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Buying in the USA

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Hi all,

First of all I am sorry if this has been posted before. I did search and couldn't find anything.

I am off to New York for a long weekend, leaving on 10th Nov back on the 14th. I currently live in London. I am thinking that while I am there I could pick up a new Apple Laptop, yet to decide which one.

What I would like to know is what I would have to do when I get it back to the UK?

I know that I would need a new power adaptor as it is a different plug socket. However the things that concern me are

1. If it went wrong is the warranty international or would I have trouble getting Apple UK to do anything.
2. Is the OS international? Can I tell te computer that I am in the UK and it would be OK or would I have to reinstall?
3. When I come into the UK and declare to customs that I have brought in something more valuable than the limit what do I get charged? VAT? Import duty? How much does this equate to?

Anything else that I need to know?

All help gratefully recieved.
 
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You will have to pay the VAT and import duty which will make the cost almost more expensive so its not really worth it
 
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The British VAT laws (found here) dictate that you'll pay 17.5% on the fair market value of any item purchased outside the UK or other member states. If you buy a $2500 MacBookPro, you can expect to pay the Customs man just about another $450 just to get the unit into the country.

I am not a lawyer or travel agent or tax person, so my advice is to check out the HM Revenue and Customs website for definitive answers on taxes.

As for your warranty, here's the good news from Apple's web site:

If the product is portable, meaning that it can operate independently without a power cord, you may obtain warranty service worldwide.

No idea what this costs, though.

The best news of all three is that OSX has a British option, so you're okay there. The only issue is that you'll have a US keyboard on any product you buy in the USA.

Enjoy your visit to NY!
 
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The Customs guy doesn't need to know about your purchase...

However, you might want to think about it. I bought a MacBook Black with a gig of RAM and 100GB HDD but used my UK credit card (as I have little US credit history). My credit card was debited £1019.70

Now looking at the Apple UK website, I could have got that for £1,159 including VAT. Sure, in NY you would not pay NY tax (around 8%) like I did, but the saving is not massive as many UK'ers believe. When you factor in buying a new adapter (actually the US one will be fine, you just need a new flex) and the risk of the warranty situation, it's barely worth it to save £150.

As to your other questions. OS X can be set up for any country and the keyboard on Apple Macs is the same in the US and UK (unlike PCs), so that is not an issue. Besides, it took me about 2 days to get used to the new layout, where the only significant difference in the '@' being on the "2" rather than next to the return key.
 

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