I'm not sure this is 'mac hardware' but I can't see anywhere else to obviously put it.

Apple have dropped the 40GB Apple TV in the US, and dropped price of the 160GB model. It is now $229. Add in say around 15% sales tax to account for UK VAT equivalent and you can buy a 160GB AppleTV from a shop in the US for say $265. That's £165, give or take.

In the UK, they have not done so. The 40GB model is still on sale along with the 160GB model. In the UK, the 160GB AppleTV is £263, inc vat.

All I can say is . You can buy a 160GB AppleTV is the US for less than the cost of a 40GB AppleTV in the UK...

Jon

And that surprises you?

Apple are better than they used to be. When I got my first Mac Plus at work, they were working on $1 = 2.50UKP!

I liked Adobe's excuse - spouting some [LIFTED] about regional language differences and translation costs.

Actually, yes. It simply isn't the case any more with the majority of Apple stuff. It is generally more expensive in the UK, by about 10% or so mostly, which is actually fairly consistent with a lot of consumer electronics. The markup on this is more like 70%.


I know, and at that time the exchange rate was actually the reverse . I started using Macs when it literally was possible to fly to the US, buy a Mac, fly back, pay the duty and still pay less than the cost of buying the same one in the UK. However things generally aren't that way any more. This one is a serious outlier.

Jon

Sony do the same for their gaming stuff.

The best one currently is they are claiming a massive delay in the 'God of War' collection due to localisation issues. The 'God of War' collection is a compilation of games, all of which have already been released in the EU, complete with translations...

Jon

They've updated the UK store now. The 40GB version is also gone and the 160GB version is £219. Take VAT off and that's £186 quid. At current exchange rates that's roughly $308. So we're still facing a 34% markup over the US. Gits.

Jon

While I agree a 34% mark-up is entirely worthy of the gits comment isn't the EU at least partly to blame? IIRC there is some sort of import tax of home entertainment equipment (that there isn't on computers).

I am still debating whether to get one. It sounds like a nice idea, but unless I can stream my avi's from my other machines it really is not worth it just yet.

Clicky

That should sort it for you

I think that many of my avi's are high definition. I will need to check that. Though I would imagine that the Apple TV will undergo a serious power upgrade to cope with HD content. At that point I will reconsider.