Buying a laptop in the States

BigCon

Travelling over to the U.S. in May - just wondering are laptops much cheaper over there. Had a look at compusa and bestbuy but couldn't see any really cheap laptops. Looking for a laptop for music, movies and e-mail mainly...

spartacus93

If your going to New York check out www.jr.com they usually have good prices. You'll save alot on the poor dollar $1.33 for your €

Tom Dunne

They are a hell of a lot cheaper. But make sure the warranty will cover you once you get back home. It's all good and well until something goes wrong.

sailorboy

can some one confirm price savings.
i heard a guy waffling on bout every 3 months he goes on a cheap flight to ny for 150 pounds from uk
buys 2 or 3 laptops sells them off. workd out he made a tidy little profit
ive a guy friend coming home from boston. what would 600 dollars get me i wonder?

Sparky

Im heading over to NY in April and am thinking of getting an Apple iBook, but will i get snagged with our customs or are there any ways of hiding it from them

Infini

Laptop? What laptop. Just put it in a sportsbag or something.

Sparky

Just converted dollors to euros for a powerbook g4 with all the stuff I would need and it came out at about 950 WOW.
BTW. I have never been to the states so im not used to flights etc. and wont they scan the bag or something, or do i just say i brought it over from here.

Infini

Sparky's_snips wrote:

Just converted dollors to euros for a powerbook g4 with all the stuff I would need and it came out at about 950 WOW.
BTW. I have never been to the states so im not used to flights etc. and wont they scan the bag or something, or do i just say i brought it over from here.

Just say you got it here if they ask question's. Damn government's responsible for the high prices here in the first place so don't hesitate to get them back for once!

Sparky

yea well im goin to risk it anyway for that price. only thing i think i need will be a US-UK power adaptor.
Mabey ill get an ipod aswell since there cheaper.
it'll match well with the powerbook

Jorinn

Sparky's_snips wrote:

yea well im goin to risk it anyway for that price. only thing i think i need will be a US-UK power adaptor.
Mabey ill get an ipod aswell since there cheaper.
it'll match well with the powerbook

Nah, the ac adaptors apple uses are switching ones, just lash in a 2 pin cable like you get with a ps2 or whatever and it'll work fine.

Sparky

so it will accept 230 aswell as 110. but do i need a socket adaptor to convert their 2 flat pins to our 2 round pins if you know what i mean.

Tom Dunne

Yes, you will need to change the actual plug that goes into the wall.

What I did when I brought a laptop back from the states was remove the lead with the American plug from the adapter (it just plugged out) and replaced it with an Irish lead (and therefore plug).

On the whole cusotms thing - don't worry, they are more interested in the more shady looking characters with the unusually scented talcum powder. Myself and the Better Half came back from the US late last year with 10 suitcases and two laptops (no, not matching his'n'hers) and they weren't even around.

I would be very, very surprised if you were caught. Just do what the others are saying - take it out of the box, put it into another bag, for the hell of it, you could even bring over an Irish power lead and replace it before you leave the US.

I think this whole customs at the airport is really overblown.

Energizer

Will u not have to pay VAT on the laptop when u bring it back here?

Tom Dunne

Energizer wrote:

Will u not have to pay VAT on the laptop when u bring it back here?

You are supposed to declare everything over a certain value, but how can you declare it if customs aren't in the airport? Who in their right mind would volunteer to pay VAT on something they purchased while in the US? Are you seriously suggesting you would get off the plane, collect your bags, go home and ring Mr. Customs Man and ask how much you owe?

I have travelled quite a bit to the US and I have never, ever seen customs at the airport in the morning when the US flights get in. Trust me - they are looking for the big fish, not somebody who brings in a laptop.

mobile04

ireland 3rd most expencive country in europe.
japan most expencive in the world.
that guy is right just put it in a sports bag.
damm you goverment.

Energizer

fair enough! i didn't know u could do that,i thought u had no choice but to declare it!

Infini

Well ya do now! Hell they won't bother ya expecially with about 50,000 people or more going through the airport on any day.

GoneShootin

Just some things to remember about NYC (I was there for New Years, its all in the blog )

Prices in NYC are subject to vat of 8% on all listed items in major retailers. I visited J&R (just beyond China Town) and it's not that good. The salespeople are similar to the ones you will find in those "for you good price, good price" on Times Square and 5 & 6th avenues.

If I was you, head to any of the CompUSA stores. Theres two in NYC. Another excellent place to look out for is a place called B&P (i think). Its on 47th street iirc. Look out for the workers that look like something out of Fiddler on the Roof and that will be the place. Dont be put off at the door when they ask you to leave any of your bags at security, its company policy for them.

The people in both those places are very helpful, and I would much rather leave my cash there than at J&R.

Back to those "good price good price" shops. Almost everything in there is either refurbished twat or knockoff items. You will notice that everyeone that works there are if they are from the one family. Sure you can haggle a 100 bucks here and there, but for the really expensive items I wouldnt exactly trust the after-sales service. For example I bought a Sony TS-1 at CompUSA and saved €200 at the time. I quizzed the guys at "Gernic Electronics Store" and noticed that the product I would have been getting was NOT sealed, and NO warrenty information, and a REPLACEMENT battery (not sony standard).

Another place to perhaps check out is the SONY CENTRE about 1.5 hours north of NYC. I cant remember the actual name of the place now, but its an OUTLET centre of some kind. Hit the road for Vancouver and you'll find it. Great place for all kinds of things. Do your clothes shopping out there. I got a genuine Tommy Hilfigger jacket for €40. Factory prices etc etc.

As for customs, sling the laptop over your shoulder as if you had it on the way out.

fatherdougalmag

Or if you know someone in the US, try Dell and get it delivered.

spartacus93

GoneShootin wrote:

Another place to perhaps check out is the SONY CENTRE about 1.5 hours north of NYC. I cant remember the actual name of the place now, but its an OUTLET centre of some kind. Hit the road for Vancouver and you'll find it. Great place for all kinds of things. Do your clothes shopping out there. I got a genuine Tommy Hilfigger jacket for €40. Factory prices etc etc.

Woodbury Common??

GoneShootin

spartacus93 wrote:

Woodbury Common??

thats the one

jank

I know a friend how is travelling to NY in june before heading off to travel the world. Id be very tempted to take advantage of the really good euro/dollar exchange never mind how much cheaper they are over there in the first place in terms of bang for your buck!

However would it be safe to send bavk via DHL/FedEx or other, and what would i have to do to make it compatiable to emm...for me!

i know about the power cable but that could be solved simply by getting 3 pin 220v one in your electrical store?
What other problems may one encounter? I have heard things about different keyboards (no back slash! for some reason)

One more thing I have heard on here that dell have some retail shops in the US, i preume that thier prices in the shops are more or less comparible to there dell.com site

Thanks all

Peteee

Aye, the keyboards are horribly messed up on american keyboards. It'll take you ages to get used to em.

But sure its easily worth the few hundred dollaridoos that you'll save

Tom Dunne

Peteee wrote:

Aye, the keyboards are horribly messed up on american keyboards. It'll take you ages to get used to em.

I disagree. There's a few minor difference, but as you say, it is certainly worth it.

gonker

just be careful. Other half in newyork year before last bought laptop in BIG store got it to hotel room and checked it out they had switched it for a second hand laptop . he had told them that he was going home next day. He is a member of the police force and was over there to march in the paddys day parade so had contacts....ie armed raid sirens etc....got money back etc fellas arrested but just be careful check it as soon as you receive the laptop.....seemingly it happens in all of the shops

USER X

I am just back from New York City, I build, repair and customise PCs and Laptops for people here in Ireland and I tried to research as much as possible this topic. One good website I found for Laptops in the states in www.newegg.com, I wasnt too impressed by JR computers I must admit. When I was in NY, I cant say I found any machines at the right prices.

There were many shops with dodgey Mecicans trying to flog second hand machines and machines which you might get the impression that they fell off the back of a truck! They were going to sell me a really nice Sony Laptop which looked to be in great condition and they only wanted $400 for it. This seemed like an incredible deal, it was a genuine P4 with 512MB RAM, DVD burner and it was in great condition. I was about to buy it and the guy explains the price: The laptop does not have a Hard drive, battery or charger. Baring this in mind I was still prepared to buy the machine at this price provided I could see the machine running as far as say the BIOS. I expected that they would be able to power it up from the power supply of a working model but they said they could not power it up for me so I decided not to risk it, The motherboard, processor, graphics/screen controller could have been dead and I would not have been able to bring it back. There are many machines available on ebay at good prices, being a regular ebayer myself I generally dont get caught out with faulty goods or conmerchants who just dont send anything and Paypal protects buyers up to £250 sterling so once u stay with paying with Paypal its pretty safe.

The other reason I decided not to purchase a machine when in NY was that I will be travelling to Los Angeles, Callifornia in June for 4 months and there appears to be quite a lot of liquidators and resellers in the area who I feel will be able to provide a better deal.

Please do lets us know how you got on, when you get back.

~User X

Sparky

what do people think of this one, should i get it, it seems to have what i want
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=317885&pfp=cat3

themole

i got a laptop from these guys.
http://www.mpsuperstore.com/

also paid extra to turn 1 year us warranty into 3 year international. this is a must because some companies will not even repair a foreign machine which is not under warranty. they have different models etc.

two things i don't like about the spec of that machine:
Maximum Memory: 1 GB

Video Chipset: Intel Extreme Graphics 2
Shared Video RAM: 64 MB