Do US consumers pay tax afterwards when purchasing, say, an iPhone (or any consumer purchase for that matter)?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mac mini new mac mini
- Sort by reaction score
Most people in this thread seem to be going by Gurman's prediction...
Gurman: Apple Planning No New Mac Releases For Remainder of 2022
Apple is not planning to announce any new Macs in the remainder of this year, with all planned releases expected to take place in the first quarter...
www.macrumors.com
I can’t wait for all the rage in this thread when ‘only’ an M2 mini is released in March 2023. Imagine…💀Most people in this thread seem to be going by Gurman's prediction...
Gurman: Apple Planning No New Mac Releases For Remainder of 2022
Apple is not planning to announce any new Macs in the remainder of this year, with all planned releases expected to take place in the first quarter...
Yes, the majority of US consumers do. Same here in Canada. In once province it's 5%, but in other ones it's 13-15%. That's on top of the listed price.
So, basically, you sound nuts with your strange VAT rants.
If that happens, and assuming it comes with a 24 GB option, I'll probably just buy it and forget about a mythical M2 Pro Mac mini. I can save my US$200-250.
I'm still rocking my 2009 Mac Mini.
That's truly impressive.
I retired my 2009 MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz a long time ago... although my 8 year-old uses my 2008 MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz until I get him a new computer.
Which 2009 do you have? 2.0 GHz is a touch too slow for a ton of stuff but it works for basic web surfing. 2.26 GHz is a small but actually noticeable improvement as it's an increase in clock speed of 13%. I'd imagine 2.66 GHz would be another small but noticeable improvement with an 18% increase in clock speed over 2.26 GHz.
BTW, while the 2.0 GHz MacBook is on its last legs though with a dying battery and dead optical drive, everything it still OK with the 2.26 GHz MacBook Pro. Both still have their original batteries!
The rule is that the new M2 one will almost certainly be announced 15 days after you take ownership of an M1...
I mean if you have at least a 2 week return period yeah you are pretty safe as the 15th is basically the last possible day it could come out this year.
Just announced is the holiday return window. You have until January 8th. https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/04/apple-holiday-extended-return-policy-2022/
The only real difference is that UK/EU VAT is usually included in the ticket price & "what you see is what you pay", whereas in the US, a list of state & local sales taxes (depending on the region) magically appear at the checkout (as you'll discover when you try and pay for a $4.99 item with a $5 bill).
EU/UK VAT tends to be higher than US sales tax but that applies to anything you buy & is a discussion for another forum.
Right, in New Mexico if you ordered online you payed the state's base 5%, but if you bought the same good at an actual store in Dona Ana county you would pay 6.3750% sales tax and in the city of Las Cruces it was 7.5625% while in Mesilla right next door it was 7.8125%.
This is why removing VAT makes sense as it tells you what Apple itself is charging as opposed to whatever the regional sales tax is.
Last edited:
Well there are things in the US where the sales tax is "baked-in" — goods from vending machines and gas (petrol) immediately come to mind. Trying to have the same price with tax here in the US is a royal PITA. Also depending on location some things are exempt from sales tax (food) and some places have special tax free days.
Also "In a private-party sale, the buyer will pay tax to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when registering the car." so some goods even have "after the fact" taxes here in the US.
We're getting off-topic here, but there's something called "use tax" that most people in the US have probably never heard of, but may be subject to. I live in New Jersey, but it's a short trip to tax-free Delaware where I can save 7% on purchases. However, if you read the letter of the law, New Jersey expects me to declare that on my income tax and pay a 7% use tax on the purchase! If you check, you will probably find a similar tax in most US states.
Pro tip - don't mention US petrol tax to people from the UK/EU - you're gonna lose
What makes up the cost of 1 litre of petrol?
What makes up the cost of a litre of petrol assuming the now all too real cost of £1 per litre
www.whatprice.co.uk
My 2009 Mac Mini has a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo prosessor. It was a major imporovement over my 1.8GHz G5 tower when I got it. My brother in law gave me the Mini in 2014 so I haven't paid for an Apple product since 2004. I'm ahead of the game. Right now I really need a new computer but I don't want to buy an M1 Mini since the M2 will be out soon. I'm watching a couple of 2014 and 2018 Minis on E-Bay. I'll pick one up to fill in the time between now and when the M2 Mini is available.That's truly impressive.
I retired my 2009 MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz a long time ago... although my 8 year-old uses my 2008 MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz until I get him a new computer.
Which 2009 do you have? 2.0 GHz is a touch too slow for a ton of stuff but it works for basic web surfing. 2.26 GHz is a small but actually noticeable improvement as it's an increase in clock speed of 13%. I'd imagine 2.66 GHz would be another small but noticeable improvement with an 18% increase in clock speed over 2.26 GHz.
BTW, while the 2.0 GHz MacBook is on its last legs though with a dying battery and dead optical drive, everything it still OK with the 2.26 GHz MacBook Pro. Both still have their original batteries!
IIRC, you wanted to use Catalina right? If so, and since you'll probably only need it for about 6 months or so, why not just get an 8 GB 2012 Mac mini? They i5 models are dirt cheap now and officially support macOS 10.15 Catalina. (The i5 would run circles around your Core 2 Duo. The i7 would be much faster than the i5, but the i7 is a bit expensive.)
The reason I bought the 2014 last year was to get Monterey support, but for older OSes, the 2012 can be advantageous for various reasons.
That's another option to get a 2012 Mini. I see 2014 Mini's for around $100 on E-Bay.
The only 2014 Mac minis I've seen for that price are either broken or else are 4 GB 1.4 GHz. I wouldn't get anything less than an 8 GB, model, preferably 2.6 GHz.
10.14 Mojave, so yes, 10.15 Catalina is supported too.
As was I until about 3 months ago, but starting to get a bit noisy (still running the original HDD), lacking in on-board storage, and the outdated MacOS getting cantankerous with some websites, I replaced it with a new M1 (8 Gb RAM / 1TB SSD).
I reckon my next new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming some time after the end of this decade.
Pundits and others, including the venerable GabrieleR (founder of this thread nearly 9 years ago), have almost certainly been mistaken in making such assertions.
The optical drive in my 2009 MBP sometimes doesn't work - there's a physical barrier inside preventing CDs going in (yes - I still like to rip CDs). But other times, it's fine, and worke like a dream...That's truly impressive.
I retired my 2009 MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz a long time ago... although my 8 year-old uses my 2008 MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz until I get him a new computer.
Which 2009 do you have? 2.0 GHz is a touch too slow for a ton of stuff but it works for basic web surfing. 2.26 GHz is a small but actually noticeable improvement as it's an increase in clock speed of 13%. I'd imagine 2.66 GHz would be another small but noticeable improvement with an 18% increase in clock speed over 2.26 GHz.
BTW, while the 2.0 GHz MacBook is on its last legs though with a dying battery and dead optical drive, everything it still OK with the 2.26 GHz MacBook Pro. Both still have their original batteries!
Will a 2018 Mac Mini look OK on an HD display or does it need a 4K display like the M1 does?
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...ni-core-i3-3.6-late-2018-specs.html#macspecs1
It's a matter of personal opinion here, but Mojave and later deactivate sub pixel rendering which affects text quality on non-Retina displays. A lot of people complain about it since it looks worse than High Sierra. You can reactivate it through the command line but opinions on it are mixed on how well that works after you reactivate it.
That said, I use Monterey on a non-Retina screen every day, and it's fine. It's not as crisp, but it's OK IMO. The screen I use is an Apple 30" Cinema HD Display and this is the system I'm typing on right now.