Apple has announced new ultra-thin port-free 12-inch MacBook models, including a gold variant if you’re feeling particularly luxuriant. How much extra will Australians be paying if they want the new model? Not much, it turns out.
The new model, which comes in gold, silver and space grey, will ship in Australia from 10 April. It weighs 920 grams and is 13.1mm thin. It uses a USB-C port for charging, which is the only port on board — for anything else to connect, you’ll need a separate adaptor. (Gizmodo has full details on the new designs.)
The entry-level model, with a 1.1GHz Intel Core M processor, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, costs $1799. The 2.6GHz processor/512GB SSD model is $2199. (Apple will continue to sell its existing Air and Pro lines.)
How does that compare with US pricing? The entry-level model costs $US1299, and the 512GB variant costs $US1599. Unlike Australia, however, the US prices don’t include GST or any other sales tax. So to compare fairly, we firstly need to remove the GST from the Australian prices. That would give us a tax-free price of $1635.45 for the base model, and $1999.09 for the 512GB.
At current exchange rates, the US entry-level price converts to $1683 — $50 more than the Australian tax-free price. For the 512GB model, the US dollar price converts to $2073 — again around $50 more. So in practical terms, we’re paying the same price as the US. We’ve often had cause to complain about excessive Apple pricing, but this is not one of those occasions.
Comments
4 responses to “How Much Australia Tax Will You Pay On The New Apple MacBook?”
That price for that hardware is excessive.
Damn that’s expensive! The hardware specs are so low for the price. I think Apple seems to be more concerned with design and looking good to the eye. Professional hardly though.
Still counting Megahertz & Megapixels?
Totally. If you want low power and long battery life, get a Chromebook at about 1/3 the cost. Not to mention you won’t need to shell out $120 for a dongle to allow you to connect power and a screen at the same time. Extremely poor show from Apple.
It looks nice, but… no. Too expensive. The entry level costs a few hundred more than the (more powerful) 8/256GB 13″ rMBP on a fairly regular sale. I’m not gonna make that trade just for thinness. Also, I can understand the early push to USB-C, but ONE port? They couldn’t fit a 2nd one on the other side or right next to the existing one? I’m not going to carry that adapter. Sorry.
When I first read about it having an Intel Core M processor, I thought I was being trolled.
The current Macbook Air is MUCH more powerful and a hell of a lot cheaper. Just goes to show how much Apple cares about their customers… Duping them with bs like this.