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Importing USA iBook to UK- usual region q's

Q

quad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi all

I'm quite taken with the idea of the new 12" ibooks to replace my Toshiba Satellite Pro. It would be my first mac experience since using powermac 133s at uni running system 7. Those reminded of my love-hate relationship with those things. Netscape 3 used to crash the whole system! I've been PC since...

Those ibooks are going for a tempting £750, but the US price of $999 is about £570, which is just outrageous 😀 My friend is visitng NY next month, so Im tempted to ask her to get one. But there's the questions I haven't resolved after a good day of googling.

1. Can the keyboard be 'pretended' to be the UK one, if so I'll pencil in the £ on the 3?
2. Powersupply - does it have a replaceable power cord like tosh/sony's/etc for international use?
3. Is there a tv-out on the ibook? or powermac only? would it be switchable bwtween PAL/NTSC?
4. DVD drive region coding?
5. Are standard warranties international? I've heard they are for iPods


Thanks in advance, you lovely people. If there's already sites which tell me all this I must have missed them. Would appreciate any links 😎

Quad
 
only thing i know for sure, the region coding isn't really "changeable"...you'd need to use a hack that im not entirely sure is legal for the dvd coding.
 
1. Yes
3. No
4. Upon using a region 2 disc for the first time, it will ask & warn you that you can swap between regions only 5 times before it fixes for good...


But... bear in mind, US prices often don't include sales tax at point of sale.
The amount varies from state to state.

And also that Her Majesties Customs are very astute at realising when a piece of electronic equip is new & purchased elsewhere. You would then have to pay VAT on top of it... or worse, your friend would have to pay it.
 
quad said:
Hi all

I'm quite taken with the idea of the new 12" ibooks to replace my Toshiba Satellite Pro. It would be my first mac experience since using powermac 133s at uni running system 7. Those reminded of my love-hate relationship with those things. Netscape 3 used to crash the whole system! I've been PC since...

Those ibooks are going for a tempting £750, but the US price of $999 is about £570, which is just outrageous 😀 My friend is visitng NY next month, so Im tempted to ask her to get one. But there's the questions I haven't resolved after a good day of googling.

1. Can the keyboard be 'pretended' to be the UK one, if so I'll pencil in the £ on the 3?
2. Powersupply - does it have a replaceable power cord like tosh/sony's/etc for international use?
3. Is there a tv-out on the ibook? or powermac only? would it be switchable bwtween PAL/NTSC?
4. DVD drive region coding?
5. Are standard warranties international? I've heard they are for iPods


Thanks in advance, you lovely people. If there's already sites which tell me all this I must have missed them. Would appreciate any links 😎

Quad
Click to expand...

You might want to use VLC to run your DVDs. This won't need the resetting of the internal firmware (or to hack the firmware, which may void your warranty) everytime you play a DVD from a different region .
 
2. yes.

The adapter is 100-240V and has removable plug.
(apple sells a traveling kit, which gives you several plugs)
 
I would say once you add sales tax and UK VAT as your friend should declare when he arrives in the UK, the price works out at almost £700. I am not sure for the sake of £50 it is worth the hassel. I would buy in the UK if I were you. I also don't know what penalties customs may impose, in addition to the VAT if you try and sneak through the green channel.
 
One further thought, a US spec iBook is likely to effect the 2nd hand resale value, when you come to upgrade.
 
quad said:
1. Can the keyboard be 'pretended' to be the UK one, if so I'll pencil in the £ on the 3?
2. Powersupply - does it have a replaceable power cord like tosh/sony's/etc for international use?
3. Is there a tv-out on the ibook? or powermac only? would it be switchable bwtween PAL/NTSC?
4. DVD drive region coding?
5. Are standard warranties international? I've heard they are for iPods
Click to expand...

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes, but you need an adapter. It supports both PAL and NTSC.
4. By default the drive is uncoded, and will take the code of the first DVD you put in.
5. Yes, portables have international warranties.
 
Meh, if your friend buys an iBook and brings it home open and without the box, pretending that she brought it along to the US, then it's fine.

However, the keyboard is simply different. I think some of the punctuation may be in different positions as well.
 
Hi all

Thanks again for your comments. It sounds like I can make the US version usable at home. All my DVD's are Region 2 so I'll have to just make one 'switch'. I guessed I might need the extras - TV adapter and the power cable (and maybe the bigger drive...)

To avoid customs the 'clever' trick is to separate the box and iBook, and post the box home. Laptop goes with luggage as if it's yours already, I'd be happy for her to start using it if they need to prove it 😎 I understand the risk though.

Yes the sales tax is an issue, there might be the usual tourist 'Tax free shopping' to consider though. Perhaps a rebate at the airport? Lost to think about..... Resale value would be less, but as it was less to begin with, I'd still be alright about it.

Is there anything that I've missed? Are other specs different for regions?

Cheers
 
I wouldn't bother if I were you. Not only do you have the hassle of a US keyboard layout and wrong plug shape (unlike the iMac G5, I think the iBook is 110-240V) but 2 things could make it more expensive.

1) As mentioned above, sales tax will be slapped on and that $999 will sound less inviting. Remember the £750 includes VAT.

2) You may have to ditch the box, etc to avoid having to pay import duty in the UK on its return. You can hide it by having it in a laptop bag, etc, but then you'll lose resale value, etc.
 
you can always rip the DVDs to your hard drive (and strip the regional encoding in the process), then just watch them on your hard drive. I don't know how UK laws work, but in the US that would be considered fair use (if they are your own DVDs) and perfectly legal.
 
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