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Getting A Laptop With The Low U.S. Dollar
An anonymous reader submits "I am heading to the U.S. pretty soon and am keen to take advantage of the low US$ to buy a laptop. The differences in prices are astounding - on dell.com (US) you pay $2049 for a Precision M60 - in the UK this costs 1620.33UKP, or $2999. That is a fair difference! It makes it cheaper for me to fly to the US to buy it and carry it home than it is for me to buy it in the UK. Now, that said, it isn't particularly easy to find a place to buy a laptop from, since most of the places don't ship to the UK (or it takes weeks) and it is difficult to get stuff delivered to your hotel ... any suggestions of how I can get a good laptop in the New York area when I am only there for 4 days?"
First off, I'm assuming you want a mail order dell laptop. The simplest way to go is to get a mailbox in New York via a company like The Mail Box or a UPS store. They give you a full address that is not a PO box, and they will sign for packages for you. Pre-pay for 1 month. That's step 1.
Step 2 is order your laptop and have it sent to your brand new address. You are going to want expedited shipping here - probably next day shipping because it might take a few days for them to ship it.
Step 3, pick up your cheap laptop when it arrives and consider the difference as... profit!
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
Not sure why this warrents an ask slashdot when a quick search found this:
Gateway Stores
Circuit City
Dell Direct Stores
Or if your feeling artistic:
Apple Stores
Try J&R near city hall.
Try the Apple Store in Soho. They'll have great laptops.
<tongue_in_cheek>Don't forget to declare your new laptop to customs, though--if you don't, you'll be a damned, dirty tax cheat. Nobody likes a damned, dirty tax cheat.</tongue_in_cheek>
(Oh, bear in mind--you'll be stuck with a US QWERTY keyboard. No Euro key or Pound key, among other things--you'll need to remap and remember...)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Doesn't Dell ask you to affirm that you will not export the computer from the United States as part of their checkout process?
From Dell's shopping cart:
Export Intent
I WILL NOT export this order outside the United States.
I WILL export this order outside the United States.
The export of any product and software purchased from Dell must be made in accordance with all relevant laws of the United States, including and without limitation, the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. This may require that you obtain a formal export license or make certain declarations to the United States Government regarding product(s) to be exported, their destination or their end-use.
Ship-To Prohibitions: Please be informed that your designated ship to address must reflect the address of the ultimate end-user. Dell will not process any order which specifies an address of a freight forwarder, warehouse, distribution center, airport, hotel or PO box.
Never flown internationally, but here's my question: How would they know?
You show up at the airport after your four days in New York, lugging a laptop and carrying bag. Just like probably 25% of the other passengers flying that day. How do they know you just purchased this laptop last night? Couldn't you just say "Yup, headed home from my business trip" or something? Or do they make you declare everything you have on you before entering the country? Seriously curious here.
The best reputable dealer in NYC is J&R Music and Computer World. They have a good selection of laptop computers that you can buy and take away right there; naturally they don't have Dell since Dell sells through the web only.
You can start by taking a look at their selection on their web site here. You'll pay the relevant sales taxes for New York (under 10%) but you'll get a much better deal than the Dell you are looking at.
Of course it's totally you to you whether you declare the thing when you arrive back in the UK and pay the relevant UK taxes.
John.
All Apple machines use US keyboards anyway. This is why UK customers have email addresses like toomuchmoney"mac.com .
My two powerbooks have Irish keyboards, the Swedish G5s i've used have swedish keyboards, and the '' symbol is where it belongs, over the number 2.
Find out in advance if the power socket on the power suppy is detachable. If it is, buy a UK lead for it before you go out. If it isn't buy a UK power supply for it before you go out. Also bring a US->UK plug converter. Make a CD of any of the kind of software you'd normally have installed, plus a selection of your normal documents/family photos etc that you'd have on your computer.
After you've bought your laptop, install the software and copy over some of your documents. If possible swap the backdrop to a picture of your kids or Mum or something like that. Change the regional settings to match the UK.
Then throw away all the packaging, CDs US power lead etc before you leave the hotel. Just keep the kind of things you'd normally take with you on a trip.
When you go through UK customs, it's not that likely you'll be stopped. If you do get stopped, the UK power supply and the fact that you've got lots of crap installed already will make it look like you just took your laptop with you anyway.
Lovely.
Er. I didn't say that.
Pay a large chunk of change to Customs...
A few years ago I bought my Canon Digital Elph from buy.com and had it shipped to the New Orleans hotel where I would be staying. The front desk handed me the package when I checked in.
That capability may have changed due to the rampant fraud in the intervening years. Today most sellers will only ship if the address is OK with your credit card, but you could make a call and arrange that.
I tried doing the same trick when I bought some sandals at the last minute and had them shipped to the el-cheapo motel I would be staying. I asked the front desk each day if the package had arrived. No. The seller shipped after I checked out.
The amazing end of the story was that my package was still stored at the motel when stopped to check when I returned the following year. I wasn't even staying at that motel that year.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
The people in customs aren't nazi's. If they see a laptop they will think nothing of it. Laptops are very common on Airplanes. I have taken many transatlantic flights and except for the pre-flight security check, I have never been questioned about my laptop or my other personal electronics. They have much bigger fish to catch. For example cigarette and exotic animal smugglers. He just needs to keep his mouth shut and walk through. Speaking from experience entry into the UK is very easy compared to the U.S., especally from Gatwick airport.
The thing I've noticed when people say it costs $XXX in the use and XXX in the UK is that they don't realize that US prices do *not* include tax. All the UK prices do. They never add the US tax to the US price or subtract the UK tax from the UK price.
1) Call the Apple Store ahead of time and make sure that they will have exactly what you want set aside for you when you arrive.
2) Purchase a UK power adapter from a UK Apple dealer before you go. The day before you leave the US for home, ship all the manuals and paperwork back to the UK, along with the US power adapter. Take nothing but the laptop and a UK power adapter in your bag through customs.
3) Call your credit card company beforehand and make sure that they will clear your charge for the purchase.
4) When you get back to the UK, look into buying a UK keyboard for your PowerBook. IIRC, the key faces can be detached and replaced from the notebook fairly easily.
You're missing the point.
c =1
c =1
He wants to buy it now because his money is in GBP. Right now that 2000$ USD laptop will only cost him 1082 GBP. 1 year ago it would have cost him 1280 GBP. It's 200 GBP cheaper now than a year ago for HIM (NOT for you, with USD as your base).
The cost difference is only part of it. Look at the international money scene: The US dollar is DIEING. HORRIBLY. No one wants the greenback. It will recover (we all hope), but for now it means getting stuff from the US can be REALLY cheap, even cheaper than usualy.
http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?s=USD&t=GBP&a=2000&
http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?s=USD&t=AUD&a=2000&
Imagine if those were stock charts... they'd be firing the board of directors!
Customs was not even a theoretical problem in my case, as there are no duties for importing computers to Germany. If you bought your iBook in a U.S. state that doesn't have sales tax [yes, my European children, there are whole states in the U.S. where there is no VAT. Remember this when your politicians try to tell you why your national sales tax has to be raised to 18 percent], you might have to pay a certain amount so they are satisfied you paid at least some sort of tax to somebody. This is the Einfuhrumsatzsteuer and German customs describes the details here. In my case, the Euro was high enough that it was still well worth it.
Other advice: Go on Apple's website (come on, you don't really want a loud, heavy, ugly Dell, do you), find a store in easy distance of where you are going to be, and email or call a few weeks ahead. IBooks are currently assembled in Taiwan, and take five to ten days if you want anything but the standard model (larger harddrive, for example). Remember, too, that America might have the most advanced stock market on the planet, but its bank system still hasn't gotten beyond the stage of sending little slips of paper around by mail: Most Americans have trouble understanding how an EC card even works, and happily go throught an 18th Century ritual called "balancing the check book" once every few days without complaint. You will have to pay cash (don't worry, these amounts in cash are not considered unusual in the U.S.), or better, get yourself a credit card.
German readers will want to take a look at this article about importing iBooks from the consumer test group Stiftung Warentest. Note that there are some minor mistakes in there, however, like the need for an adapter for the plug.
In my case, there was no question that it was worth it: In fact, I could have probably flown there and back just to pick up the computer, and still saved money. And best thing: With 220 volts, my iBook is twice as fast as it was in the States. No, really. The trouble is, it sends my fingerprints to Donald Rumsfeld every time I touch the escape button...
You are required by law to tell them.
If they even begin to think that you didn't tell them about something you ought to have, they can pull you aside and search you and your baggage. They have zero sense of humour about this kind of thing. They have every reason to want to catch you, since the fines are much higher than the taxes, and they look good catching smugglers. It's their job.
If they ask you, and you lie, you can be easily caught. They will look at the data plate on the laptop and see the country of origin is the US. They will notice how new it looks and ask you to prove when you bought it, or when you brought it into the country and paid the VAT on it (you better have an accompanying entry stamp in your passport). They can also trace the serial number and determine when it was manufactured and sold.
This is why it is a good idea to register any foreign made products prior to leaving your home country. The US has a form for this; I assume the UK has one, too.
I can attest to the lack of humor. I was re-entering Australia after a two-day side-trip over to New Zealand. I had two food items in my bag -- a bag of US chocolate candy that had already cleared Oz quarantine where I had been told it was no problem, and a bag of Oz-produced, Oz-purchased chocolate easter bunnies. I didn't report either one. They have an X-ray machine that detects chocolate. :-( They were not amused.
The person who mentioned "personal item" if the computer is used while overseas is wrong. This exemption is for people who have resided abroad, not just visited. Governments, especially the US, are quite nit-picky about the difference. It is intended for people who have lived overseas and in the normal course of living have bought things like clothing and furniture to use while residing overseas, but want to bring them back home.
The UK VAT is uniform across the entire country. The US has no national sales tax -- a sales tax (if any) is applied by each state. So the additional tax could be 0% to ~ 8.5%.
Hence it makes sense not to include on a list price or web page. But note that services like Pricegrabber do, if you punch in a shipping postal code, try to calculate and include the applicable sales tax for you
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