Buying a laptop in USA

My 7 year-old laptop has recently started showing it's age, and I've been thinking of replacing it.

I happen to be visiting the US in a couple of weeks, and was wondering if there was any benefit, in terms of price, to buying the laptop over there and bringing it back v buying it here.

You lot are pretty smart about this type of thing... what do you think?

I bought my MacBook Air and iPod in the US at the end of 2012 because it worked out to be about £400 cheaper in total to buy them in the US.

I was just in the US again a couple of weeks ago and was considering buying another Macbook as mine is getting a bit slow - however because of the crappy exchange rate due to Brexit, I worked out it was barely any cheaper anymore to buy it there than here in the UK... So I didn't bother.

Same goes for several other things I was going to buy - I'd been waiting until I went to the US to stock up on make-up and perfume and then when I got there I discovered that because of the exchange rate, they were actually cheaper in the UK right now.


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Thanks K... I hadn't given a lot of thought to the exchange rate, but I think I'd better start!    I was going to buy some nice perfume too, while over there, but maybe I need to do a bit of price research first...

Thanks K... I hadn't given a lot of thought to the exchange rate, but I think I'd better start!    I was going to buy some nice perfume too, while over there, but maybe I need to do a bit of price research first...

Yeah, the day before Brexit, the exchange rate was up to $1.5 to the £, but as soon as the result came in it went down to about $1.3 to the £ and hasn't recovered yet.

The MacBook Air with the spec I want is £1,240 in the UK and $1,499 in the UK. Before Brexit, $1,499 came out to £999, so it was £240 cheaper to buy in the US.

However, right now, $1,499 is about £1,120.. And PC World have an offer on at the moment to get 10% cashback from MacBooks, so actually I might be able to get the one I want here in the UK for £1,116.

Check the Best Buy website, and some of the on-line only retailers and compare the spec/prices. I considered the same thing a few months back, and while cheaper at the time, the cost of the higher spec laptop would have triggered VAT/duty upon return.

Ended up buying a Dell here.

Yup, with the exchange rate as low as it is right now, there isn't much advantage in purchasing in the US versus UK.  We plan to buy new iPads this year but won't save by buying them in the US so will just get them here.