[CJN]

I am getting a macbook pro for my birthday. My dad is working in houston next week so he was planning on getting it there for me, as it will save about £300 even with my uk educational discount.

He was asking me if I knew if there would be any differences or problems.

I know the charger will be different, but I have a usa uk adapter and you can buy a new charger.

Anything else? Keyboard? Warranty?

Can he just bring it back in his main luggage?

[Mad Vlad]

(Original post by CJN)
I am getting a macbook pro for my birthday. My dad is working in houston next week so he was planning on getting it there for me, as it will save about £300 even with my uk educational discount.

He was asking me if I knew if there would be any differences or problems.

I know the charger will be different, but I have a usa uk adapter and you can buy a new charger.

Anything else? Keyboard? Warranty?

Can he just bring it back in his main luggage?

Keyboard will be all American and the Warranty may be tricky. Biggest issue will be getting it back into the country - you'll have to pay import tax and VAT on the value of the purchase if he gets stopped by customs.

[MrGordonBrown]

(Original post by Mad Vlad)
Keyboard will be all American and the Warranty may be tricky. Biggest issue will be getting it back into the country - you'll have to pay import tax and VAT on the value of the purchase if he gets stopped by customs.

Isn't the keyboard the same QWERTY one?

The same position of buttons etc.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing, the warranty will be tricky but i'm sure it'll be fine. Its just as if I was living in the states, then came here, they won't exactly deny me the warranty, if they do I'll buy Applecare.

As for the import tax etc, just make the laptop look like its your personal one. Just take it out of the box.

[Mad Vlad]

(Original post by MrGordonBrown)
Isn't the keyboard the same QWERTY one?

The same position of buttons etc.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing, the warranty will be tricky but i'm sure it'll be fine. Its just as if I was living in the states, then came here, they won't exactly deny me the warranty, if they do I'll buy Applecare.

As for the import tax etc, just make the laptop look like its your personal one. Just take it out of the box.

It's a QWERTY keyboard, but you'll find that the keyboard mapping with respect to characters like " £ @ # ~ etc. will be significantly different to those found on a UK keyboard.

[MrGordonBrown]

(Original post by Mad Vlad)
It's a QWERTY keyboard, but you'll find that the keyboard mapping with respect to characters like " £ @ # ~ etc. will be significantly different to those found on a UK keyboard.

Ah, well I think my keyboard is already like that, because the button for '@' actually has " on it.


Thanks for your help. I think the warranty bit is the only worry...

What do you think?

Keep in mind, if I were to get a MacBook here, with a budget of about 1k, i'd only be able to get the entry level 13 inch, but using that same budget, I can pretty much get the 15 inch entry level. Especially with the recent updates, the difference between them is bigger than ever.

[.matt]

The 'British' Mac keyboard layout is a lot more like a standard US one than a standard British one, so that probably won't be a huge problem.

[MMODT]

(Original post by Mad Vlad)
Keyboard will be all American and the Warranty may be tricky. Biggest issue will be getting it back into the country - you'll have to pay import tax and VAT on the value of the purchase if he gets stopped by customs.

The keyboard is American on them anyway. There isn't much difference, just a couple of things like, the @ sign is on the number 2 key, and the quotation marks are in different places.

And thats IF he gets stopped by customs =)

[rofflewaffle]

(Original post by CJN)
I am getting a macbook pro for my birthday. My dad is working in houston next week so he was planning on getting it there for me, as it will save about £300 even with my uk educational discount.

He was asking me if I knew if there would be any differences or problems.

I know the charger will be different, but I have a usa uk adapter and you can buy a new charger.

Anything else? Keyboard? Warranty?

Can he just bring it back in his main luggage?

I bought mine in America last November. The charger works fine with an adapter. The keyboard has an American layout but I found it really easy to get used to, there isn't many big differences at all. I'm not sure about the warranty, but from what I remember they said if we had any problems I could take it to the UK Apple Stores and they would help there . When we went through the airport, they didn't charge anything for it with taxes/customs and stuff, but I don't know if this would always be the case.

[IndiePixie]

I got my Macbook while on holiday in Florida. There's no problems with registering the warranty. The keyboard is pretty much the same. You will need to get an adapter but that's straightforward as its a normal adapter not a US-UK voltage transformer which is the size and weight of a brick!. I can't think of any downsides. Just make sure its wedged well in the suitcase - I packed clothes around the original box to make sure it was packed snugly. I didn't declare it in customs, and I wasn't stopped in the green channel, so I had no charges to pay.

[MrGordonBrown]

Nice, i'll be getting the 15 inch i5 instead of the 13 inch core 2 duo.

Thank you everyone, OP, enjoy your MacBook

Although, its on the taxpayer anyway, so might aswell buy it from here

[didgeridoo12uk]

(Original post by Mad Vlad)
Keyboard will be all American and the Warranty may be tricky. Biggest issue will be getting it back into the country - you'll have to pay import tax and VAT on the value of the purchase if he gets stopped by customs.

macbook pros in the UK come with american keyboards anyway.
applecare is also worldwide, so warranty won't be an issue

and you're allowed to bring a laptop back into the country, no problem. everyone takes laptops abroad all the time, and OP just get rid of the bulk of the packaging if you're that worried about being stopped at customs.

and for the adapter side of things, you can just slide the US plug off the adapter and slide on the UK version.

[CJN]

(Original post by MrGordonBrown)
Nice, i'll be getting the 15 inch i5 instead of the 13 inch core 2 duo.

Thank you everyone, OP, enjoy your MacBook

Although, its on the taxpayer anyway, so might aswell buy it from here

Thanks. I was going to get a 13" but the new ones came out and 13" doesnt have the new i5 processor.

So I am trying to convince my dad to get the i5.

(Original post by didgeridoo12uk)
macbook pros in the UK come with american keyboards anyway.
applecare is also worldwide, so warranty won't be an issue

and you're allowed to bring a laptop back into the country, no problem. everyone takes laptops abroad all the time, and OP just get rid of the bulk of the packaging if you're that worried about being stopped at customs.

and for the adapter side of things, you can just slide the US plug off the adapter and slide on the UK version.

Even if it it boxed and unopened will it be ok? I will tell my dad and really its his decision as he is the one buying it.

But I think it should be fine.

[didgeridoo12uk]

(Original post by CJN)
Even if it it boxed and unopened will it be ok? I will tell my dad and really its his decision as he is the one buying it.

But I think it should be fine.

i imagine it will be fine, to be honest i've never ever known anyone to be stopped by customs, and i imagine he could blag it through anyway

[CJN]

(Original post by didgeridoo12uk)
i imagine it will be fine, to be honest i've never ever known anyone to be stopped by customs, and i imagine he could blag it through anyway

Yeah I dunno if the fact that he will already have a laptop with him will make a difference, but obviously they will be able to tell he is not trying to earn money from it and this will only even happen if they find it.

[MrGordonBrown]

(Original post by CJN)
Yeah I dunno if the fact that he will already have a laptop with him will make a difference, but obviously they will be able to tell he is not trying to earn money from it and this will only even happen if they find it.

They will ask him to take the laptops out of his bags...

So they'll see two laptops, believe me with this, I travel alot. However, they can't prove he's trying to get profit from it. If he takes it out of that big white box that comes with it, then he can just say one laptop is for work and one laptop is my personal one.

[mf2004]

(Original post by CJN)
I am getting a macbook pro for my birthday. My dad is working in houston next week so he was planning on getting it there for me, as it will save about £300 even with my uk educational discount.

He was asking me if I knew if there would be any differences or problems.

I know the charger will be different, but I have a usa uk adapter and you can buy a new charger.

Anything else? Keyboard? Warranty?

Can he just bring it back in his main luggage?

If he brings one back you could tell your dad to open the box before he comes, if he get's rid of the box and takes it with him as if it was his laptop I really doubt he'd be taxed.

Oh and I've flown with 2 laptops before and I've never had any trouble