MBP deal from US to Europe

[ecosse011172]

I just sold my G4 iBook and was going to get a new MacBook as a replacement, However, I realised that for 20% more I could pick up a MacBook Pro from the US which I hugely prefer because of screen size, appearance and GPU.

I've found an unopened MA896LL/A model, 2.4 C2D, 160GB HD, 2GB RAM, 8600GT 256MB and Tiger for 1699 (MBs are 1450 here in Switzerland) and was wondering if a better deal was possible. Any ideas?
Do you know anywhere that would ship the current base model to Europe or even a model like the above with leopard and a bigger HDD for a similar price?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[MacOSXuser]

I am from Hong Kong, the place where the second cheapest (1st is US) apple products can be found.

The standard price for MB here for the low end is:
$8600 HK Dollars = 860 Euros

for MBP:
is $15400 = $1540 Euros

I can get you one of those as long as you pay for the shipping costs, apple won't ship their products outside Hong Kong unless I ship it myself otherwise

I won't take any service charges, i am just a student. I just want more people to buy apple products!!

 

[acearchie]

Im sure there is a site that does just this and operates out of the US to ship to Europe.

You will have to be aware of sales tax that applies ontop of the prices in some states!

 

[cdcastillo]

there is... indeed

I also live outside US, however, in my case I live just 2 hours from the border with the US, and therefore, I can order online, and then go and pick it up in the border. I think that wouldn't work for you.

There is only one such service that I know that makes what you want (buy in the US, deliver in another country), however, I do not know if it works oustside latinamerica. It belongs to MasterCard: you buy something online with your mastercard, have it shipped to an US address that mastercard provides you with, and they (MC) arrange for it to be shipped to your home country.

The other option I can think of is a friend or a trustable person you know that would be traveling soon to the US, they can get it there for you (and since they're foreigners, they can fill a tax return in the store), and since a laptop is a personal belonging (non-taxable in most countries, like an ipod or the clothes you're wearing while traveling), you don't have to pay taxes for it when they come home.

It's cheating, I know, but it is really cheaper.

 

[acearchie]

Although if sneaking it back into the UK you are meant to pay taxes on anything over £150 (i think) so technically that would be this, but you can just chuck the boxes and pretend you've had it for ages, or walk subtly through customs and feel the officers lasering a hole in your back with their eyes! (atleast thats how I felt!)

 

[ecosse011172]

Sadly I don't know anyone travelling to the US anytime soon...

 

[peterdevries]

Buying a MBP in the US is surely more cost effective, but consider the fact that the keyboard layout might be different from what you are used to (QWERTZ as opposed to QWERTY).

In addition there are reports coming in that in Europe customs is monitoring more aggressively because the KNOW that many people show up with Iphones in their pockets etc.. If you would get caught by customs and they are bored, you cought end up with a charge of the original tax + a hefty fine..

I considered flying to NYC to buy a MBP, but ended up buying one here in Amsterdam.. Not much more cost effective, but less hassle and more time efficient.