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Buy MBP from different country Apple Store

kaworu1986

kaworu1986

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
41
0
I am going to need a new laptop and would like to get myself a shiny 15" Macbook Pro with 256 megs of dedicated video memory.
Since I am attending one of the Universities listed in the UK Apple Higher Education store and the price is really quite steep, I fully intend to take advantage of the student discount (if what I read around was right it should be 15%, bringing the thing down from its 2400€ price to a much more acceptable 2050).
Problem is, while I do have a valid student matriculation card, I an currently back home in Italy for my summer break: do you think I could be able to get the Mac shipped over here or am I going to have to wait till I go back to uni in September?
Aside from wanting to play with it as soon as I can, getting it during the summer would allow me to sell the Notebook I have at the moment for some extra cash.
 
If you are talking about a physical brick and mortar Apple store, then go for it. You can always change the language in Mac OS. I am also sure that the Apple store would be able to swap out the keyboards for you for a fee of course (If they use different keyboards)....please someone confirm this :D
 
You can probably only config the keyboard if you order it online and then only a U.S. keyboard, but they wont ship it outside countries. I've just bought a new 17" Macbook Pro in Taiwan because its about 300pounds cheaper (and I dont get a £ key, I have to cut and paste it!)

I left my keyboard as is anyway, its in Chinese, but I dont mind. Btw, Hong Kong tends to be cheapest for Macbook's, nearly £400 cheaper than the UK. :)
 
Actually, I'd rather have both the OS and keyboard in English (Italian keyboard layout doesn't have curly brackets, and I am studying computer science......), so this is a non-issue.
More to the point, I was thinking of ordering the MBP by phone, if at all possible: other than not being convenient, going to a brick and mortar store would mean buying a return plane ticket and quite possibly spending the night in a hotel, wasting most, if not all, of the saving on the retail price.
 
I recently purchased an MBP using my student discount and while I wasn't shipping to a different country than the location of the school, it seemed like a very quick process of picking the school and having the discount show up... it doesn't seem like an in depth enough process for them to object to you shipping to a different place than your school is. Especially during the summer!
 
northernmunky said:
You can probably only config the keyboard if you order it online and then only a U.S. keyboard, but they wont ship it outside countries. I've just bought a new 17" Macbook Pro in Taiwan because its about 300pounds cheaper (and I dont get a £ key, I have to cut and paste it!)
Click to expand...

Option + 3 doesn't work?

The £ symbol is Option + 3 (ie: Option + #) on North American keyboards.

Try going to SYSTEM PREF > INTERNTIONAL, and then click on the INPUT MENU tab. From the list of languages, there should be a checkbox for KEYBOARD VIEWER. Turn that option on. Also, go to the bottom of the window and select "Show input menu in menu bar."

Close the System Prefs, and go to the toolbar at the top of your screen (it should be a flag), and select "Show Keyboard Viewer". You can easily find out how to get the £ symbol. :)
 
Yes, but shipping a computer to a destination that's different than the one on your credit card is always a problem. Say he goes to the UK Apple Online store. If he tries to ship a computer to Italy, he may be rejected because his credit card is from Italy, not the UK.
 
It's the registered address of the credit card that counts, not the country of issue (in most cases).
I've just bought MB (English International KB/OS) from Apple Germany store with my Dutch ABN/Amro CC. Ordered Friday lunchtime, and arrived Tuesday morning.
Maybe Apple Italy can accept UK proof of studentship for the education discount, and ship with the English International KB / OS ? No harm in asking. And if they say no, then complain and mention about EU freedom of trade and that any EU university is classified as a "home" university (at least for grants/awards etc. afaik).
 
Abstract said:
Option + 3 doesn't work?

The £ symbol is Option + 3 (ie: Option + #) on North American keyboards.

Try going to SYSTEM PREF > INTERNTIONAL, and then click on the INPUT MENU tab. From the list of languages, there should be a checkbox for KEYBOARD VIEWER. Turn that option on. Also, go to the bottom of the window and select "Show input menu in menu bar."

Close the System Prefs, and go to the toolbar at the top of your screen (it should be a flag), and select "Show Keyboard Viewer". You can easily find out how to get the £ symbol. :)
Click to expand...

I tried that, the symbol shows up if I press Opt + Cmd but when I press the 3 I just get an alert bip?
 
D O N O T

Man, dont buy from a country other than yours. Heres my story so far.

I purchased a Macbook pro Santa Rosa in Stockholm, i reside in the Netherlands and before buying the machine in sweden i called support to ask about the warranty and the clearly stated that i have full coverage in The Netherlands. Regardless of the fact that i bouhgt it in Sweden. So i bought the Macbook pro is sweden only to find out that i too have the yellowish 1/3 bottom of the screen and that my machine is also slowwww to wake from sleep mode.

I then call support in Holland and they tell me i dont qualify for a DOA exchange, after hours of support and misunderstanding i give in to get it repaired. To day i get to the service center and the seal my macbook with a DOA sticker and tell me to get in touch with apple. Guess what, i call apple and they get angry @ me and tell me that they were clear about me leaving the macbook there for repairs and tell me that the only way of getting a new is to travel off to sweden and get it exchanged there (so much for worldwide warranty) I then burst, and told them that i did exactly what tehy told and that they made a mistake. Turns out that according to the serial of my machine it was purchased on the 27th and that the repair center automatically thought it should have been a DOA. So now, im awaiting a response from apple Netherlands as to why they made me travel 80kms just to get a sticker on my machine and have to send it to the same place for repair. Basically they forked up and are trying to put the blame on me.

So think twice before you get yours form another country!!!
 
Ibinco, I'll keep in mind what you just said, but I will actually be using the Mac in the UK for most of the time (I am about to start the 3rd of a 4 years course), as I only get back home during the Xmas and summer breaks.

Ukhpr, problem with the Italian Apple store is that it doesn't have anything equivalent to the UK Higher Education store (just checked on the Italian website): the MBP comes to be around 2200€ after the "normal" student discount.
 
dontwalkhand said:
It's option + 3, not Option + Command + 3 ;). £££££££££££!! :D Leave out the command, and it should work.
Click to expand...

Opt + 3 gives me '#' on mine!
..... actually, I just figured it out!, Shift + 3 gives me £ because I have my preferences set to British where the 3 key is a '£'. I should have figured that out earlier!! :rolleyes:

On U.S. keyboards the 3 key doubles as '#', so the keys you're using are the other way around to mine. No other keys seem to be affected by that so it suits me fine! :)
 
ibinco said:
Man, dont buy from a country other than yours. Heres my story so far... [snip]
Click to expand...

For manufacturer warranty, AFAIK there is a legal requirement that any warranty provided within the EU is pan-EU. Therefore if you bought from Apple in Sweden (or in fact ANY store in Sweden), the you can return it to your local Apple anywhere within the EU. So the Netherland Apple representative is obliged under EU law to treat a warranty claim as if it were purchased in the Netherlands.

Extended warranties (Applecare?) are different, since these are an insurance policy underwritten by a 3rd party even if they are branded and sold by the manufacturer. Insurance policies seem to not be valid across borders in most cases.

I'd kick up a fuss, request refund for unaccepatable travel/shipping expenses, and write a letter to the European Competition Minister.


PS for the currency symbols, normally they are on the 4/$ button (on non-Apple US/English Intl. kb)... AltGr+4 = ¤ (the universal currency symbol) and AltGr+Shift+4 = £ (GBP symbol). Obliged to use Windows :( at work, so can't check my MB till tonight.
 
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