I'd love to know what you base this opinion on. The NHS is a fantastic service and like nothing else in the world.
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UK/US Price dilemma
- Thread starter Dante Cubit
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I'd love to know what you base this opinion on. The NHS is a fantastic service and like nothing else in the world.
well well well, hello again...
It's better than nothing, and better than many other national health systems but it's far from perfect and I personally did not find it (alone) adequate.
Mainly in this post I was referring to costs of the UK, not the other points.
my opinion of the NHS? based on experience. when I was very ill they did basically nothing for me. (long waiting for necessary tests, etc) I paid out of pocket to a private hospital to get myself sorted out. After that I got private insurance.
It's better than nothing, and better than many other national health systems but it's far from perfect and I personally did not find it (alone) adequate.
Mainly in this post I was referring to costs of the UK, not the other points.
i think if we want to talk about the failings of the NHS then we should continue in another thread - the personal opinion of 1 person is just that, an opinion.
For a long time the UK has been known as Rip Off Britain and from the OP saying that a MBP would be cheaper to buy from the USA , and asking for advice on the matter.
my penny's worth anyway
For a long time the UK has been known as Rip Off Britain and from the OP saying that a MBP would be cheaper to buy from the USA , and asking for advice on the matter.
my penny's worth anyway
Sorry I didn't cover all the bases,if your dumb enough to be stopped by customs and still assert you not importing something you have with you,you may well be fined for it. Deservedly so.
If buying a laptop in the US, I'd recommend
1. Dump the box straight away
2. Buy a laptop bag while you're out there
3. Take a couple of CD's or DVD's with documents, files, etc. dated from several months ago, and load them onto the laptop before flying back.
That's what I did 4 years ago when coming back from the US. Mind no-one was even vaguely interested, apart from US customs wanting to give it a sweep for anything suspicious substance wise.
I could order a refurb 17" HD MBP, have it shipped to a relative in advance, fly over, collect it and I'd still have saved money over buying one in the UK, and got a holiday into the bargain! Still no SR spec machines on the UK refurb store unfortunately.
1. Dump the box straight away
2. Buy a laptop bag while you're out there
3. Take a couple of CD's or DVD's with documents, files, etc. dated from several months ago, and load them onto the laptop before flying back.
That's what I did 4 years ago when coming back from the US. Mind no-one was even vaguely interested, apart from US customs wanting to give it a sweep for anything suspicious substance wise.
I could order a refurb 17" HD MBP, have it shipped to a relative in advance, fly over, collect it and I'd still have saved money over buying one in the UK, and got a holiday into the bargain! Still no SR spec machines on the UK refurb store unfortunately.
phil, what kind of cracked out power adapter are you talking about and WHY!?!
try this, http://www.world-import.com/WSS405.htm
It comes in at a WHOPPING $1.99!
the macbook pro power adapter (likewise the ipod mains, and macbook power adapters) automatically switches voltage, so if someone told you to buy a £59 adapter, they definately got the last laugh.
and i will speak from experience (i bought my sr mbp this way) i'm not just dissing you for the fun of it. besides that, why would you want the box, if worst came to worst you could rip off the barcodes and buy an empty mint condition box from ebay for £5.
so thats about £75 saved from your original estimation.
and with that cash and a smidgen more you can even buy one of the new ipods that will be out by the time you are in NY...
do it. don;t buy from the UK and perpetuate the stupid tax regimes here...
A bought a Powerbook from the US a few years ago...
You won't get a student discount in the US, I tried and failed before, you have to be at a US school for US education discount.
The keyboard is almost the same, once you've set it to UK format the only real differences is the £ sign is missing, but by changing the layout the $ sign becomes the £ sign anyway. The @ key is in a different place too, other than that I didn't notice much difference.
Whatever differences there are you'll soon get used to anyway.
You can easily get the UK power adaptor for a few quid, the power pack is the same, you just need the plug, which you may already have from an old iPod. I bought a worldwide travel pack, I think it was $29 when I bought mine.
Warranties and Applecare are valid worldwide so you can get your Applecare in the US without a problem.
You won't get a student discount in the US, I tried and failed before, you have to be at a US school for US education discount.
The keyboard is almost the same, once you've set it to UK format the only real differences is the £ sign is missing, but by changing the layout the $ sign becomes the £ sign anyway. The @ key is in a different place too, other than that I didn't notice much difference.
Whatever differences there are you'll soon get used to anyway.
You can easily get the UK power adaptor for a few quid, the power pack is the same, you just need the plug, which you may already have from an old iPod. I bought a worldwide travel pack, I think it was $29 when I bought mine.
Warranties and Applecare are valid worldwide so you can get your Applecare in the US without a problem.
I bought my Applecare package from a US eBay seller for around £100, compared to the £249 Apple UK want to cover the MBP. Just have to buy the computer now! Think I'm going to wait for the release of Leopard as it's only a few weeks away, unless a particularly good 17" SR based machine comes onto the UK refurb store in the meantime.
It's £279 for the MBP. Ouch!
Alternative savings are to be had by buying from John Lewis. Two years of warranty for all computers.