Is it for real or just a typo? It wasn't so expensive if I remember correct
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/
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New Macbooks starting 949 Pounds???!?
- Thread starter chameleon81
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You mean they raised the base white macbook from £699 to £719. Maybe Apple haven't heard of the worldwide recession we are all facing. Apple laptops are good but not that good to justify price increases.
The UK pricing is, to be fair, a bit of a joke.
This now current white macbook is essentially the base model with the combo drive replaced with a superdrive. In the US the price drops $100 - in the UK it has gone up £20.
This is primarily due to exchange rates blah blah and at the last refresh and the one prior to that the pound was strong. There has now been a drop against the dollar and that translates into pricing been 15% higher than really it ought to be.
Also remember in the US their pricing is exclusive of various taxes, state, sales tax etc - whereas in the UK our prices include VAT.
The best you could have hoped for was say $1300 translating into £750 plus vat giving you somewhere around £880, which has been rounded up to £949.
Even if it were $2 to the pound you would still be paying £650 + vat plus a bit more so £799 would have been the cheapest you would have seen it for.
To a degree you dont mind paying a premium for the latest gear but £949 is too steep. And £719 for a laptop that has dropped in price, yet gone up, is too high. THat ought really to be £649....and to be honest the spec isnt that great.
A better deal is to buy the 2.4ghz "old" middle version with a 160gb hard drive and 2gb ram. THat retailed at £829 although you can find it for under £800 - typically £780 - that is a much better deal in my view and should be what you are going for, unless you want the new aluminium one.
All in all - nice cool product but the UK pricing has been a bit of a bad taste
This now current white macbook is essentially the base model with the combo drive replaced with a superdrive. In the US the price drops $100 - in the UK it has gone up £20.
This is primarily due to exchange rates blah blah and at the last refresh and the one prior to that the pound was strong. There has now been a drop against the dollar and that translates into pricing been 15% higher than really it ought to be.
Also remember in the US their pricing is exclusive of various taxes, state, sales tax etc - whereas in the UK our prices include VAT.
The best you could have hoped for was say $1300 translating into £750 plus vat giving you somewhere around £880, which has been rounded up to £949.
Even if it were $2 to the pound you would still be paying £650 + vat plus a bit more so £799 would have been the cheapest you would have seen it for.
To a degree you dont mind paying a premium for the latest gear but £949 is too steep. And £719 for a laptop that has dropped in price, yet gone up, is too high. THat ought really to be £649....and to be honest the spec isnt that great.
A better deal is to buy the 2.4ghz "old" middle version with a 160gb hard drive and 2gb ram. THat retailed at £829 although you can find it for under £800 - typically £780 - that is a much better deal in my view and should be what you are going for, unless you want the new aluminium one.
All in all - nice cool product but the UK pricing has been a bit of a bad taste
I'm afraid its the exchange rate.
The white 2.1ghz Macbook is £611 without any VAT.
£611 into USD is $1065. So $65 less in the US.
The white 2.1ghz Macbook is £611 without any VAT.
£611 into USD is $1065. So $65 less in the US.
949 is ridiculous i will look for second hand MBP's on Ebay. I believe I can get very clean ones under 950.
Yes, its clearly the exchange rate, but what is the point in lowering the price of a key product - due to lower costs of manufacturing and parts, and then increasing its cost in various countries.
All this is going to do is annoy people in the UK. You cant tell me that when apple sell a mac in the uk they immediately convert the sterling to dollars and wire the cash to the US. Of course they dont - they will stockpile pounds sterling and convert it to dollars as and when it suits them when the rate for exchange is good. There is no reason at all why apple could not have priced this appropriately and aggressively in the UK.
£949 is just too high.
£719 for the base model macbook (now with superdrive) is actually beyond a joke and you need your head testing to buy that. As i said in my earlier post shop around and you can pick up the next model up with better processor, 40gb more hard drive and double the memory - all for about £780 (in fact ive seen it for £765) and if you find various discount/cashback codes you can actually aquire that model for £725, which is a very good deal.
All this is going to do is annoy people in the UK. You cant tell me that when apple sell a mac in the uk they immediately convert the sterling to dollars and wire the cash to the US. Of course they dont - they will stockpile pounds sterling and convert it to dollars as and when it suits them when the rate for exchange is good. There is no reason at all why apple could not have priced this appropriately and aggressively in the UK.
£949 is just too high.
£719 for the base model macbook (now with superdrive) is actually beyond a joke and you need your head testing to buy that. As i said in my earlier post shop around and you can pick up the next model up with better processor, 40gb more hard drive and double the memory - all for about £780 (in fact ive seen it for £765) and if you find various discount/cashback codes you can actually aquire that model for £725, which is a very good deal.
Schtumple
macrumors 601
You can see the link in the bar on safari, but just incase you cba to type it:
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/graphics.html
scroll down to the gaming performance bit