Chile Forum

Thought this would be of interest to those who want to see how high-end electronics are priced outside and inside Chile. Note the price for the Lan Box option.

(Copy of an email sent via the official Chile Apple Users Group list):

Cotizando mi futuro Mac, tomé la decisión de hacer un benchmark en los
precios de las distintas tiendas, tomando como base Apple Store de
USA. Luego evalué la opción de traerlo por medio de casilla y
transporte aéreo, y me sorprendió lo parejo que están los precios
(¿casualidad o causalidad?). Finalmente, decidí ver si ocurre lo mismo
en otras partes del mundo, por lo que comparé los precios de Apple
Store España, Méjico, y Australia.

Los resultados a mi parecer son bastante interesantes. ¿Se tratará de
impuestos adicionales que se pagan en Chile, o será una estrategia de
precio adoptada por todas las tiendas de Mac en Chile? De cualquier
forma, sólo se puede concluir que si se tiene algún conocido en USA,
es posible comprar una Mac con Santa Yapa (lleve 3 y pague 2).


Slds.
Andrés
[img]http://www.allchile.net/chilephotos/albums/userpics/normal_benchmark.JPG[/img]
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I've not priced them in Chile, but I might suppose that roughly comparable mark-ups are put on PCs, both desktop and laptop. Or am I mistaken?

I'm pretty sure the percentages on other name brand products would be similar.

Thanks, EE.UU. I'm considering bringing either a desktop (less attractive to thieves, I hope) or laptop with me, buying it in the post-Christmas sales next January, not only to save money but also to have a few weeks in which to assure myself that the machine has no problems.

mac's might be the exception, but I am not impressed with computers sold in Chile.

I bought a Dell notebook in the States recently for around $550 at best buy. I have not even seen these specs for sale in Chile, but a comparable notebook at Ripley (and they are not really even comparable) is running around $1000 US. I also have NO faith in any of the department stores to backup what they sell. They have mostly told me that after 10 days I have to contact the manufacturer for service (30 days for them to ship it in, no thanks)
.
Not a big deal on a small ticket items, but for something around $1000 I want be reassured that they will back what they sell.

If you can bring it from the States, bring it.

Also keep in mind that you are going to have trouble finding a stock US English key board, especially on a notebook. You might find international English key boards, but I as yet to find a US English keyboard. I brought a few with me from the States on my last trip.

There is no doubt that is far better purchase computer equipment in the US, much better if you can bring so you will no pay taxes, even paying 25% taxes as I did with my Lenovo is very convenient.

As Charles said, equipment sold in Chile is outdated, expensive and guarantees may turn into a nigthmare in case of malfuntion.

admin wrote:. . . . Also keep in mind that you are going to have trouble finding a stock US English key board, especially on a notebook. You might find international English key boards, but I as yet to find a US English keyboard. I brought a few with me from the States on my last trip.

Not a problem for me, as I became accustomed to a Latin American keyboard during my time in Argentina. If, however, local keyboards are inferior in quality . . . .

Do others think my consideration of a desktop in lieu of a laptop, as being less attractive to burglars (whom I hope to evade anyway, of course), is worthwhile? Or should that be outweighed by the inconveniences of bring so large an object from the States and of not being able to take a computer on short trips?

RWS wrote:

admin wrote:. . . . Also keep in mind that you are going to have trouble finding a stock US English key board, especially on a notebook. You might find international English key boards, but I as yet to find a US English keyboard. I brought a few with me from the States on my last trip.

Not a problem for me, as I became accustomed to a Latin American keyboard during my time in Argentina. . . .

I just realized that Charles probably was pointing out that a Spanish-language keyboard might be unusable with a computer set up to be paired with an English-language one. Thanks, Charles.

'Shows you how little I know about computers.

For desktops, keyboards are very cheap, For laptop, you can use a small USB external keyborad and set as many languages as you wish (I use an LA external and the original of laptop hass US keys, very convenient, best of both worlds).

Almost any laptop keyboard/touchpad sucks even Lenovo who is very reputable with keyboard is not good so I use only when I have to move with the laptop for a presentation or such.

In my opinion desktop systems are old fashiones for home users, subnotebooks give you lot of mobility, and to use at home you can attach an external keyboard and mouse for confort, even a big LCD screen if you can afford it (not my case)

Thanks, Tomás. I'll keep your thoughtful advice in mind.

I wouldn't worry about keyboards, I have a UK board and just use the xp language toolbar to switch back and forth. My wife typically switches to Spanish while I use the US version with no problems, i would assume macs have the same feature

no, it is just that if you learned on a English keyboard, chances are you will always type faster on one. I have adjusted also to typing on a dozen or so foreign language keyboards, including Chinese and Japanese over the years. They don't bother me so much as I don't need to look at the keys, and just remap them to English using the operating system. What does bug me however is the idea that I do use some of the less known keys for programing and such that do not appear on the Spanish keyboards, or are hard to map for example the ~ for marking hidden files or the | which is used create an exclusive OR statement in programing code. They are keys that are mostly used by advanced computer users. It is just nice to find those keys where I expect them when I do need to go looking.

The quality of the key boards are fairly good, but I do seem to blow through a few a year, where as the ones I have bought in the states typically give me a year or so (I am kind of hard on keyboards).

Chile does not produce computer hardware of any sort, so you are going to pay the IVA tax and whatever at a store in Chile anyway. You should at least skip the middle man, and get the hardware you want.

As for security, they will steel a laptop as easily as a desktop. I don't think it is any more of an issue than it is anywhere else in the world. At least a laptop you can stick under your pillow or hide when you leave. I would never carry my laptop in public in a obvious lap top case. Always use a back pack or something that does not scream, "I AM CARRYING OVER $1,000 IN HADWARE"

Even at home if there is no reason to move my laptop for a while I will chain it down to the desk with a security cable. Does not hurt, and most lap tops walk off when you have your back turned for a sec, not from some sort of armed robbery.

When I come to Chile, I should be able to bring 3 "extra" laptops (3 kids)...what sort of mark-up could I expect? I see the price differential, presumably Chileans will buy for somewhat less than sold in Chile and I of course wish to sell for somewhat more than I paid in the States. Also, any features that I would be advised to include on a laptop destined for resale in Chile?

Hyre

I will bring the machine with any XP OS and with the hardware capability (memory,processor,HD) to upgrade to Vista.
Good connectivity via WiFi and the regular things that come with average laptops

How do you are going to solve the ñ or Ñ issue and the accented vowels....

KDE desktop in Linux (also available in windows in KDE4 I hear now) has a nice little flag icon on the desktop to allow you to hot switch between English, Spanish, and other languages the keyboard layout.

As for vista, the first thing I did when I got my new laptop was wipe that dog out.

Vista managed to take a duel core processor with a gig of DDR2 ram and turn it in to a dog that runs slower than my 10 year old pentium 3 with 256 mb of sdram. Plus it takes up over a 15 gigs of space. I put linux on the laptop, and now the thing is a wonder machine of speed. Everything pops open in the blink of an eye. Windows took sometimes up to 5 mins.

There basically is no computer on the planet that is vista capable, no matter how much money you spend. That OS is a rip off that makes me pine for the days of windowsME or windows 3.1. If you have to use windows at all, stick with XP. Most computer makers are now offering XP as an alternative.