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Maxed out Mac Mini is $1699 pre tax in US and €1917 in Ireland. That's €1558 pre VAT price, or $1838 including mandatory 2 year warranty.

$139 is NOT 30% difference.

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1917€ would be about $2262, and $1699 pre-tax would be about $1699*1.095=$1860 with tax, or about $402 more expensive.

I'm comparing retail pricing in France (with a 2-year EU warranty) to business pricing in the US (with a 1-year warranty). That comes out to 1949€ including VAT in France, or about $2299 USD, vs $1749 USD including Los Angeles/CA sales tax with business pricing.

About 31% more.

IMHO it’s misleading to compare the gross prices due to difference tax rates. JAlexoid’s comparison is a much more honest representation of how much Apple marks up prices in Europe. I wouldn’t expect Apple - or anyone - to eat the 10% sales tax/VAT difference.

Right, but I’m not trying to determine Apple’s markups. I just want to know where to buy a new Mac for myself. I don’t care who gets the markup, Apple, the gov’t, whatever.

Since you use words like “misleading” and “honest”, I wonder what your agenda is. Maybe you’re an Apple shareholder who’s allergic to any perceived criticism.

Then your argument is with the typical EU VAT tax model, not Apple.

It's not Apple's fault, that our governments decided to tax the crap out of everything.

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