Buying a laptop in the states

Supermanscat

Hi, Im currently in the states and am half thinking of buying a laptop over here for when i come back home in september?

Whats the story with say the adaptor and also for putting software say from europe on it? If i bought micro office say in Ireland could i put it onto my american laptop?

Has anyone bought one over here before? Thanks for your help;)

Overheal

I left a post about buying in the US in a sticky on this forum.

Programs will always work no matter where you get them. Dont worry about software. Thats a silly superstition thats been bred by the movie and console games industry. damn them!

Laptop chargers will automatically convert voltage, you just need a pin-adapter to fit into a UK plug when you get back.

Buy online. Retail stores love to bump sticker prices with useless shyte.

Supermanscat

Overheal wrote: »

I left a post about buying in the US in a sticky on this forum.

Programs will always work no matter where you get them. Dont worry about software. Thats a silly superstition thats been bred by the movie and console games industry. damn them!

Laptop chargers will automatically convert voltage, you just need a pin-adapter to fit into a UK plug when you get back.

Buy online. Retail stores love to bump sticker prices with useless shyte.

Legend! them adapters are easy to come by ya?

leninbenjamin

Supermanscat wrote: »

Legend! them adapters are easy to come by ya?

can be bought in any electrical store or airport.

gerkoff

I boughtin the dell oulet in canada, got a great deal, could be worth checking out if there is one for the states....

Just so you're aware, the keyboard layout on a US keyboard is slightly different to a UK one.

Overheal

Yea: it's better.

leninbenjamin

Karsini wrote: »

Just so you're aware, the keyboard layout on a US keyboard is slightly different to a UK one.

I bought me a U.S. keyboard there recently enough, as they didn't have the UK version of the model I wanted in stock. You can set the input to be Ireland/UK on your OS regardless of what type of keyboard you're using so it's all the same anyway. Takes you maybe a day to realise " and @ are swapped and to find again the € key under 4 instead of 5, but after that you're flying. The rest is muscle memory if you're in any way a half decent typist, so it doesn't make a whit what's on the keys.

leninbenjamin

leninbenjamin wrote: »

I bought me a U.S. keyboard there recently enough, as they didn't have the UK version of the model I wanted in stock. You can set the input to be Ireland/UK on your OS regardless of what type of keyboard you're using so it's all the same anyway. Takes you maybe a day to realise " and @ are swapped and to find again the € key under 4 instead of 5, but after that you're flying. The rest is muscle memory if you're in any way a half decent typist, so it doesn't make a whit what's on the keys.

That is true. In work I have a couple of machines with German keyboards. The physical layout is the same, the only difference is what's printed on the keys. So you could set a UK layout in the OS and get away with it fairly easily.

maggy_thatcher

leninbenjamin wrote: »

I bought me a U.S. keyboard there recently enough, as they didn't have the UK version of the model I wanted in stock. You can set the input to be Ireland/UK on your OS regardless of what type of keyboard you're using so it's all the same anyway. Takes you maybe a day to realise " and @ are swapped and to find again the € key under 4 instead of 5, but after that you're flying. The rest is muscle memory if you're in any way a half decent typist, so it doesn't make a whit what's on the keys.

That'll work fine until you realize that the US keyboard has 1 fewer key on it -- If you have a US Keyboard set to Ireland/UK mode, you can't write '\' characters! There are a few other punctuation characters that are physically in different locations which also makes life a little more awkward.

Compare the Irish keyboard:


To the US one:

maggy_thatcher

Overheal wrote: »

I left a post about buying in the US in a sticky on this forum.

Programs will always work no matter where you get them. Dont worry about software. Thats a silly superstition thats been bred by the movie and console games industry. damn them!

Laptop chargers will automatically convert voltage, you just need a pin-adapter to fit into a UK plug when you get back.

Buy online. Retail stores love to bump sticker prices with useless shyte.

The post in the sticky doesn't mention the need to pay excise duty and VAT on importing a laptop from the states -- unless you get one for less than €430.
It's just something to remember when purchasing expensive items from outside the EU.

leninbenjamin

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

That'll work fine until you realize that the US keyboard has 1 fewer key on it -- If you have a US Keyboard set to Ireland/UK mode, you can't write '\' characters! There are a few other punctuation characters that are physically in different locations which also makes life a little more awkward.

Compare the Irish keyboard:


To the US one:

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

and a | for good measure

:P

p.s. they actually have the same amount of keys, you're just not seeing the extra one.

p.p.s actually you're right. but it's the ~# key. which for some-reason i still have on mine...

waraf

I bought my Sony Vaio in New York in a place called B&H Photo Video last January and saved a couple of hundred euro. It's an amazing shop if you're into electronic gadgetry....

maggy_thatcher

leninbenjamin wrote: »

p.p.s actually you're right. but it's the ~# key. which for some-reason i still have on mine...

It's been awhile since I've tried it (and I don't have a US keyboard here), but if I recall, when switching to the UK layout it keeps ~# as the key marked \|, and \| disappears.

having said that, it was on a laptop that I had that problem, so maybe it doesn't apply on a full-sized keyboard...

leninbenjamin

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

It's been awhile since I've tried it (and I don't have a US keyboard here), but if I recall, when switching to the UK layout it keeps ~# as the key marked \|, and \| disappears.

having said that, it was on a laptop that I had that problem, so maybe it doesn't apply on a full-sized keyboard...

interesting all right. Could be i suppose they make the U.S. with that additional key as standard for ones sold overseas, as i didn't buy mine in the U.S. Or it possibly just depends on manufacturers.

spurious

waraf wrote: »

I bought my Sony Vaio in New York in a place called B&H Photo Video last January and saved a couple of hundred euro. It's an amazing shop if you're into electronic gadgetry....

Is it the place where many of the staff are Orthodox and Hasidic Jews?
If so, they will give you a 3 pin Irish/UK style power lead if you ask them.
Fantastic shop.

fiveeuros

once the charger says 110/220volts you are fine a lead here will cost less than a tenner

waraf

spurious wrote: »

Is it the place where many of the staff are Orthodox and Hasidic Jews?
If so, they will give you a 3 pin Irish/UK style power lead if you ask them.
Fantastic shop.

That's the one. The two lads who work on the trade-in counter are the best hagglers I have ever seen. I've seen grown men nearly reduced to tears trying to trade in used cameras!!

Overheal

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

The post in the sticky doesn't mention the need to pay excise duty and VAT on importing a laptop from the states -- unless you get one for less than €430.
It's just something to remember when purchasing expensive items from outside the EU.

Heresy.

They make you pat VAT now?

How do they plan on proving you bought it new??

They can **** off.

marco_polo

Overheal wrote: »

Heresy.

They make you pat VAT now?

How do they plan on proving you bought it new??

They can **** off.

I suppose you will always get the odd few people that will stroll through customs in Dublin airport with the laptop still in the box, tucked under their arm.

maggy_thatcher

Overheal wrote: »

Heresy.

They make you pat VAT now?

How do they plan on proving you bought it new??

They can **** off.

So you're encouraging tax evasion then?

They've always made you pay VAT on large imports -- see http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878a.html

As far as I was aware, it was up for you to prove that it wasn't new, rather than the other way around. It's easy enough for them, they probably record the serial number of every legitimate import - your shiny new laptop won't be in the database, and without your existing "I paid duty" slip that you would've received had you brought it in previously, they can put 2+2 together.

I'm not saying you will get caught (obviously many many people don't), but I am saying that it is illegal, and that I wish the airport customs police put more of an effort into catching people who do it.

Explosive_Cornflake

Just use the laptop over there, stick a picture of your schlong as the desktop background or something, it'll be a user laptop then.

Tom Dunne

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

So you're encouraging tax evasion then?

I don't think he was doing that.

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

they probably record the serial number of every legitimate import - your shiny new laptop won't be in the database, and without your existing "I paid duty" slip that you would've received had you brought it in previously, they can put 2+2 together.

Do you honestly think they record the serial number of every electrical item brought into the country? Seriously?

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

I wish the airport customs police put more of an effort into catching people who do it.

WTF? Seriously. In the overall scheme of things, think of how many people enter/leave the country every day. Think of how many of them have laptops. Of that number, think how many are on business (and have laptops) and how many are not. It would be more hassle than it's worth.

Do you really think customs people are going to interrogate all travellers to investigate if they have laptops and where they bought them? And don't forget, how many people actually walk through customs with laptop bags? I would say by looking at 95% of people, it would be impossible to tell if they had a laptop or not.

They are more interested in shoppers coming back from New York with 20 pairs of shoes and 10 handbags, which are more easily identifiable by their large suitcases.

maggy_thatcher

Tom Dunne wrote: »

I don't think he was doing that.

What part of "They can **** off" and "Prove it" doesn't say "Let's try and commit tax evasion" to you?

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Do you honestly think they record the serial number of every electrical item brought into the country? Seriously?

I'm sure it's included in the documentation of any legitimately imported electrical item at their first port of entry. It may not be collated into a single database, but the information is there if they want to find it.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

WTF? Seriously. In the overall scheme of things, think of how many people enter/leave the country every day. Think of how many of them have laptops. Of that number, think how many are on business (and have laptops) and how many are not. It would be more hassle than it's worth.

Do you really think customs people are going to interrogate all travellers to investigate if they have laptops and where they bought them? And don't forget, how many people actually walk through customs with laptop bags? I would say by looking at 95% of people, it would be impossible to tell if they had a laptop or not.

They are more interested in shoppers coming back from New York with 20 pairs of shoes and 10 handbags, which are more easily identifiable by their large suitcases.

It's not just laptops - it's all items over the fixed amount threshold that needs to be looked at. They could introduce a system like .ca/.us/.au/.nz where they interview every person coming into the country at the customs gate - that should increase the number of people that they catch. They should probably increase the penalties so that if they don't catch many, the penalty is severe enough that it discourages you from doing it again (that should include immediate automatic seizure of the goods).

maggy_thatcher

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

They could introduce a system like .ca/.us/.au/.nz where they interview every person coming into the country at the customs gate

Just to clarify - they only need to interview those coming in from non EU countries - so on the blue channel you just need a guy double-checking boarding cards (+ that any luggage is green-striped), on the new combined green/red channel have a guy verifying an entry card that says what you are bringing in - and from that decide what to do with them.

leninbenjamin

simple fact is, while many people i know have brought laptops back from the states, you may have to pay duty on it. just be prepared for it and don't kick up a fuss that could get you in deeper water i guess.

marco_polo

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

Just to clarify - they only need to interview those coming in from non EU countries - so on the blue channel you just need a guy double-checking boarding cards (+ that any luggage is green-striped), on the new combined green/red channel have a guy verifying an entry card that says what you are bringing in - and from that decide what to do with them.

Yep thats what we want customs officers wating their time with their head buried in every single laptop bag, sure there aren't half enough drugs getting into the country at all. :rolleyes:

maggy_thatcher

marco_polo wrote: »

Yep thats what we want customs officers wating their time with their head buried in every single laptop bag, sure there aren't half enough drugs getting into the country at all. :rolleyes:

Well if there was a guy doing at least token verification, they might catch a few more drugs too -- how many times have you gone through either the Blue channel or the Green channel without so much as anybody looking at you (in Dublin airport at least)? It's a laughing stock of a frontier!

Anyway - we've drifted off-topic. The point is that if you buy a laptop from the US and don't declare it you're breaking the law.

darealtulip

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

Just to clarify - they only need to interview those coming in from non EU countries - so on the blue channel you just need a guy double-checking boarding cards (+ that any luggage is green-striped), on the new combined green/red channel have a guy verifying an entry card that says what you are bringing in - and from that decide what to do with them.

Great idea just like in holland and then put the airport taxes up so we can pay for it. Then we all pay to get the ba*terds.

Get real, it is really small amount you talk about. Besides that you can go up north with any VAT number and get the VAT off there. You want border checks there aswell??

maggy_thatcher

darealtulip wrote: »

Great idea just like in holland and then put the airport taxes up so we can pay for it. Then we all pay to get the ba*terds.

Get real, it is really small amount you talk about. Besides that you can go up north with any VAT number and get the VAT off there. You want border checks there aswell??

It's not up to border control to manage intra-community purchases - this wouldn't affect people using invalid VAT numbers or anything like that.

Anyway - all I was saying is that we shouldn't be encouraging people to purchase items from the US without at least informing them of their obligations to pay taxes, especially with the tax deficit as high as it is presently. The border controls that they have in other countries seems to work quite well; for awhile it could even be self-financing (if the penalties for smuggling were increased enough). I'm not suggesting search every bag or anything like that, just use profiling + random selection, coupled with high penalties to stop the kind of smuggling that's going on.

Tom Dunne

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

Anyway - all I was saying is that we shouldn't be encouraging people to purchase items from the US without at least informing them of their obligations to pay taxes, especially with the tax deficit as high as it is presently.

People have a duty to educate themselves on their tax obligations. It should not be down to some random stranger on the internet to do that for them.

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

I'm not suggesting search every bag or anything like that, just use profiling + random selection, coupled with high penalties to stop the kind of smuggling that's going on.

Seriously? Profiling for laptops? You make it sounds as if there is a massive organised international terror group sending laptop "mules" into the country every day. And how do you profile a laptop user? While I know nothing about how profiling is done, I would be willing to bet that profiling a drug smuggler conforms to a certain type/class of person. I honestly don't believe the same can be said of your average laptop user.

I think given the choice between stopping drug smugglers and stopping the occasional laptop purchaser, I think the vast majority of people in their right mind would prefer the authorities choose the former.

maggy_thatcher

Tom Dunne wrote: »

People have a duty to educate themselves on their tax obligations. It should not be down to some random stranger on the internet to do that for them.

True - but when someone is saying "look at this laptop, get it in the states where it's dirt cheap" -- it's only dirt-cheap because you are committing tax evasion. If you take the price of a US laptop, and then add the various taxes that you are legally required to pay upon arrival here, it suddenly isn't so dirt cheap anymore - in fact it's frequently more expensive than if you just bought it from Europe.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Seriously? Profiling for laptops? You make it sounds as if there is a massive organised international terror group sending laptop "mules" into the country every day. And how do you profile a laptop user? While I know nothing about how profiling is done, I would be willing to bet that profiling a drug smuggler conforms to a certain type/class of person. I honestly don't believe the same can be said of your average laptop user.

I think given the choice between stopping drug smugglers and stopping the occasional laptop purchaser, I think the vast majority of people in their right mind would prefer the authorities choose the former.

As I (repeatedly) said - I'm not saying just laptops - just that we should keep an eye on what anybody is bringing into the country. By introducing a customs card process, and consolidate the green/red channels, a customs officer sees everybody coming in -- they can just let them walk through after handing the card back, or they can ask them a few questions. It works fine in other countries, why not here? Ever watch 'Nothing to Declare' (.au customs/immigration) or the 'Passport Patrol (.nz customs/immigration) - they show how it all works pretty well - with the bad guys getting what they deserve.

Overheal

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

True - but when someone is saying "look at this laptop, get it in the states where it's dirt cheap" -- it's only dirt-cheap because you are committing tax evasion. If you take the price of a US laptop, and then add the various taxes that you are legally required to pay upon arrival here, it suddenly isn't so dirt cheap anymore - in fact it's frequently more expensive than if you just bought it from Europe.

Im am not an expert on tax law, and hardly a novice. But you do pay US taxes. I think (and you can check up on this because i cant be sure) thats legit. Its when you ask for a tax return form at the store (because your a tourist buyer, etc) you take that to the airport. Customs sorts your tax return forms. You are then in the system as having got a tax return on a laptop you purchased in this states. At that point I believe Irish custom flags you for needing to pay duties.

Serious tax evasion would be not paying US taxes (via rebate form at your departure point) and slipping Irish customs also. You've then payed 0.00% tax on your purchase.

Thats what makes sense to me anyway. I havent looked it up, but you are far more than welcome to contradict me. dont do anything you feel is illegal, of course.

Alanstrainor

Jaeysus lads, this thread went about a million miles off topic.
Thread closed.