Shopping in the us

[DontGetMeStarted]

Hi All
Off to the States for 3 weeks soon, (CA) have been back and fore quite a few times in recent years and know most of the outlets and mostly our shopping has been for clothes. Can anyone advise of any other good buys that I could look for this time..I know with electrical it can be difficult because of voltage changes between here and there but any ideas would be gratefully received. thx

 

[drron]

Well our cameras,laptops are from the States.I often buy books and in the past our dinner service came home over several trips.

 

[DrA]

Camera gear

And shoes!

 

[drron]

Camera gear

And shoes!

Us old guys count shoes as clothing not as fashion accessories as some around here do:shock:.And that goes for handbags too.

 

[clifford]

Laptops.

Much cheaper, and the (smart) power supply that comes with them works equally well in either country.

We get ripped off here in Oz.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Well our cameras,laptops are from the States.I often buy books and in the past our dinner service came home over several trips.

Are there any issue with warranties when buying cameras and lap tops over there for use here?

 

[Mal]

Are there any issue with warranties when buying cameras and lap tops over there for use here?

Depends on the particular brand (and in some cases the model). You need to do your own research on the brands you're interested in.

 

[drron]

Are there any issue with warranties when buying cameras and lap tops over there for use here?

With the leading brands virtually all have an international warranty that does cost more-but with laptops still leaves you a long way ahead.

 

[DrA]

Are there any issue with warranties when buying cameras and lap tops over there for use here?

Canon has a minor issue. But for not much extra you can buy a global warranty from Mack. Still works out significantly cheaper than buying in Oz.

 

[tuppaware]

Be careful. Some items might have an international warranty BUT laptops for example are different country to country - so as a guide a laptop motherboard needs to be replaced from an american laptop, the model is popular so the manufacture supplies that motherboard for all US based repairs first then OS repairs second. You could be waiting for a long time on a repair or replacement !

Or course you would just buy an Apple...

But yeah...

 

[serfty]

The Acer Aspire One I recently purchased in Oz comes with an international warranty (need to travel with specific documentation).

 

[Warks]

Books! Books! Books!
We went to the US and Canada last year and brought back a bag of books - Luckily spread over four of us we didn't exceed any weight limits!
SO many titles you can't get here and lots of series where they are ahead. I don't mean the mainstream stuff like Grisham etc - they come out at the same time around the world but others. The prices are about half Australia's with a 90c dollar. That's at full price there. With discounting you can do even better. Borders is there of course but there's another chain called Chapters (which came first I wonder?) which we went to in Anaheim and walked away much heavier.

 

[drron]

Books! Books! Books!
We went to the US and Canada last year and brought back a bag of books - Luckily spread over four of us we didn't exceed any weight limits!
SO many titles you can't get here and lots of series where they are ahead. I don't mean the mainstream stuff like Grisham etc - they come out at the same time around the world but others. The prices are about half Australia's with a 90c dollar. That's at full price there. With discounting you can do even better. Borders is there of course but there's another chain called Chapters (which came first I wonder?) which we went to in Anaheim and walked away much heavier.

And if you go to Borders join the Borders Rewards program-free and everyday discounts plus they email coupons constantly so often great discounts.
Also with shopping take your RACQ,NRMA or whatever card-a lot of places give discounts as they are all affiliated with AAA.EG-at Rockport,Reebok outlets-an extra 20% off.

 

[DrAndyC]

US dollar itunes cards - much cheaper for purchasing things through itunes (as opposed to paying in AUD). You will have to make an account (you can do this with any address) for the usa itunes store....but every time I go to the USA i always buy US cards to credit my US store account as the downloads are much cheaper

 

[sriver]

Be careful. Some items might have an international warranty BUT laptops for example are different country to country - so as a guide a laptop motherboard needs to be replaced from an american laptop, the model is popular so the manufacture supplies that motherboard for all US based repairs first then OS repairs second. You could be waiting for a long time on a repair or replacement !

Or course you would just buy an Apple...

But yeah...

Laptops vary in core hardware country to country? This is curious to me

At any rate ASUS branded laptops have an international warranty, it's just a matter of finding the closest service centre near your current location.

 

[jteoh]

I buy all my sony gear in the states. they are usually half the price and with our Dollar so good, its like getting half price at the moment!

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Lego!!! (seriously)

Bike (ie cycling) gear

 

[Saab34]

My laptop was $1600 at **** Smith yet I saw it at Best Buys in NYC for $700. For that much difference, couldn't give a stuff about warranty problems.

And if you go to Borders join the Borders Rewards program-free and everyday discounts plus they email coupons constantly so often great discounts.

I have found BigW to be quite cheap with books, they have all the main titles yet they are 40-70% cheaper than RRP.

 

[drron]

I have found BigW to be quite cheap with books, they have all the main titles yet they are 40-70% cheaper than RRP.

No comparison between BigW and Borders in the US when it comes to range particularly non fiction which i am looking at.Baseline in the US books are ~30% lower at least and the borders rewards means often 50-70% off that.

 

[tuppaware]

Laptops vary in core hardware country to country? This is curious to me

At any rate ASUS branded laptops have an international warranty, it's just a matter of finding the closest service centre near your current location.

I know about toshiba for example. Most of the laptops released all the major parts are on the one mainboard. Australian model might not have the same tv tuner or bluetooth / wireless chipset.

Of course you could just buy an apple... Do I keep saying that??