[UFO Chicago] What's The Least I Can Pay For A MacBook Air 11' With (Or Without) A European Keyboard?

[Brian Sobolak]

On Mon, February 1, 2016 6:01 am, Jay F. Shachter wrote:
>
> Friends and Colleages, and Fellow Nerds:
>
> I have been asked to obtain a new or used (preferably used, because it
> would be cheaper) MacBook Air 11' with a European keyboard.  In order
> not to burden this mailing list with a 2.5-megabyte image, I have
> placed a picture on my website and shall burden this mailing list only
> with the URL: http://m5.chicago.il.us/images/MacBook.jpg (please note
> that I have slow residential DSL and it may take a minute to download
> a 2.5-megabyte image).  My source tells me that you can buy this item
> in Europe for 999.99 euros.  I am flabbergasted to hear this.  I
> confess that I have never bought a Mac of any kind, so perhaps I am
> ignorant of the proper price for such things, but I cannot imagine
> that 999.99 euros, which is more than a thousand dollars, can possibly
> be the proper price for a laptop of any kind.  Please tell me that I
> can buy one used, or even new, for a fraction of that astonishingly
> high price.  Is it because of the European keyboard that it costs so
> much?  Is it possible to buy one with an American keyboard and then,
> oh I don't know, change it somehow so that it does European things
> with its keys?  As always, thank you in advance for any and all
> replies.
>

Jay -- I am the wrong person to ask about how to get a "great deal" on a
Macbook Air.  We purchased my wife's refurbished and saved a few hundred
dollars off a new one a few years back from an Apple retailer; you can buy
them refurbished on the website too.

I believe your shock is at the price set by Apple, but in my (limited)
experience, prices tend to be higher in Europe for many electronics.  This
can be because of higher taxes (e.g. VAT), more stringent recycling
requirements, or smaller volumes because you have to have a stupid fussy
European keyboard with its misplaced y keys.

An air would allow you to use different keys in software, as well as USB
keyboards.  But I'm sure you've thought of such simple solutions already.

brian

--