To buy in Canada or UK

[sdtoronto]

Few questions to help buy MacBook for my son traveling from Canada to UK for Uni.

1. Should buy in Canada or buy in UK?
   a) is power wattage a consideration?
   b) is warranty a consideration?
   
   There seems to be huge price gap. The base MBA is $1299 CAD vs. $1800 CAD (after conversion of £ 999 )
2. To buy MacBook Air or Pro? Portability/Weight is important

Appreciate help.

 

[fischersd]

If it's cheaper in Canada, then buy it in Canada. Apple's warranties are universal. The power supply for the MacBooks is also universal - you'll just need to pop into the Apple store to get the cord for the UK plug.

 

[fwmireault]

So I am Canadian and I think that you would have a much better price by buying it there. Apple seems to have an important price gap in Europe in general, including the UK. Don’t forget that your son is eligible to the educational discount, which can save you a decent amount of money, and if you buy it from Apple in the next two months or so, he will have free AirPods. Your warranty will be covered in UK.

For MBA/MBP, I would say it depends on the needs of you son. MacBook Air is a very capable machine that will match the needs for the vast majority of customers. If your son needs some powerful apps (video/audio creation, Adobe, gaming), I would recommend the MacBook Pro. The 13 inch devices are very similar, but the MBP has a fan and offers a better cooling system.

 

[KaliYoni]

Three quick comments:

• Before you buy anything, check to see if the university or academic department has any specific requirements for systems, configuration, or software.
• As mentioned above, Apple's educational discounts are well worth checking out.
• Personal opinion: if the CAD vs. GBP prices aren't too far apart, it might be easier and safer from a logistical standpoint to buy the computer in the UK. Then no worries about keeping track of the machine while en route or dealing with customs at border(s).

 

[Audit13]

Is the Canadian and UK warranty the same?

 

[Lihp8270]

If it's cheaper in Canada, then buy it in Canada. Apple's warranties are universal. The power supply for the MacBooks is also universal - you'll just need to pop into the Apple store to get the cord for the UK plug.

Not entirely true.

UK consumer law gives us 6 years of protection against manufacturing defects but this is against the actual retailer.

If you buy from Canada you won’t get the 6 years you would get buying from a UK apple store.

 

[Lihp8270]

Is the Canadian and UK warranty the same?

6 years if bought in the UK

 

[Audit13]

6 years if bought in the UK

This is what I thought. If it were me and I'll be in the UK for over 1 year, I'd be inclined to purchase the MacBook in the UK.

 

[theluggage]

There seems to be huge price gap. The base MBA is $1299 CAD vs. $1800 CAD (after conversion of £ 999 )

How do sales taxes work in Canada? The UK price includes 20% tax. If you have to add tax to the Canadian price that might reduce the difference.

If you buy in the UK think about whether to get the British keyboard or choose the "International English" layout. Apple's British layout is guaranteed to annoy anybody who is not an established British Mac user.

 

[theluggage]

6 years if bought in the UK

...6 years against manufacturing defects - and you might have to throw your toys out of the pram to get it honoured by the retailer. You might get more comprehensive, less quibbley, protection from an extended warranty, possibly including accidental damage, but at a price. On balance, it's far better than US/Canada, and you really have to look critically at the value of extended warranties in the UK/EU (they tend to be a ripoff). Simply price-matching it with something like (the N American version of) Applecare isn't really fair, though.

(All of these things protect your computer for the period when it is least likely to go wrong - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve)

 

[Lihp8270]

...6 years against manufacturing defects - and you might have to throw your toys out of the pram to get it honoured by the retailer. You might get more comprehensive, less quibbley, protection from an extended warranty, possibly including accidental damage, but at a price. On balance, it's far better than US/Canada, and you really have to look critically at the value of extended warranties in the UK/EU (they tend to be a ripoff). Simply price-matching it with something like (the N American version of) Applecare isn't really fair, though.

(All of these things protect your computer for the period when it is least likely to go wrong - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve)

I was actually surprised with Apple.

My other half’s backlights failed on her iPad Pro after about 3 years. We took it to apple to see about a repair, I had come prepared with links to the apple legal pages etc ready for an argument.

But it wasn’t necessary. Without prompt they simply said “since you’ve bought it from here you have 6 years, we can just exchange it now” we came away with a new iPad ?‍♂️

 

[fischersd]

Not entirely true.

UK consumer law gives us 6 years of protection against manufacturing defects but this is against the actual retailer.

If you buy from Canada you won’t get the 6 years you would get buying from a UK apple store.

Yep, you have stronger consumer laws in Europe. I wonder - does the UK keep those after Brexit?

It does make me wonder if the EU version of AppleCare+ is also different (does it add accidental damage for the full 6 years by any chance?) - if it did, I'm sure it would be more expensive.

I'm sure everything Apple sells will cost more in EU due to the inflated warranty costs that the EU has forced on Apple.

It's a balancing act.

Also, would Apple honour the 6 year warranty outside of EU? If you move elsewhere in the world do you get Apple standard warranties or the EU enhanced one? (Unless the OP's son is planning on doing a Phd, there's a chance they may not be in the UK for the full 6 years).

I was curious to find out if London actually did get more rain that we do on the west coast...turns out they don't, but they do get more cloudy days.
Worth a read:

London vs. Seattle Explained in 10 Minutes

They might be separated by the Atlantic Ocean and a few thousand miles of land mass, but surprisingly London and Seattle have quite a few things in common. One of the first things is…rain! Both cit…

www.movingtolondon.net

 

[Lihp8270]

Yep, you have stronger consumer laws in Europe. I wonder - does the UK keep those after Brexit?

It does make me wonder if the EU version of AppleCare+ is also different (does it add accidental damage for the full 6 years by any chance?) - if it did, I'm sure it would be more expensive.

I'm sure everything Apple sells will cost more in EU due to the inflated warranty costs that the EU has forced on Apple.

It's a balancing act.

Also, would Apple honour the 6 year warranty outside of EU? If you move elsewhere in the world do you get Apple standard warranties or the EU enhanced one? (Unless the OP's son is planning on doing a Phd, there's a chance they may not be in the UK for the full 6 years).

The consumer laws in the UK are actually stronger than the minimums required by the EU so I imagine they will remain.

The way it works is you have 1 test manufacturers warranty which is normal and universal. The additional 5 years is with the retailer itself under having to supply goods to consumers that are of merchantable quality.

So when you claim on that basis you need to go to the retailer who actually sold it. So that specific apple store, or apple store online in the UK.

I can’t remember who posted it, but keyboard layout would be a big one for me.

Id want a British layout if I moved to North America, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to get.

 

[salamanderjuice]

How do sales taxes work in Canada? The UK price includes 20% tax. If you have to add tax to the Canadian price that might reduce the difference.

If you buy in the UK think about whether to get the British keyboard or choose the "International English" layout. Apple's British layout is guaranteed to annoy anybody who is not an established British Mac user.

It's between 5 and 15% depending on OP's province. So still a few hundred cheaper even if they're in a 15% province.

 

[iterva]

Id want a British layout if I moved to North America, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to get.

If you order from Apple then you can choose which keyboard layout you want. Below example is from apple.com


Then there are some local variations on which language are available to you in your countrys store.

 

[theluggage]

It does make me wonder if the EU version of AppleCare+ is also different (does it add accidental damage for the full 6 years by any chance?) - if it did, I'm sure it would be more expensive.

Uh... compare the US and UK versions here and here and have fun playing spot the difference. The only compelling reason I see for getting it in the UK is the accidental damage - and for that the advice is always to check what coverage you can get on your general personal/home insurance policy, first.

 

[Lihp8270]

Uh... compare the US and UK versions here and here and have fun playing spot the difference. The only compelling reason I see for getting it in the UK is the accidental damage - and for that the advice is always to check what coverage you can get on your general personal/home insurance policy, first.

Legal - Apple Products and Consumer Laws in the United Kingdom - Apple

www.apple.com

the extra UK consumer law information is in a different page on the apple site

edit: I didn’t read properly before responding. UK consumer law has nothing to do with AC+ or accidental damage etc.

 

[sdtoronto]

thank you all. we ended up buying from Canada itself.

 

[pacmania1982]

My only comment would be, is if you DO need to take it to a store, stand your ground. They generally pull a face and go 'well it's not from the UK, blah blah blah'. You just have to point out that the warranty is still valid.

Also ordering of certain parts, such as a keyboard may take longer. I have a 2017 none Touch Bar MacBook Pro and it's got the US keyboard layout. If I had to take it in for any reason, it may take them a week or two to source a replacement.

Other than that, I've bought most of my Macs from the US when we've been on holiday. The only time I've ever had a problem with anything I bought was when my iPad 3's backlight died and it was a Verizon specific model as at the time, I wanted CDMA/LTE instead of regular AT&T 4G (because I found at the time, Verizon's coverage was way better). It was out of warranty anyway, but there was a bit of a who ha about sourcing a replacement from the US.

 

[KaliYoni]

thank you all. we ended up buying from Canada itself.

If you don't mind telling us, what led you to buy in Canada?