Should I buy a Vaio FW notebook overseas?

Darius Chang | Mar 31, 2009

Recently, we spotted the Sony Vaio VGN-FW390 sold in the US. The key selling point for this model is that for a mere US$939.99 (S$1,429.82), you get a midsized machine equipped with a Blu-ray combo drive. In Singapore, the cheapest model with a similar optical drive is the Vaio VGN-FW26G/B which costs S$2,999 (US$2,159.88).

We checked with Sony regarding the discrepancy and this was its reply.

Pricing policy is different for different region, subject to market size and demand. In this context, the US is a large market for Sony.

Taxation issues. The pricing you see on the US Web site does not include taxes, while the Sony Singapore pricing does.

The US pricing does not include shipping insurance versus when one buys from a Singapore store, there is a 1-year warranty included.

We found it hard to believe that taxation would make such a big difference, so we did a little experiment to see if it would be cheaper to order one from the US and ship it to Singapore. We configured the Vaio VGN-FW390 to have the same specs as the VGN-FW26G/B model and, inclusive of shipping and taxes, it came up to US$1,283.99 (S$1,953.08).

A similarly configured VGN-FW390 costs only US$1,283.99 (S$1,949.55) in the US.
(Click for larger image)

Using an online delivery service, Borderlinx, sending the unit to Singapore costs S$226.47 (US$147.47), giving a total of S$2,198.36 (US$1,431.47) for the total purchase. This represents a whopping savings of over S$800 (US$576.16). So, pricing policy be damned. It will definitely be cheaper to buy a unit from the US and get this shipped to Singapore. In fact, you can save even more if you have a friend living there who is willing to bring it over for you. The only thing you'll probably need is an adapter as the US units come with flat two-pin prongs instead of the three-prong plugs used in Singapore.

Even after shipping and paying both the US and Singapore taxes, the Vaio VGN-FW390 is significantly cheaper.

But before you start whipping out your credit card, the third point which Sony brought up deserves some serious attention. If you intend to use the unit only in Singapore, do note that the warranty for the US set does not apply and, as such, you will need to pay for any repairs and labor incurred if you bring the laptop to the service center. The alternative is to ship the defective hardware to a US Sony service center which can come up to a few hundred dollars each time. Moreover, buying a unit in Singapore allows you to purchase the Vaio Overseas Service option for S$96.30 (US$69.36) that covers the unit internationally. This is not available for US Vaio laptops.

In case you were wondering, we did the maths for Apple MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo and, in both cases, shipping a unit from the US to Singapore costs more as you will be taxed twice. However, if you can get a good friend to bring a laptop back for you, it will still be cheaper compared with the local unit, ignoring the warranty issue.

Filed under: Notebooks
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ferdiei

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ferdiei says...
REALLY, i do wonder why so much discrepancy with regards to pricing here in Singapore compared to international market & the US, not only for laptops(netbooks included!) but for other gadgets too, be it manufactured in China or Taiwan. well, maybe this what makes those people in SLS goes smiling even though they cant even sell a piece in a day, and wait for hungry people to trong the isles of SHOWS(IT, PC, COMEX, SITEX) when time comes...what a way to do business(?) conmen...

Apr 01, 2009 19:07

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lv208306

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lv208306 says...
I wonder why manufacturers do not provide International Warranty but only exclusive within that country although the same is being sold all over the world. The only difference is that certain countries use 110V while others like Singapore uses 240V.

I think that it might be possible to use a adaptor to step up or down the voltage.

The reason as to why computers in Singapore are so expensive can be seen from the above tabulation. Though the weight of the notebook shown in the chart is 8kg (US$53.82), it is actually much lighter and the shipping should be lesser than the amount

The standand warranty period for computers is one year. Even if the warranty is null, there is already SG$800.00 in saving, "Touch wood" should there be any fault to the computer, part of the savings can used for the repairs.

Ultimately, there is still an overall cost saving.

Apr 02, 2009 22:20

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yiyi96

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yiyi96 says...
Hi, all the friends above. I have a question. Let say I found something I want from an US retailer website. How I know the weight and the dimension of the item? It normally won't show when checking out.

I guess the 8kg shown in the chart above is merely for calculation purpose, am I right?

Jun 04, 2009 15:39

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