Thinkpad customising and UK vs US pricing

I was browsing the Thinkpad US site and customising one of the R61 models and was amazed at how cheap it came out (around $1250 for 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM 250GB hard drive 1680x1050 15.4 screen).

I then went to the UK site and was dissapointed to find no customising of the laptops at all and hugely more expensive prices! An equivalent amount of money (about £650) only gets you 2.1Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM 1280x800 screen.

Why is there such a huge difference in prices and why can't you customise laptops on the UK site?

Tempted to order from the US and hope I don't get too much import duty!

 

I doubt Lenovo US will ship to UK when they have already have a branch in UK. Price difference... Maybe due to you just being British?

I live in Australia, and the prices are bloody expensive too AND it's not customisable. So I ordered from Euclid Computers. It's arriving on Monday (19/05/08). If you want to wait, I'll be writing a general review of their services and maybe you can consider buying from them.

Another international shipping online shop is Shop BLT.

 

Yes, it is about your import duties - that is why it costs more, and why they don't have customization (duty would have to be figured on each configuration separately). But you have a national health plan!

 

And Top Gear! Clarkson for Prime Minister!

Tough luck about the laptop, then.

 

It costs alot more to inport it into the UK thats why, and no the US site will not ship it to the UK

 

It's astronomically more expensive in the UK versus US. Apart from standard VAT at 17.5% what extra costs do Lenovo have over here that can take account for the murderous price? If you ask me, we're subsidising the cheap sales they always have in the US... plus you can customise it. Makes me look at Dell and think they're good, except they're not.

Nothing's ever perfect is it?

Looking forward to your review zephyrus17. I've been thinking about ordering from Euclid and just paying the sales tax on it when it comes in. Still works out a lot cheaper plus then I can get the latest. The only thing is checking international warranties and then ordering and fitting a UK keyboard.

 

Dell Inspirons are ugly soulless bricks, but the Latitudes aren't too shabby.

Sure thing. That's the first thing I'll do when I get my T61p.

 

As far as I'm aware there is no import duty on laptops. I purchased a Thinkpad T41P a few years ago from Bill Morrow (US) and had it shipped to the UK. There were some additional customs handling charges from the carrier and VAT but that was it. I'd phoned one of the UK customs agencies to check and as I say back then there was no import duty.

The only thing to be careful of is the International Warranty Coverage. You should check but I believe the CTO (Configure To Order) systems don't have coverage in the UK which means shipping back to the US in case of any problems. In any case worth checking. Even with the 'standard' models it worth checking.

George

PS: Importing from the US was the best thing I ever did. Saved a boatload of cash and received a top notch laptop into the bargain.

 

Its called Rip Off Britian, I bought my T61 new of a trusted US ebay seller who shipped to the UK. Got a £1600 machine for £850, all in with tax etc.

This was about a year ago.

 

It's just like the way M$ charges the same numerical price for Vista in US and UK. So Britons pay extra just for being British.

 

In my case, its the same way with Canada vs US (to a lesser degree). I mean Canada's already so close to the US, you figure we'd get at least the same rates

 

I just think that we're treated like second citizens. We should be able to order from Lenovo direct and take advantages of the same kind of sales that Lenovo US has. We should be able to customise our models as well. That's the least they could do for the extra we get charged.

 

You know, I think this problem of overcharging for laptops is specific to lenovo.. seems that the dollar price matches the pound price - I'm sure duty doesn't push up the price that much.

I'm also looking at the Asus U6SG... the price for this laptop is pretty similar in the UK and the States - I don't understand why this doesn't work for Lenovo too.

Rather than buy in the UK, it would actually be cheaper for me to buy a ticket to new york, buy the Lenovo laptop and come back with it in an old laptop bag.

I'm sick of rip-off Britain. Bah.

 

Lenovo laptop used to be IBM, so at that time, most US company will buy from IBM, but no more (at least not as much) from Lenovo. So Lenovo need to get back the US market by marking down price to compete with company such as Dell (a US company).