What we pay for a laptop VS the US

GenericName

I'm going into my final year next year and it would be a good idea to get a laptop. And since my boss isn't in and I've nothing to do, I thought I'd go price one.

It's gonna be used for the usual office/email/internet stuff plus software development in the areas of jsp, servlets and databases. So it'll need to handle Websphere, Tomcat, Websphere and Oracle. DVD's definately, games maybe. Doesn't need to be ultra-portable as I'm just gonna be bringing it to college and back. So in use it'll be on a desk and plugged in.

So anyway, the sorta necessary spec I came up with was;
2.8 - 3.2 GHz P4
15" SXGA+ (really want that extra resolution)
512 MB RAM
40GB HDD minimum DVD/CDRW
802.11b wireless

On Dell.ie this amounts to around €1350 (minimum warranty)
With Evasham.co.uk it's over €1400 (standard warranty)
Systemax €1400 (standard warranty)
Tiny €1300 (standard warranty)

..But with Dell.com it's not much over a grand and that's before rebates. Maybe the Dell Outlet could be even cheaper. Why are we paying at least 33% more? VAT doesn't stretch to that surly? And if you were gonna be in the Far East, say the likes of Seoul, Hong Kong or Singapore, would the savings be even greater?

OfflerCrocGod

GenericName wrote:

And if you were gonna be in the Far East, say the likes of Seoul, Hong Kong or Singapore, would the savings be even greater?

Yes, you see Europeans have a sign over our heads saying "Fuc5 Me I'll pay any price you charge" :mad:, here in Ireland we see it more then our continental cousins though

Tom Dunne

I know exactly what you are talking about.

I just bought a HP laptop here in the US, 1 Gig Ram, 2.8Ghz, incredible widescreen and all the usual networking, wireless, TV-out, even a 5-in-1 memory card reader for what works out at 970 Euro.

I could not have got anything near this spec at home for this price.

elvis2002

my girlfriend got a laptop 2 years ago in china for 2000 euros and its still better than anything in the shops over here now. its an unbelieveable piece of kit.

fragile

Aer Lingus are quoting return flights from Dublin to Washington for €212, the savings you will make on a decent laptop would definitely cover that (possibly with some savings) and you get to see a foreign capital, unless of course you have already been there, or you don't like the 8 hour flight each way.....actually never mind

Fenster

I think you're forgetting about the 25% tax applied to online transactions within the EU. dell.com assumes you're a US purchaser, while dell.ie assumes you're a European customer and applies the sales tax. Look into the itemised breakdown of the prices when you enter all the specs and you'll see a hefty tax tacked on somewhere in it.

Fenster

fragile wrote:

Aer Lingus are quoting return flights from Dublin to Washington for €212, the savings you will make on a decent laptop would definitely cover that (possibly with some savings) and you get to see a foreign capital, unless of course you have already been there, or you don't like the 8 hour flight each way.....actually never mind

What about flight price after taxes and other charges are applied? To fly return from Galway to London was €250 after everything is totalled.

fragile

Fenster wrote:

What about flight price after taxes and other charges are applied? To fly return from Galway to London was €250 after everything is totalled.

Still, if you shop around I am sure you could come up with a flight & US bought laptop that matches the price of an EU bought laptop - and I know when I was a student that a free return flight to the US is something I would have taken in a second