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buying a Mac Mini in the USA to use in the UK?

C

copydeskcat

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 12, 2008
257
4
Hi folks,

this has probably been asked a dozen times before, but if I was buying a Mac Mini in the USA would there be any problems with me bringing it back and using it in the UK?

For example, does it use a different power adapter? Could I get a figure-8 adapter and use it here?

Would my warranty still be valid internationally?

My friend is in Vegas right now and can get me one, they're considerably cheaper than in the UK, including State tax and currency conversion. It would mean I could get some nice upgrades for it.

Best,


CDC
 
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Itll work fine In the uk! The warranty is limited though from memory.
 
no experience here, but thought the warranty stays valid.

my guess is that the power socket is different anyway, 2in in US, 3pin in UK?
 
Gav2k said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Itll work fine In the uk! The warranty is limited though from memory.
Click to expand...

Thanks man.

The Apple UK Chat person said warranty would not be valid, so I would have to buy Apple Care. However, I spoke to the Apple Glasgow Store and they said they would honour the warranty as long as I had a receipt and a valid serial.

Result.

Cheers,


CDC
 
Normally there's an international warranty so I don't understand why they wouldn't accept it ? And power-wise, maybe ask your friend to buy a world travel kit, it includes most adapters and costs about $40
 
Warranty is valid, my friend bought a Macbook whilst she was living in Singapore a few years ago, the under case of it broke, took it in, got it replaced, no questions asked about the warranty, all was fine.
 
Last edited:
The EU requires a 2-year warranty on electronics right? The US doesn't require one at all, but Apple includes a 1-year warranty. That 1-year will travel anywhere, but I don't think you'll get the EU 2nd year free.
 
Most modern power supplies are switchable between UK & US. The power cable to a Mac mini (at least 2010 onwards, I'm not sure about before) is just a standard power lead that you might get with a low power item like a radio.

Just pick up one of those, or get one off eBay.

Otherwise, I'm sure you'll be fine.

You don't even get the minor problem of having a US keyboard, that you'd get with a MacBook.
 
blevins321 said:
The EU requires a 2-year warranty on electronics right? The US doesn't require one at all, but Apple includes a 1-year warranty. That 1-year will travel anywhere, but I don't think you'll get the EU 2nd year free.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the rest of the EU, but in the UK, a "guarantee" is for a minimum of one year, but a warranty is for as long as the item is expected to reasonably last. For example, if you pay £30 for a digital camera, you can reasonably expect it to last 12 months. If you pay £1000 for a Mac, you can reasonably expect it to last at least two years (potentially longer). Most retailers try to hold customers to 12 months, but a bit of know-how and spouting the Consumer Protection Act soon silences them. I spoke directly to Apple in Glasgow and they said they would honour a full one year warranty on any Apple product. I have a friend who has a Macbook that's now in it's seventh year and Apple replaced his trackpad for free and reinstalled all of his software (even though his copy of OSX wasn't legal). Good customer service is worth more to Apple than you would pay for it - because you're more likely to buy more of their products if you feel you've been treated fairly and well - whereas, with a high street electronics retailers - you're not strictly *their* customer - you're the customer of the company product you purchased (Samsung, Sony, HP, Panasonic etc.).

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Snips said:
Most modern power supplies are switchable between UK & US. The power cable to a Mac mini (at least 2010 onwards, I'm not sure about before) is just a standard power lead that you might get with a low power item like a radio.

Just pick up one of those, or get one off eBay.

Otherwise, I'm sure you'll be fine.

You don't even get the minor problem of having a US keyboard, that you'd get with a MacBook.
Click to expand...

My friend arrived home last night from Vegas - I should get my Mac Mini today. I went for the 2.5ghz with 8GB of memory upgrade. He bought me the World Traveller Power Kit as a gift from him, which solves pretty much all of my problems.

I'll let everyone know how my setup goes.

I don't know if he bought the iPhone 4S for himself or not though....
 
My friend arrived home last night from Vegas - I should get my Mac Mini today. I went for the 2.5ghz with 8GB of memory upgrade. He bought me the World Traveller Power Kit as a gift from him, which solves pretty much all of my problems.

I'll let everyone know how my setup goes.

I don't know if he bought the iPhone 4S for himself or not though....
Click to expand...

I think you'll find the travel kit converts Apple adapters to different standards. You just need a US to UK plug socket convertor as the Mac mini uses a standard cable and has an inbuilt transformer.
 
gadeynedries said:
Hi Snips,

How did this work out for you?
I am planning to buy one as well in the US to use in UK.

Dries
Click to expand...

It worked out well. My friend was in Vegas, I gave him my spec, they built the Mac mini and he brought it home in his hand luggage. The only thing I needed to do was get a figure-8 power cable/plug - which I took off an old stereo that I don't use any more. Of course, you need a keyboard, mouse and monitor (HDMI). It doesn't take PS/2 mice, so you'll need a USB mouse.

Really love my Mac mini. Would never go back.

CDC
 
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