Buying a MacBook in Canada

johnskull

Hello all,

First time poster, long time creeper. I read the "stickied" thread so I hope I am going about this the right way

Just looking for peoples opinion here for me buying a laptop in Canada.

I will be visiting Canada next month for a couple of days with business and I am thinking of buying the MacBook Pro 13" with Retina Display whilst I'm over there.
I am a long time user of Windows as my last laptop was/is a 17" Dell XPS and this will be my first MacBook but I'm somewhat familiar with its OS.

The main reason I'm going for it boils down to price: After Canadian tax the model I'm looking at:
(13-inch: 2.4GHz
with Retina display
Specifications
2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based flash storage1
Intel Iris Graphics
Built-in battery (9 hours)2)
when converted costs about €1150 which is a saving of roughly €399 from the Irish Apple store (€1,549.00).

I will be using it for college work mainly with some emphasis on Music editing (mainly Serato for DJ use) but I will also be useing it largely for browsing the internet (boards, reddit, facebook etc.) more than I care to admit.

What do people think, should I go for it or should for it or let it off?

niceoneted

Have you thought about buying from the clearance and refurbished section on Apple Ireland site. All mine bought this way. Brilliant savings.

johnskull

Ya the savings on the refurbished section are great but the price of the model I am looking at is €1,319.00 which is still €170 more expensive than brand new in Canada.

Every model I've looked at New in Canada still comes in cheaper than the refurbished model in Ireland.

bmm

Vat difference probably makes up a big chunk of it.

sparkle_23

Don't forget to add on the tax to that price! I made that mistake a couple of years ago buying a laptop over here!

Overheal

Tax isn't added on until purchase.

You will also have to declare it through customs.

johnskull

Ya the price I quoted earlier is after sales tax using the region calculator on the apple site.

hfallada

Overheal wrote: »

Tax isn't added on until purchase.

You will also have to declare it through customs.

Well I doubt you have to declare an opened and used laptop.

OP if you are student you get a 12% discount for apple.com. So by the time you add taxes in Canada and get your discount here. There is probably no price discount. Unless you buy it in a sales tax free state in the US

Rashers72

niceoneted wrote: »

Have you thought about buying from the clearance and refurbished section on Apple Ireland site. All mine bought this way. Brilliant savings.

Always seem to be empty whenever I check. Is there a good time of year to buy? Plenty of refurb models available from Apple US site though.....