Hello people! Need help & advice please!

[vargihate]

Hello everyone, sorry for the long post but I think you guys can help me out with my questions.

I have been a PC user forever and I guess now it’s time for a Mac, an iMac to be specific and I’m interested in the 27” quad-core model. I will be using Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver as well as Final Cut Express. Additionally I will be surfing the Web and watching large-sized HD movies. I will not be playing any games and I have no plans of installing Windows on it.

My PC’s processor is Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz and it has 4GB’s of RAM. I’m quite satisfied with its performance but you can understand that I would like my future iMac to be considered as something better.

My major question is whether I should go with the i5 or the i7 which to be honest I don’t really know their actual differences. Can you please advise me what’s best for me now that you know what software I will be using?

The other thing is RAM. Should I get 4GB’s or 8GB’s? On my PC I never truly experienced any problems, not even when I play HD movies of enormous size. However, since I have plans of editing 1080p video files, I’m thinking maybe it would be best to get 8GB’s. In that case what is the difference between the two options that the store provides? (the 4x2GB’s and 2x4GB’s)

Finally, I’m European and since I will be in New York next week I’m thinking of buying it from there and ship it to Europe which will cost me much-much less. Apart from the power-cord are there any more problems that I will face?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[miles01110]

Finally, I’m European and since I will be in New York next week I’m thinking of buying it from there and ship it to Europe which will cost me much-much less. Apart from the power-cord are there any more problems that I will face?

There's this thing called "Customs forms" you'll need to fill out, which will most likely result in you paying import tax and thus negating any savings you might get by buying in the US.

 

[vstephenson]

Importing

Yes I agree with above...

Buying a laptop in the US and waddling through customs with nothing to declare is one thing but you will get stung going into Europe I would expect

ESPECIALLY if thats the UK

Mind you, I brought my 24ACD into Turkey and they didnt bat an eyelid so who knows, but then again, when I get somethings posted here, trivial stuff like books or games, I do get some charges

I would think very carefully about this before deciding where to buy

As for it being from the US, just the power cord, thats all, one of the reasons I like Apple stuff is that it moves around the world with me easily (multi voltage etc)

 

[vargihate]

Thanks for the replies friends!
Well as for the taxes: There's a difference between ordering online an iMac from USA and have it shipped to EU, from actually visiting USA yourself and send the iMac to EU! In the first case of course you pay taxes! In the last case though, you only pay the shipping expenses for a 'used' package.

I've been doing this all my life! For a package the size of an iMac which is something close to 15Kg the expenses from New York to pretty much any EU country is about $250 and if you add this to the price of the iMac it's still less than buying it from let's say UK or the Netherlands.

 

[miles01110]

Well as for the taxes: There's a difference between ordering online an iMac from USA and have it shipped to EU, from actually visiting USA yourself and send the iMac to EU! In the first case of course you pay taxes! In the last case though, you only pay the shipping expenses for a 'used' package.

I've been doing this all my life! For a package the size of an iMac which is something close to 15Kg the expenses from New York to pretty much any EU country is about $250 and if you add this to the price of the iMac it's still less than buying it from let's say UK or the Netherlands.

Then you've been doing it wrong all your life. You are supposed to fill out a customs declaration no matter if it's "used" or "new."

 

[vargihate]

Where are you from friend? Have you send a used item (besides a car) from USA to EU and paid tax? What service did you use?

 

[mgridgaway]

Then you've been doing it wrong all your life. You are supposed to fill out a customs declaration no matter if it's "used" or "new."

If he's saving money and not having any ill side effects, I'd say he's doing it right...

 

[brendu]

Not sure what days you will be stateside but the quad core model wont be shipping until november, so any apple store you go to most likely will not have them in stock yet...

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Sounds like you've been doing something illegal 'all your life'. You're avoiding tax charges, and I believe that if you've owned the item for under 1 year, then you must pay tax.