I think we've pretty much established that he should just stick with consoles. He seems to have issues even using Steam. Building your own desktop is the entrance exam to get into the elite club of PC gaming. And there's no way he could pass it. Besides, I like that PC gaming has an entrance exam. It keeps the kiddies and dudebros out.
Stop taunting the guy geeze lol if he'd rather buy an N-gage than a PC that's his deal :x I don't think Steam is all that big in the UK anyway, I don't hear them talking about steam, it's all about PS3 (and occasionally XBL but by FAR mostly PS3). I guess PCs just don't get taken seriously there... like any sport that isn't soccer-based.
I think it's more that you can't get cheap PC components anywhere in the UK, so PC gaming just isn't affordable for them. I don't see that they have any equivalent to NewEgg, TigerDirect, or Microcenter.
I'm looking at overclockers UK and everything costs at least $100-200 more than it does on NewEgg. I can see why you guys don't game on PC. In the US, Newegg and Steam are so cheap, it can be a lot cheaper to game on PC than on the consoles.
Are you looking at the Inc VAT prices? Remember tax is already on that whereas I believe your sites list items without. I think they have ex VAT prices, if not work out what the VAT would have been and take it off, tis 20% over here.
There is the difference then. We pay 20% tax on everything except food and kids clothing which are exempt. When I say food I mean groceries etc, cooked food from a restaurant etc incurs tax.
That sucks. With such high tax, it might actually be cheaper to buy everything on newegg and find a way to have it shipped overseas. Your prices are a ripoff. We also don't pay tax on most groceries. I think prepared food (like from the deli) doesn't count.
Your supposed to declare it at customs and pay tax. You can get away with some but it would be harder with big boxes and proper couriers would probably declare it for you. If you don't pay customs would just keep it. Going by some of your lots posts in the past things like mobile contracts, internet and cable prices are a lot cheaper here so its swings and roundabouts. God forbid you had to pay our petrol prices, saw £1.46/litre today.
Some backwards ass states (like i just learned her in NC) have Use Tax where you have to file it on your state tax return. Do not leave florida, cmdr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax
If people continue to buy more and more online surely it is only a matter of time. Your government and states can't afford to keep losing all that revenue, especially as it goes up.
The problem is that it is extremely unrealistic. They even did a study and barely anyone participated it on their state tax return except for small/home businesses as barely anyone keeps their receipts or remembers all of their purchases they did online for the year.
Brick and mortar electronics stores are becoming a thing of the past here for a reason. Bestbuy is basically just a showroom for NewEgg and Amazon. That's probably why they just closed 50 more stores. I think TigerDirect actually did something smart when they bought out CompUSA. They closed nearly all of the stores, but left a few open that they basically use as showrooms for their online store. You guys also have much better public transportation than we do and much less urban sprawl. You have no choice but to drive in most of the US. In Britain you can walk or take the train.
Here you pay the tax at the point of purchase and the reseller passes it on to HMRC in a big lump every so often. Most people here don't have to do anything for the tax people. Most employed people are on a scheme called PAYE (pay as you earn) and tax is deducted from your salary and payed by your employer each month. Obviously self employed people and higher earners have to do returns but usually on the VAT side it is just to claim it back as businesses can be VAT exempt.
@cmdrmonkey. Can't see your countries deficit going anywhere but up unless they start collecting taxes online as there will be no shops left soon. They have to replace the lost revenue somewhere surely?
I don't know. In recent years our brick and mortar places had turned into cartoonishly evil, exploitive corporate monsters like BestBuy and Circuit City that nobody liked much in the first place. These places treated their employees like dirt, had ripoff prices, and had a terrible selection and terrible service. I think a lot of people are happy that these places are going under. Victims of their own greed and failure to change with the times. Or as I like to call them Worst Buy and Sureshit City...
I can always get my newegg or amazon invoices. OFC I only make a few dozen large purchases a year so maybe if you make hundreds sooner or later it falls off the page lol. Many US States have considerably less than 20% sales tax so... they must make it in another way anyhow. I think about 8% is about average... the state I live in is 0% anyway. Income tax is huge though... I guess Americans are known to move around a bunch (and carry a lot of large articles too).
This is the only thing I could find that's available in Britain that uses an AMD A8 like bfun suggested. It's 500 British pounds. Should be fine for light gaming. Unfortunately it's an Acer, which is a garbage, bottom feeder brand. Your country really sucks balls for computer and electronics shopping. I'm amazed anyone even owns a computer in your country. You guys need to demand something like NewEgg. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Quad-Core-Processor-A8-3500M-Windows/dp/B005G41GYY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333839819&sr=8-3 It will run games, just not very well: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6650M.43962.0.html It's also an acer, so it's guaranteed to burst into flames within two years. But it's available in Britain and in your price range so there you go.
I paid $9.49/gallon yesterday. I didn't have a chance to refuel my rental car before I returned it and got charged the rental price per gallon.