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Difference between US/UK MacBook's

C

Coulter

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2008
20
0
Hi,

I live in the UK and I'm waiting to purchase one of the new MacBook's. I'll be in the US late October/early November and I'm playing with the idea of saving myself £150-ish and buying a new MacBook in the US.

Apart from the different keyboard and power adapter is there any other differences between the UK versions and the US versions? (i realise the new one has not been released yet so base your answers off the current MacBook's as I'm sure there won't be too many differences between the two)

Would i still get the 1 year warranty? Would i still be able to take it into an Apple Store (in the UK) if it breaks?


Cheers
 
Coulter said:
I live in the UK and I'm waiting to purchase one of the new MacBook's. I'll be in the US late October/early November and I'm playing with the idea of saving myself £150-ish and buying a new MacBook in the US.
Click to expand...

That's an excellent plan which unfortunately will not work; firstly because you will have to pay sales tax in the USA, second because you will have to pay 17.5% tax when you import it. So to save money you first have to break the laws by not declaring it when you come back to the UK, second you would have to somehow manage to get the US sales tax back.
 
gnasher729 said:
That's an excellent plan which unfortunately will not work; firstly because you will have to pay sales tax in the USA, second because you will have to pay 17.5% tax when you import it. So to save money you first have to break the laws by not declaring it when you come back to the UK, second you would have to somehow manage to get the US sales tax back.
Click to expand...

Sales Tax? So for example on the Apple site now it has MacBook's at $1,099. Is that not the real price?

Well I'll be taking it back on the plane with me in a laptop bag so i might accidentally forget to declare it...
 
Different keyboards - different size/shape of enter key plus the US one does not have a £ key - US keyboard also has an extra key.

Apart from that they are the same and there is no problem with warranty.

Check wikipedia for US sales tax for whatever state you are visiting.
 
Coulter said:
Sales Tax? So for example on the Apple site now it has MacBook's at $1,099. Is that not the real price?
Click to expand...

It's the price without sales tax added (the way prices are almost always written in the US). Add to that the sales tax charged by the state to which the MacBook is being shipped, or, if you're buying it in a physical store, the state sales tax plus any local taxes that may exist in the county and city in which you are buying. :)
 
Ahhh it's an extra $54 with the Sales tax. I'm still saving over £100 so I'm happy.


Thanks for your help.
 
bc008 said:
off topic: you guys dont have sales tax over there?
Click to expand...
We have VAT (Value Added Tax) on many items, usually at 17.5% although some goods have a lower rate of 5%. It's normally included in prices, so it's sometimes easy for us to forget that the price of goods we see advertised on US sites – like Apple's, for example – often don't include the Sales Tax.
 
Coulter said:
Ahhh it's an extra $54 with the Sales tax. I'm still saving over £100 so I'm happy.


Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

I'm not suggesting it because I think you should declare things you bought and pay taxes on the border (there're already far too high taxes in Europe...), but wouldn't it be a better deal if you got a MacBook at Dixon's Tax Free when leaving UK? I mean, they've something like 140-150 pounds off online store's price, don't they?

What key does the UK keyboard not have?
Click to expand...

I don't remember, but there's one more on UK keyboard (79 total). And what is worse, that keyboard has a vertical enter that discriminates people with small hands. I'd advise anyone who doesn't hit the right edge of the enter key when typing to stay clear of ISO/International English keyboards.
 
pinktank said:
you dont pay customs for personal belongings, nothing illegal about that
Click to expand...

Unless they are worth more than 175 euros. There's a project that would raise the limit to 500 euros for air travellers, but that's still not enough for a Mac.

Of course countless people do that and don't care. I think this limit should refer rather to the quantity of tax-free items rather than their worth, since its purpose is to control import - preventing people with small business, like running some kind of shop, from bringing items for sale as personal belongings and thus avoiding taxes (like driving through a border between countries in a car full of cigarettes). I think that's at least part of the reason why they do nothing about plenty of people (and I mean it when I say plenty) who buy notebooks abroad and pretend they've always had them - they won't be able to sell them as brand new if they're unpacked, and you can have only one with you on a plane anyway, so it's pretty obvious those are for personal use, even if it's not formally excluded from tax because of this. There're many laws that are pretty much ignored by both the citizens and authorities, simply because laws are often close to absurd.
 
I'll put it this way:

Everything is the same except for the keyboard.

We don't have VAT, but we do have sales taxes. And if you plan to take it back to the UK, just don't plan on taking the original packaging back, so cut off the UPC code just in case.
 
aleksandra. said:
I'm not suggesting it because I think you should declare things you bought and pay taxes on the border (there're already far too high taxes in Europe...), but wouldn't it be a better deal if you got a MacBook at Dixon's Tax Free when leaving UK? I mean, they've something like 140-150 pounds off online store's price, don't they?
Click to expand...

Wow you're amazing;

http://www.dixonstaxfree.co.uk/inde...computing&group=1012,1211,1212&pro_id=7000702

I might actually save more money too since i wouldn't have to buy a new power adapter. I also wouldn't have to break the law, which i was quite looking forward too... :(
 
Another vote for Dixon's Tax-Free - the price is almost as cheap as USA - you get a UK keyboard and plugs and no problems sending back an empty box or getting caught by HM Customs.......
 
Heh its actually cheaper than the US...

1,299 U.S. dollars = £709.75

Tax Free Price = £705.53


That's mental.
 
Dixon's don't seem to do the base model but the mid-range price is fine....

I remember reading something about the set-up for Dixon's Tax-Free and as far as I can remember Dixon's do actually pay the VAT on the goods so there is no problem in bringing them back in to the UK. They will even deliver the stuff to your house for £6 or so...

Basically the prices are a 15% discount (equivalent to no VAT) but VAT has been paid on the lower price if you follow....
 
i bought a macbook in the us 2wks ago which i got lucky because i got the free ipod touch. i paid £1086+ tax which i didnt know how much minus the $199 rebate becuase of the ipod. nothing is actually different a part from the £ key on the keyboard which didnt bother me. and also the magsafe power adaptor which didnt bother me either as u can always get an adaptor here in the uk.

btw it is a blackbook
 
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