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Buying in USA, bring home to UK

M

mattwestbright

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 11, 2008
7
2
West Yorkshire, UK
Hello

I'm thinking about changing my little MacBook to a big MacBook Pro and am wondering about the benefits/disadvantages of buying abroad in the USA rather home here in the UK.

I'm going to WWDC in June. Using the Apple online store UK the machine I want comes to 1874 pounds (3693 US dollars). The same spec machine comes to 2918 US dollars if I use the US Apple online store.

Has anyone here any experience of buying in the US and bringing back to the UK please ? Other than having to change the plug, and not having a British keyboard, I could save myself a bit of money.

Also, are there any implications for AppleCare ?

Thanks
Matt.
 
A

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
AppleCare (which is the "extended" warranty) works internationally and clearly says so in the terms you can find online, IIRC.

Whether or not the included 1-year warranty works internationally is pretty hard to figure out if you read the terms online.
 
DizzyRose

DizzyRose

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2007
123
0
Barrowford, UK
Make sure you think about customs and how you would avoid it.

If you get caught, then you'll have to pay around £300 which is still better than the UK, but you might have reputation/credit rating damaged IIRC.
 
LeahM

LeahM

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2008
877
0
neil321 said:
Ditch the box,stick a few apps on it,bring it back in lappy bag
Click to expand...

They can still make you prove that you bought it in the UK. If you don't have anything that says you brought the Mac with you from the UK they can charge. But thats only if you get a mean customs officer, some are pretty harsh.
 
Neil321

Neil321

macrumors 68040
Nov 6, 2007
3,733
2
Britain, Avatar Created By Bartelby
LeahM said:
They can still make you prove that you bought it in the UK. If you don't have anything that says you brought the Mac with you from the UK they can charge. But thats only if you get a mean customs officer, some are pretty harsh.
Click to expand...

I've done it around four times now and of course had no proof,and not been asked once,BUT i agree you take your chance
 
H

Hierotochan

macrumors member
Feb 25, 2008
81
0
Keyboard...

I got my G4 from the US & wasn't asked a thing.
I actually prefer the US keyboard as the return key is bigger.
Just took me a while to find the @ key!
Still, anything beats the French one! :)
 
T

tekilla

macrumors member
Apr 11, 2008
95
0
Don't forget to add on Sales Tax which I think will be another 7% in California.
Also make sure you don't get routinely stopped & searched at UK Customs when you land...
They will charge you Duty & UK VAT ontop of what you've already paid.

To be honest it's easier to buy in the UK and use the Education Store discount.
 
techound1

techound1

macrumors 68000
Mar 3, 2006
1,977
7
The US keyboard would be a give-away if a customs officer is having a bad day. Get some stickers to put on the outside, maybe the ones that look like dirt (that urban hummer owners buy)??? :rolleyes:

If you're going to WWDC are you buying from the dev store online or are you buying at a brick-and-mortar? I think the dev store online is just an extension of the biz store, which means they carry the mighty refurb. Save you some (extra) moola there...:cool:
 
B

BASE91

macrumors member
Feb 28, 2008
51
0
It all depends on the customs agent and what country you are entering. From my experience, some countries such as France and Germany who have been more relaxed when enforcing taxes on good purchased from the US are more strict today.
Even business travellers who work in the US and are citizens of these countries at times must show documents that the computer was issued and being used for business purposes.
With the dollar taking a nose dive I think customs will be on the look out for high value items like apple laptops and ipods.
Is it worth the risk? Only if the price is right :cool:
 
Z

zand

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2008
18
2
tekilla said:
Don't forget to add on Sales Tax which I think will be another 7% in California.
Also make sure you don't get routinely stopped & searched at UK Customs when you land...
They will charge you Duty & UK VAT ontop of what you've already paid.

To be honest it's easier to buy in the UK and use the Education Store discount.
Click to expand...

8.5% in San Francisco to be correct.
 
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