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Comment by gst | Hacker News Reader

That's probably one of the reasons why the top spec 13" model (Touch Bar and Touch ID 2.3GHz Quad-Core Processor 512GB Storage) costs kr 22 190,00 = $2581 in Norway, while I get the same model for $1999 in the United States.

I'd rather have the choice to decide myself if and how much I want to spend for warranty (e.g., AppleCare) than having the government force me to indirectly pay for a warranty that I might not need or want.

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VAT is 25% in Norway so that makes $500 of the difference. Put in a 3% margin for forex swings and you are pretty much at the difference.

Not to mention that in Norway the VAT is included in the price, whereas in the U.S. the Sales Tax needs to be added on top. For a fairer comparison, you would actually need to add the appropriate sales tax for your state. That wont make up all of the the 25% difference but could easily add 7 to 9% to the cost of the U.S. price.

Keep in mind though VAT is very different to sales tax. If it's a b2b purchase you will almost always get VAT refunded on the purchase by the government, which afiak never happens in the US on sales tax. So it is actually cheaper in the EU/EEA to get a laptop as a business (as you will reclaim the VAT in Europe but you wouldn't be able to reclaim the sales tax in the US).

>$2581 in Norway, while I get the same model for $1999 in the United States.

Norway tax is 25%. You should compare the net value.

> I'd rather have the choice to decide myself if and how much I want to spend for warranty

True, but the problem is the final price doesn't include the cost of recycling and environmental impact (extremely hard to price it correctly).

What EU should do it to force 5 year warranty for most of the equipment with an option to opt-out to 3 years mandatory warranty.

> True, but the problem is the final price doesn't include the cost of recycling and environmental impact (extremely hard to price it correctly).

At least for recycling Apple charges a $5 (for 13") or $6 (for 15") recycling fee when buying a MacBook in California. Not sure about other states.

The difference is well explained by the 25% VAT applied in Norway.

Including VAT? Remember that most (if not all) European, public-facing prices already include VAT. Not sure for Norway, but I'd think they do too.

Good luck setting up AppleCare for your dishwasher mate.

Turns out that lots of dishwasher manufacturers provide a free warranty with the purchase of a dishwasher. And as a customer I have the choice to decide if I get a cheap dishwasher (from a cheap manufacturer) without warranty or a more expensive dishwasher (from a better manufacturer) with warranty.

So buy used.

You can go for a cheaper laptop in Norway as well. The thing is that that laptop is covered too and the cheap dishwasher. I think it is good that people that cannot afford expensive stuff can have reliability about the machines they buy. Quality is not op-in, if you get my point.

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