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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?"
Order laptop in advance via credit card. Have the laptop shipped to a trusted friend or colleague. Pick up when you are in town.
Many retail establishments can offer mechandise on the spot here, thought not always the same level of customization that Dell offers.
Maybe Best Buy or Fry's? You know, small little niche shops like that.
Seriously, unless you're hung up on Dell, any computer store will fall over themselves selling you a laptop.
Or am I missing a US/UK difference here? Does the UK just not have these kind of "walk in and buy it" type shops?
Are you insane? Who buys gateway?
EGG, the Electronic Gamers Guild
I think they are looking for a cheap laptop...
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
You wouldn't have to worry about customs/taxes if you open it and carry it with you, right? (Just like what you should do with jewelry)
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
BUT remember NY's friendly 8.25% sales tax. When possible, it's best to buy via mail-order from a company that doesn't have a NY presence. And remember to ask about the return policy.
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
I am guessing that none of you have ever travelled internationally. You walk through with a beaten up laptop bag slung across your shoulder and they are not going to ask you for proof of purchase and they sure as hell aren't going to start checking serial numbers at the airport. They may ask you were you got it from but you just tell them that it is your work computer. Do you really think that every international business traveller walks around with receipts for their laptops? You people really do live sheltered lives.
Step 6: shout DAMNIT when you realize that you have a DVD drive that supports Region 1 only and you'll have to shell out funds to obtain your Region 2 drive.
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
Or you could just declare it, still make a saving, and sleep soundly in the knowledge that you're not a dishonest, tight-arsed little toerag.
North Americans like crossing the border with their Southern neighbor because despite the high crime rate and poverty, prices for medicines and electrical goods are cheaper.
North Americans? You do know that the USA does not comprise all of North America right? <twang>I'm proud to be a North American, where at least I know Im above the equator</twang>
Step 5...
shout DAMNIT even louder when you try to type something and discover that the punctuation keys are completely different on a US keyboard to a UK keyboard.
German kezboards are worse....
J:)
Oh well, no point in steering now.
Unless you are dead-set on a) Dell and b) New York, consider flying to Boston, MA (or better yet, Manchester NH) and buying your laptop in that area. There is no sales tax in NH, and there are CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City and Apple stores all nearby.
But you don't! I found visiting the US highly confusing because I'd expect to pay the price on the tag, instead of the quoted price plus some awkward percentage that varied from place to place... You never know quite what you're going to have to pay.
Instead, here in the UK everyone quotes the price you actually pay, including VAT! (They have to, by law.) After all, that's the most important thing at the checkout. You can work out how much of that goes to the government if you want to, but that's hardly a major concern when you make a purchase.
VAT is hardly exploitation. It's not as if we don't know it's happening. Look on it as a public contribution to ensuring our country is run reasonably well and that it looks after its people. After all, you generally get what you pay for -- if you don't pay much, then you get a country that doesn't look after its people very well, as the US has found...
(Oh, and please don't call all other governments 'socialistic'. It doesn't do much either for international relations, or for your image here.)
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
Try the apple store
No he could not. The parent post I responded to mentioned shipping it to the UK from the NY UPS Store. I think customs could figure it out.
Seriously, I'm not trolling here. How could they tell by a cursory examination whether you had this with you when you left home?
I'll give you a P.O. Box that will accept it. Talk to me offline.
there aren't dell direct stores in NEW YORK
This is a feature of New York, not a bug. My recent Inspiron 8200 from Dell was pretty horrible. The only good thing about it was the 1600x1200 display -- the rest of it was ass.
I just got them to get me a 15" PowerBook, and it's the best computer I've ever used. I therefore strongly endorse the Apple Store suggestion.
Bander
What we need more of is science!
his is a $1500 package and Dell had it shipped without signature required?
I would have kept it.
No it wouldnt, that $1m loss for BA would be tax deductable, and thats $300k less tax income or so for the govt. So they got screwed there.
Bottom line is, any time a govt anoys any person, its 2-10x loss for their one time gain, ie. if they screw me over for whatever reason, like a fine or anything, I'l make sure I buy 10x value of that fine of foreign products on purpose, or anything minor. Sure its meaningless on the surface, but it is real in monetory terms, they will GET LESS in the end, even if they cannot work out WHY they got less.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
You don't want to tease an American customs or immigration officer as a foreigner. They can and will throw you out of the country if they get pissed on you, no appeal, no coming back for at least six months and you have to explain every time you do come back why you were thrown out that one time ("Well sir, I was teasing this customs officer and he took it badly...").
No, I haven't done it, but I read what it says just above where you sign on the entry cards.
I personally think you are making a mountain out of a molehill...
Im not a terribly frequent flyer, but I have flown on maybe 20 short international (European) and another 15 long-haul international flights in the last two years (UK-US-UK, UK-AU-US-UK, etc). I have taken my laptop in every case (purchased in Tottenham crt road and "exported" to Australia with a VAT refund). I have only ever once been stopped in Poland (once the woman heard I spoke english, she let me go without a search). I have never seen anyone else stopped by customs in any of the countries I have been to.
I think you missed the point. The friend flys the new laptop to the UK from the US. He is issued a note upon leaving the US, but neither the laptop or the note is brought back to the US, so it doesn't matter whose name was on the note.