Buying in USA

xebec

Has anyone actually bought in the States? I've seen a number of posts on here talking about possible problems that people could have when buying abroad but haven't seen any from someone who has actually done it.

I'm going to San Francisco tomorrow and was considering buying a macbook while there - far cheaper My biggest worry tbh is the import duty that would be payable, but surely if I carry the computer back in my backpack with no boxing/documentation they won't have any grounds to even look into it?

If anyone has had any experience with bringing computers (specifically macs) back from the States could they please advise me?! Is there anything else that I should take into consideration before buying out there?

tywy

well in Dublin airport there are rarely problems....I came home from New York in August and no one even checked my bag on the way back. I don't think they care in the states either. It's up to the Irish government to collect the tax....I would say it's worth the risk.

If you did have to pay the tax would the laptop end up costing you more than you would pay for it here?

xebec

tywy wrote:

If you did have to pay the tax would the laptop end up costing you more than you would pay for it here?

I'm not sure, couldn't find out what the rate of import tax would be. Would then have to pay 21% VAT on top so guessing that yes it would cost me more.

Fenster

I purchased my Macbook Pro in Las Vegas and I had no problems bringing it back to Ireland and then over to the US again (I moved here). Just don't do anything silly like try and take it through the airport in its original packaging.

Just make sure to pick up a travel kit so you won't have problems with your mains.

Baud

xebec wrote:

Has anyone actually bought in the States? I've seen a number of posts on here talking about possible problems that people could have when buying abroad but haven't seen any from someone who has actually done it.

I've been to the states three times recently, and each time brought back rather a lot of tech gear. Touch wood, I've been fine so far.

xebec wrote:

If anyone has had any experience with bringing computers (specifically macs) back from the States could they please advise me?! Is there anything else that I should take into consideration before buying out there?

Well, you're stuck with the ****ty US warranty, but if you get apple care that's not so bad. I would suggest dumping the box, obviously, and if you're feeling paranoid, post the receipts to yourself, so you're not carrying them in your wallet. So far, on my flights into Ireland, there's been no-one in the green lane, and I don't think I noticed anyone in the Red lane either. I suspect if they see you going through Blue with a white baggage tag, they'll get upset, but you're not that stupid

Thumper Long

Baud wrote:

Well, you're stuck with the ****ty US warranty, but if you get apple care that's not so bad.

The Apple warranty is a global warranty for one year from the date of purchase, so i have always bought my macs from the states, but if you are interested in the apple care you can buy it any time within the first year, you dont need to splash the cash all at once. i generally buy my apple care from the states via ebay, and you can get it for about half of what you would pay for it here.

preilly79

I'm in Philadelphia right now and after breakfast will be driving to Delaware to pick up a MacBook at the Mac store down there (0% sales tax in Delaware). i spoke to apple care in ireland and i was told that the macbook will come with a 1 year us warranty but if i buy an apple care package from an irish retailer or the irish online store i'll have zero problems.

about getting it through customs, that wont be a problem. there's way's round these things

danger_mouse_tm

I bought a toshiba qosmio g15-av501 in the U.S last year. No problems bringing it back in becuase i had bought a shelf model i only had it in the laptop bag, ie no cardboard packaging. I had 1 year toshiba global service which i had to use because the graphics card died in it and a new board had to be installed. A toshiba dealer in parkwest did the work and they said that first they had to register it (which i had not done) and then because i had bought an off the shelf model there would be no further free work done in the computer. Built in TV tuner or capture card doesn't work over here which is a bit annoying and the keyboard layout is slightly different (i got a @over my number 2 instead of a ") Had to change the region on my dvd drive also, which becuase it's a mat****a uj830s there is no way of flashing it or making it region free. I can't say exactly how much i saved because this model was never sold over here. However, the uk did have a g10 which is the exact same thing at about 20% more than what it cost me for this one.

xebec

preilly79 wrote:

the macbook will come with a 1 year us warranty but if i buy an apple care package from an irish retailer or the irish online store i'll have zero problems.

What's the difference between the US warranty and the Irish warranty? I thought mac's came with global warranties?

Chardee MacDennis

just back from the states and i brought back a macbook and my friend brought back a 20" iMac in an iLugger, which is pretty obvious and no one said anything to us.

Urban Weigl

xebec wrote:

What's the difference between the US warranty and the Irish warranty? I thought mac's came with global warranties?

You are correct. All Mac's come with global warranty.

xebec

Cheers for your help everyone! If you think of anything else I should consider please post it here, will check again in a few days before I buy

preilly79

just back and everything went very well. i bought a laptop bagpack and put the laptop in there, ridding me of any packaging ... didn't have any problems with customs.

tywy

good to hear, congrats! what ya buy and how much did you save?

preilly79

i bought a base spec macbook with a wireless mighty mouse. i got the macbook for $998 (equal to about e875 so a very significant saving).

this is my first ever mac after being a windows user for many years (in both a home and professional environment).

i have to say, im extremely impressed. where in the past i would tell newbies to buy a thinkpad with either XP or Ubuntu, i'll now be recommending that they buy a macbook.

a sweet machine, and i've yet to come across anything i don't like.

sturgo

I bought a 19" widescreen monitor and a Korg microkontrol midi keyboard in the US. Put them in a suitcase & checked them in no problem. Saved myself about €200.

tywy

I just bought a new macbook too! I got it Monday and I love it!