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Seriously thinking of getting a mac pro from america to australia...

D

dazloe

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2008
73
0
Hey guys, I'm really thinking of waiting a month or two to see if the Australian dollar gets any better and getting a mac pro from america. Before I do anymore dreaming I just want to check in with the experts and see whether it is really possible. :)

The configuration I'm after costs $6599 American and $11999 Australian. As you can see the difference is huge! So I was thinking of waiting a while to see if the Australian dollar would go up until it equalled about $8500 AUS. I'm just wondering what the differences would be between the Australian version and the american one? The only thing I can think of is wattage from the power supply, but shouldn't an adapter fix that?

Thanks for reading any answers would be great! :cool:
 
I could see a few issues:

1/ The power supply would be 110 volts compared to 240 volts
2/ Finding a online retailer to send it to Australia
3/ Cost of shipping and insurance
4/ Warranty - I don't think Applecare on desktops are worldwide
 
Thanks for the reply
1 - shouldn't an adapter be able to deal with the voltage problem?
2 - I have a way of getting it here, so no problems there ;)
3 - not to worried about that, I'm still saving heaps anyway!
4 - applecare is worldwide warranty on desktops or laptops.

Thanks again, I just need to know how to solve this voltage problem. :confused:
 
B&H Photo will ship internationally, and as the new wears off on the Mac Pro their BTO options will broaden. The power supply is dual voltage, so that's not an issue. You'll just need a plug adapter.

You will have to pony up for GST and customs duties before Australian customs releases the shipment. The cost basis they use will also include shipping charges and I would expect shipping to be quite expensive on a Mac Pro. For example, I just sent my Macbook to a very close friend in the Philippines via Fedex and the cost was US$200 (17"x17"x7" - 11.4 lbs).

Applecare is indeed worldwide and I was able to transfer the remaining 2 years of coverage on my Macbook to my friend.

From rereading your posts, I get the feeling you're planning on unofficially importing the machine into Australia. Presumably you have a friend in the US who will buy the machine for you and travel with it to Australia as part of their personal belongings. It will chew up just about all of their baggage allowance, by the way. I would not expect them to get a free pass from your customs officials, but that's your problem and your friend's. If the machine is shipped rather than transported as part of personal baggage, then all appropriate taxes and duties will be collected before the shipment is released by Australian customs.

(FWIW, this time last year I expected to be starting a 2-4 year job assignment in Sydney. I traveled there in May, and airfreighted over the computing and photographic gear that I could not bring as baggage. Getting it through customs was not pain free.)
 
I thought about this for about 3 seconds (shipping from US to New Zealand) but quickly dismissed the idea. If you actually pull this off without wasting lots and lots of time and money with customs, I'll be impressed,
 
dazloe said:
1 - shouldn't an adapter be able to deal with the voltage problem?
Click to expand...

How can an 'adaptor' change between electricity standards!? :confused:

Perhaps you mean a mains transformer?


Also shipping from the US to Australia, that's not very 'green' is it?
 
It's a switching power supply, you just plug it in and it'll work anywhere much like pretty much any decent modern power supply these days.
 
Cliff3 said:
B&H Photo will ship internationally, and as the new wears off on the Mac Pro their BTO options will broaden. The power supply is dual voltage, so that's not an issue. You'll just need a plug adapter.

You will have to pony up for VAT and customs duties before Australian customs releases the shipment. The cost basis they use will also include shipping charges and I would expect shipping to be quite expensive on a Mac Pro. For example, I just sent my Macbook to a very close friend in the Philippines via Fedex and the cost was US$200 (17"x17"x7" - 11.4 lbs).

Applecare is indeed worldwide and I was able to transfer the remaining 2 years of coverage on my Macbook to my friend.

From rereading your posts, I get the feeling you're planning on unofficially importing the machine into Australia. Presumably you have a friend in the US who will buy the machine for you and travel with it to Australia as part of their personal belongings. It will chew up just about all of their baggage allowance, by the way. I would not expect them to get a free pass from your customs officials, but that's your problem and your friend's. If the machine is shipped rather than transported as part of personal baggage, then all appropriate taxes and duties will be collected before the shipment is released by Australian customs.

(FWIW, this time last year I expected to be starting a 2-4 year job assignment in Sydney. I traveled there in May, and airfreighted over the computing and photographic gear that I could not bring as baggage. Getting it through customs was not pain free.)
Click to expand...

That was the answer I was looking for! You got me right on just about everything :) From the answers I have received (thanks all) it doesn't sound like that good of an idea...it's a pity to! It's so frustrating living in Aus where anything from America is super expensive! oh well, I guess that's how the cookie crumbles. I might just have to settle for less and be happy with that, thanks heaps for your help guys :)
 
dazloe said:
Hey guys, I'm really thinking of waiting a month or two to see if the Australian dollar gets any better and getting a mac pro from america. Before I do anymore dreaming I just want to check in with the experts and see whether it is really possible. :)

The configuration I'm after costs $6599 American and $11999 Australian. As you can see the difference is huge! So I was thinking of waiting a while to see if the Australian dollar would go up until it equalled about $8500 AUS. I'm just wondering what the differences would be between the Australian version and the american one? The only thing I can think of is wattage from the power supply, but shouldn't an adapter fix that?

Thanks for reading any answers would be great! :cool:
Click to expand...

For it to equal AUD$8500 you'd need to get back to last year's AUD$1.1 = US$1. I figure if you think that will happen near term you might be better off investing in currency markets ;)
 
"importing" something as large and fragile as a MacPro is like trying to import a road sign that says to customs.. "look at me", I'm new, shiny and Expen$ive looking. The potential for it to be damaged aint worth it. Unless of course you insure it for sh*tloads and then you may actually want it to be nicked or damaged, Then you can afford to buy it in Aus. Anyway, if you need a MP just sell one of your kidneys. Help someone and keep the green house emissions down
 
Considering the price difference, you might as well go take a holiday in the US. Bring it back on your return. Post the empty boxes to yourself and put some files on the Mac Pro so you can claim you bought from Oz to the USA for doing something (video editing or whatever).

I wouldn't like to check in a Mac Pro though. It might be broken on arrival.

Back in the day, it used to be cheaper to fly to the US, buy a Powerbook, and fly back than buy it here (UK). I had a couple of friends who did that.

Have you considered Apple.au refurb / university discount / second hand / getting it from Hong Kong / Singapore ?
 
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