[PlacidTubs]

I am currently saving up to buy myself an iBook. What I really want is a 12" iBook with 80GB harddrive with bluetooth enabled, and I'll get me an extra 512 of Ram seperately. I have been shopping around, but have found that the apple US store is so much cheaper than the UK store (i know this is stating the obvious). I can get what I listed above for hundreds of pounds cheaper from the US store, even when using my student discount from the UK store. This means I may have to sacrifice my harddrive and bluetooth just because I live in Britain.

Is there anyway I can get around this? Somehow get a made to order iBook from america? I know apple make it very hard to do this, for obvious reasons.

I'm now gutted I live in the UK. I want to join the Mac community (im currently a Pc user sadly), but fear I'll either have to comprimise the machine I get, or indeed wait for a long time to save up the extra pennies

Rant over.

[Commodus]

The problem with ordering from the US is that your warranty would only truly be valid in the US. You could theoretically order AppleCare in the UK to get around that... but then that sort of defeats the point of saving money by buying from the US!

How important is the full 80 GB of space on the iBook? If you wanted, you could save about 50 pounds by getting the 60 GB drive.

Also, regarding Bluetooth: how often will you be sitting at a single desk using the iBook, versus travelling or using it around the home? Do you have a Bluetooth-enabled phone you intend to sync with the iBook? If you're going to be at a desk almost all the time, and don't have or care about Bluetooth phone sync, there's no immediate need to get a Bluetooth module. A machine sitting at the same desk most days doesn't need Bluetooth unless you either have specific synchronization needs or are an absolute aesthete that hates cables with a passion.

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by PlacidTubs:
I am currently saving up to buy myself an iBook. What I really want is a 12" iBook with 80GB harddrive with bluetooth enabled, and I'll get me an extra 512 of Ram seperately. I have been shopping around, but have found that the apple US store is so much cheaper than the UK store (i know this is stating the obvious). I can get what I listed above for hundreds of pounds cheaper from the US store, even when using my student discount from the UK store. This means I may have to sacrifice my harddrive and bluetooth just because I live in Britain.

Is there anyway I can get around this? Somehow get a made to order iBook from america? I know apple make it very hard to do this, for obvious reasons.

I'm now gutted I live in the UK. I want to join the Mac community (im currently a Pc user sadly), but fear I'll either have to comprimise the machine I get, or indeed wait for a long time to save up the extra pennies

Rant over.

It's simple, the UK has VAT while the US hasn't. That's why there is such a huge price difference (add to that the fact that Apple Europe always adds a bit to the price). Buying in the US is dangerous because you could face import duties. In belgium these can be up to 30% (!) don't know about the rates in the UK tough. You could buy a machine in the US if you know someone who can bring it over.

[molala]

Applecare warranty for portables is honoured worldwide. So if you can have someone bring over an iBook from the US, you would have no problem getting warranty repair in the UK.