USPS and carry the MBA home without it, thus avoiding (if your lucky) the customs......iv'e never been stopped even with 2 laptops in my bag.......