Mac Market

PDD

Hi Guys,

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if there is much of a market for Mac's in Ireland. My cousin the states has managed to find a guy who he gets all his Mac hardware from and hes getting crazy prices on hardware. He offered me this the today:

LATEST MODEL PowerBook G4 M9970LL/A

# Processor: 1.67GHz PowerPC G4
# Memory: 512MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM running at 333MHz
# Display: 17-inch (diagonal), 1680 x 1050 resolution, TFT
# Graphics processor: ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB of DDR SDRAM
# Storage: 120GB Ultra ATA/100; 5400 rpm
# Optical drive: 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# Ethernet: Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit)
# Wireless: Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme; built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
# Modem: Built-in 56K V.92
# Video I/O: DVI, S-video, VGA (with included adapter), and composite (with included adapter)
# Audio I/O: Optical digital input/audio line in; optical digital output/headphone out
# Expansion: One FireWire 400 port; one FireWire 800 port; two USB 2.0 ports, PC card slot
# Keyboard: Full-size, backlit
# Software: Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger; iLife '05

For €1600 Thats like a grand less than what it is to buy in the apple shop online! Im not a Mac user myself so chances are I would sell it on. Im just wondering are there that many Mac users out there that I could sell it or is it way and above what people would be willing to pay?

PDD

Chardee MacDennis

i wouldnt go investing in anything like that, especially with the changeover from powerpc to the pro core duo chips. great price though.

K.O.Kiki

If you sell it on for close to a grand less, I can't think of many who would refuse
And there's always eBay... I mean FS forum!! Yes.
FS forum.

ZENER

My mottos:

1. If something sounds too good to be true then it most probably is too good to be true.

2. Ya gets nuffin' for nuffin' !!

This stinks of one of those eBay adds I nearly fell for 2 years ago.

ZEN

PDD

I know it sounds a lil dodge, I will press my cousin for some details. I know hes picked up hardware thats fallen off the back of a truck before (but it was still in pristine condition - the fall didnt even mark the celophane! :-P).

Im probably going to be buying a Mac on eBay and it will be more than 500 so I wont be covered by the buyer protection yokie but has anyone ever used escrow or would anyone reccomend a protected method of payment for large sums of cash?

PDD

SouperComputer

knowing Apple's retail\reseller margins, it sounds like BS.

Also bear in mind that if you were bringing them into Ireland, customs and excise would be payable. This adds up to a fair whack of money. You pay duty (12%) on the item(s) and then pay 21% VAT on the total of the duty + value of the item in €.

So, powerbook costing €1600

Add customs: €192
Add VAT; € 376.32

Grand total (not including shipping): €2168


If its just a once off, of course you could just throw it in a laptop bag and customs are non the wiser.


Buying a mac from ebay is a good plan, but buying a new one im not so sure a lot of those auctions looks dodgy! Ive bought batches of macs on ebay with CC, but you need to be very careful about who you are buying from. In my case it involved calling\visiting the places supposedly selling the stuff.

Best grab a cheap flight to the US and buy one at a retail store NY or chicago. The money you will save will almost pay for your trip.

PDD

Cheers man, great advice and much appreciated. I didnt know about the duty and the VAT on value + duty thing. The ****ers really do screw ye dont they!

Ham'nd'egger

SouperComputer wrote:

knowing Apple's retail\reseller margins, it sounds like BS.

Also bear in mind that if you were bringing them into Ireland, customs and excise would be payable. This adds up to a fair whack of money. You pay duty (12%) on the item(s) and then pay 21% VAT on the total of the duty + value of the item in €.

So, powerbook costing €1600

Add customs: €192
Add VAT; € 376.32

Grand total (not including shipping): €2168


If its just a once off, of course you could just throw it in a laptop bag and customs are non the wiser.


Buying a mac from ebay is a good plan, but buying a new one im not so sure a lot of those auctions looks dodgy! Ive bought batches of macs on ebay with CC, but you need to be very careful about who you are buying from. In my case it involved calling\visiting the places supposedly selling the stuff.

Best grab a cheap flight to the US and buy one at a retail store NY or chicago. The money you will save will almost pay for your trip.

And VAT and Duty are charged on the importing and shipping charges, so you will be screwed for more than that price!

Or you go onto the Irish page of the Mac Shop and get

15.4-inch TFT display with 1440x900 resolution
1.67GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2MB shared L2 Cache
667MHz frontside bus
512MB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory

At €2179 all in. Ouch!

SouperComputer

And VAT and Duty are charged on the importing and shipping charges, so you will be screwed for more than that price!

Quite true, not sure how i left that out!