Buying a sony laptop in the US, yay or nay?

[rgrebby]

Over here for the next week or so and was wondering if people think its worth the saving of a couple hundred?

 

[neil_g]

Nope. The exchange rate is poor and unless you can hide all of the packaging and sneak through customs you'll get bummed on taxes.

 

[onomatopoeia]

The limit for personal imports (that you bring with you when traveling into the UK from outside the EU) is £390. So, if the laptop retails at less than $600 or so you should be OK. If not, buy in the UK as you will be charged VAT and customs duty on the whole lot, not just the value above £390 - it's not like the income tax allowance

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm

(The above link is the HMRC interpretation of the legislation, so while not definitive, should be a reasonable guide)

 

[tdodd]

Apart from all the above, what would be the warranty position?

 

[Chappers]

I went to the B&H web site to check out prices .I managed to find only one Sony laptop under $600 and it wasn't overly spec'd. i3 processor running at 1.9GHz. Not very ground breaking. And at $589 not bad but by the tine you've added Sales Tax you've probably hit the $600 limit

Better off buying at home I think