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?"

Comments

For anyone NOT going to the US...

[Dot.Com.CEO]

and still looking to benefit from the extra-low US dollar, I wholeheartidly and unreservedly suggest they try a forwarding agent. I use MyUS myself and they have flawlessly delivered everything I ordered from the US whereever I happened to be. It's great for these bargains that only seem to available to US citizens - I got an extra-cheap Zaurus from amazon.com last month for what is half the price of its price in Europe.

It goes without saying I'm not affiliated with them in any way, just an extremely happy customer. The inicial cost might appear steep but it's offset by your first major spend, really.

Good hotels do this

[costas]

Any good hotel (4 star and up, and good chain 3 stars) will sign for packages for you; just call the hotel, tell them you have a reservation, and ask how can you send a FedEx package to them for your personal delivery when you check-in. Get the name of the concierge/manager that gives you this information and ask for them by name on any follow-up calls. Give the info to Dell, make sure they put your name and "(Guest)" on the delivery and make it c/o of the person you have the name of, if possible. And don't forget to tip.

I can't imagine a decent NYC hotel not doing this; as a long-time business traveler, it's a perk you expect and is quite common.

Re:Easy answer

[legoburner]

Step 4...
shout DAMNIT as you realise that the power adaptor does not work so you need a new plug adaptor (cheap but inconvienient).

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. You can get round this with mappings but it is very annoying (not $1000 annoying but annoying nonetheless). If you were not aware of this already, then be aware as you will need to re-learn a few keys, and it can be very annoying if you are switching between US-UK computers/keyboards.

Re:Duty?

[wdavies]

No, it is not considered PERSONAL EFFECTS, UNLESS YOU HAVE OWNED FOR 6 MONTHS or so.

For all the rest of you suggesting claiming innocence if you are stopped, HM Custom & Excise have access to VERY comprehensive databases. If they suspect you just bought it, they will check up. I highly recommend if you are stopped that you tell the truth and dont attempt to conceal the fact you bought it. They will question you if they find a laptop in yoru baggage, and it will be childs play to find out that it was just purchased. You will then be subject to a much larger penalty.

See my posting below. The office who stopped me, actually ended up entertaining me with lots of stories about guys who deliberately "tattered" their laptops with sticky tape and the like to attempt to make it look used. Trouble is those things come with serial numbers. They are also on the look out for high end guitars as well apparently there's a brisk trade in Gibsen's etc.

Sure, try to go through the green channel with an innocent face, but if you are stopped, and asked, tell them you bought it in the US.

Winton