I was literally about to buy a new Macbook pro retina tomorrow morning as I can get £150 off any of them at the moment, but Ive been told at work today I may be going to the states for a couple of weeks towards the end of October, pretty chuffed about that as ive never been. Anyway it suddenly dawned on me that Macs are miles cheaper in the states so wondered what the procedure would be buying one there and getting it back through customs? I presume if I just dump the packaging and get it booted up/used prior to coming home (so just store it in my bag or carry it on in a laptop bag) then Im unlikely to get hit with any import duty? Anybody done it?
Customs isn't going to care about that. As long as you don't have many of them. I jet moved from the states to here and brought a tablet with me. They don't care about them, you'll be just fine.
Myself and a few mates were over in Florida doing a course a few years ago, most of us bought 'stuff' to bring back but we were outdone by one bloke who bought a bloody chainsaw. He'd have been fine bringing it back as hold luggage had he not insisted that he needed to make sure it was working before hand. He fuelled it up and proceeded to cut up a few tree's in the hotel car park, which would have been 'a bit off' had it not been about a week after the hurricane that trashed the place so cutting up the tree's was actually a help. He shipped it home by sea in the end.
When you look at the cost saving on the lower end retina 13 it's not that much, but when you start looking at the 15" pro's with the i7 chips it makes more sense. Reckon I'll hold tight and hope we end up going. If for some reason out trip gets cancelled watch out for the begging thread of 'if somebody is going to the states could you buy me a macbook'
It's the equivelant of buying it tax free. I paid £712 for a macbook pro in 2012 when they were £999 in the application store. That was the base model too. It also depends on the sales tax in the state you're visiting
Yes, Ive bought two. Each time i returned with them, minus their boxes, as part of my hand luggage. No probs. Ive also brought a whole mac pro tower through, complete with 28" screen.
Actually the Mac tower was my old mans and I took it home after he passed away. But as for the Macbooks you are most certainly correct.
As others have said, not a problem. I've bought back iPods, Bose sound docks .... All in their boxes. Managed to bring back my last Simpson RX8 speedway and 3 visors, never been stopped yet. Put the box in your case, lap top in your hand luggage. Just make sure it's fully charged and you can demonstrate it working if necessary.
