With the latest Apple mac mini released in 2010 I can finally buy a mac mini with passable graphics. Actually the graphics aren't all that great, I would say entry level for games, but ah well.
But my elation that a mac mini has finally been release with a capable (citation needed - lol) graphics was short lived because, whats this a price hike?? why? I turns out it has some inexplicable reason to do with where I live. You see, I live in Spain (yea, its hot) and here the lowest cost mac mini is 792€ yep check it for your self.
But the Mac mini is $699 in the US, so why the difference. If you simply take the exchange rate into consideration, the mac mini should only be around 555€. There was some explanation on by a staff member on Apples site, they claim it's to do with tax. In Spain the vat tax (called IVA) is 18%, Apple claim that the tax rate is not shown on their US website because it varies state to state. Forgive me but that's either a bold face lie or your staff aren't very well informed. I think the mac mini is overpriced in Spain for no other reason than Apple can get away with it and I can (sort of) prove it.Take a look at the following to screenshots of Apple online store. One from Spain, one from the US. For every product the Spanish price is either about the same or less in numeric value as the American dollar price, that is, except for the mac mini. The mac mini is almost 100€ more expensive than the numeric US dollar value.
It's as blatant as it is annoying. I have already dealt with the fact that despite the exchange rate all apple products are sold for the same cost in Spain/Euros as the US/Dollar. I can imagine with tax, shipping administrative cost - oh who am I kidding I don't like that either, but I can deal with it.
What I don't like is that the Mac min is so much more expensive in Spain. To make it easier to see just look at the last screen shot in which I have photoshopped the two screen shots together. See what I mean.
For whatever reason the mac mini is more expensive in Spain, I´m not happy. I was going to buy one, but am not anymore, hell I was going to outfit the whole office (I´m the head of I.T at work) but, well, that can wait. I'll see if apple changes its mind first. My guess; Apple is still selling mac minis like hot cakes and won't be changing the price anytime soon.
2 comments:
I'm starting college in Belgium and being a new fledgling Photography student, I have huge start up costs. Camera, software, hardware... So I'm naturally being cheap. I came across the Mac Mini as an alternative to the (expensiver) Macbooks.
I realised I don't need the peripherals, since the classes are fit with lots of monitors I can use and my family have several monitors lying around. Bringing a mouse or keyboard around isn't that much of a hassle either.
So a Mac Mini seems ideal. It has hardware almost the equivalent of a 13" Macbook Pro, which is €300 expensiver. Testing my luck, I checked the USA store, and in America it apparently costs the equivalent of €530. What the fuck! What's with the huge discrepancy in prices? Scandalous! There's no way of rationalising this.
Luckily, I know some people who are leaving for the US soon, but it's still absurd.
Officialy the mac mini its the best, but so expensive!:(
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