We’ve praised Apple in the past for generally not imposing a major “Australia tax” on hardware purchases, but we can’t do that with the new cylindrical Mac Pro. Buying this in Australia adds a massive $600 extra to the price tag.
Picture: Getty Images
US pricing for the Mac Pro starts from $2999. Converted to Australian dollars, that comes in around $3090.48 right now. Add the 10 per cent GST and you’d see a price of $3399.53. We’d have expected that to round up by as much as another $100. However, the starting price in Australia is $3999. That’s a rort. There’s no possible excuse for it.
I imagine there will be a lot of gushing today about how great it is that the Mavericks update is free and now includes the iLife and iWork suite. This is the flipside; for more professional hardware, Apple is charging Australians like a wounded bull. The new Mac Pro systems go on sale in December.
Comments
13 responses to “The Mac Pro Has A $600 Australia Tax”
Darn it… and I was all set buy four of these things to be the legs of a small devices table in the mother of all home theatre setups, driving an 8 x 4K video wall. I guess now I’ll just to stick with my current 1080p 50″ plasma and the WD.TV Live 😉
seriously? you’re talking of a home theater room with 8x 4K panels and all you currently have is a 50″ plasma??? You sir, just took the piss!
Obviously you don’t get sarcasm.
There’s some reason for a small Australia tax. Maybe not $600, but some. The Mac Pro is manufactured in the United States. Logistics and shipping must contribute a little. I’d be curious to know if there’s a UK tax and an Asia/China tax on it tool, given that Apple’s other products are manufactured in China.
Hence the reference in the post to expecting perhaps an additional $100 or so on top of the converted+tax price.
Hence the reference in the post to expecting perhaps an additional $100 or so on top of the converted+tax price.
What about local warranty and support? Costs a lot more to do that stuff here which is probably a contributing factor.
OR.. just because they can?
Most of apple support is over seas anyway. They had call center in tas awhile ago but moved most of it off shore. This is why we are called the golden country. Also in regards to freight its alot smaller than the old mac pro tower and lighter. they would be saving money shipping these units compared to the old units.
yeah, because its australia.
the SS commodore was cheaper in the USA than in australia.
it was built here, and shipped there.
other electronics are cheaper in the USA than australia, that are built in asia (closer)
Imagine the PC you could build with $4k.
Fuck that. Buy online and use a shipping forwarder in Oregon. No sales tax and you save almost $800.
Instead of making statements about a topic most have no idea about a HUGE portion (as some have noted) is warranty and service costs in Australia. We have some of the best consumer protection laws here and the cost for companies is much larger for Australian sales. As a CEO of a internationally trading operation I know from experience.
So why are the warranty costs on this Mac Pro going to be factors of 10 times larger than say on a an iPad or MBP (which are great value I think in Australia even)?
Is it because a tech won’t be able to fix them and they’ll be flown to Texas?
Perhaps we can organise a container load of Mac Pros ordering individually from USA website then get a great deal on slow shipping? Can you wait?! haha