Price difference

Same as many of you, I am about to buy a W3V. I was suprise to see how high of the price it is in US though. $1,899? that's way too expensive from my point of view compare with where it came from.

W3V came with two different specs in Taiwan

W3740dd : PM1.73/512M/60G/14" retail price : $1,275 us dollar
W3750dd : PM1.86/512M/80G/14" retail price : $1,450 us dollar

and what's the difference from the us model besides hard drive size? All I can think about is the chinese symbol mark on the keyboard. Even the waranty is the same 2 year globle one--that means you got the same ASUS USA service.

I don't like whole lots of trouble asking friend buying for me from Taiwan but I'm not happy to buy it here anymore after the price comparison.

Nobody here think W3V is totally over priced?

 

I think it is about 200$ overpriced thats why the 200$ rebate was so successfull

 

Importing - Whether you ship it or carry it in yourself, you're going to be paying duties on it, as well as shipping or the cost of the trip. Also, what is the exchange rate you used? Looking at it today, 1 USD = 8.1051 CNY.

Anyone who has a W3, if anything, would say it's under priced... that's almost a guarentee.

 

Honestly Eddie, that's not accurate, even though it's just your opinion. Asus' records show that the number of units W3's sold in July is only slightly higher than May and June. Asus is trying to justify it's because of the rebate alone, but coverage of the W3 also finally started coming out in July and besides the rush on the final weekend, I don't think W3 sales have really been far from what we would have expected without the rebate. Remember, there isn't another notebook that can even compete with this yet and when the notebook originally came out, Asus came up with more aggressive pricing on the day of release........ at that time we already have 50-60 people who had in advanced orders for the unit for $2,099.... and the $1,899 release price was amazingly low and surprised most everyone.

 

I'm talking about Taiwan Dollar which is 1 US =31.84 NT today.

Please do not tell me you big ASUS fans here does not know the difference between Taiwan and China.

 

That's a pretty good find, Milou. I've got friends going back and forth to Taiwan all the time. I was searching for the new Z70V, I didn't even think about the W3. But with this news, I'm actually thinking about it. Besides the chinese characters, do they have English Alphabet? My friends HP has both, if the W3 has both- I can live with it.

 

As far as I know, I don't think they sell z series in Taiwan.

Yes, it come with the standard English alphabet with small Chinese alphabet right next to it. Also, if your friend can buy it for you before september, ASUS even through you a free second 40 gb hard drive as gift.

I'm going to get one myself for sure now.

 

Justin i am not going by asus numbers i am going by my numbers and pretty much every other dealer in the states. In the month of july we sold prolly 300% more w3v's then previous months. Very simple math. Everyone has their own oppinion. Most customers express their oppinions and by and large the ones i speak to say its too expensive and they rather go with a whitebook like z70v or z63a. 500$ more for a video card and an aluminum lid? Nice features, great notebook, marvel of design but overpriced. Not just pricey. Its overpriced but they can do that. People who can afford it will buy it and not complain about it. This is comming from a personal analysis. Obviously our taste and target market is verty different so is our whitebook/prebuilt prefference.

 

Actually, I don't really care about the difference between Taiwan and China as the only way it would effect me is if China tried to place a trade embargo on good shipped to the US (which would skyrocket the cost of computers)....... Other than that, I'm sorry, I was just asking for the exact numbers you were using.

.... If you consider yourself an Asus fan or something along those lines, you'd be interested to know that the Z series is completely made up for the US market. It doesn't mean you can't get them other places, but for the US market, the Z series are barebone models. This is so not to confuse people with the international models in which Asus warranties. Below is a list of what Z series models are internationally:

Z33a - M5a
Z61a - M3a
Z63a - W3a
Z70a/v - M6a/v
Z71a/v - M7a/v

Hope that helps you.... but it still gives other people false hopes as you have no idea what duties are from Taiwan when you bring this back to the states. The duties you'll pay at customs are the same duties that are getting attached to these notebooks when they come into port.

 

You dont have to claim it. Just bring it back as is as a carry-on, it already comes with its own case, right? Just like a pack of gum or a pair of jeans, you gonna declare any of those?

 

LOl
ye a carry on would work ofcourse. I think justin may have been thinking on a much larger scale. Like him going overthere. Buying 200 units at 500$ less and selling them here @ 200$ discount. Make a pretty penny doing it but i doubt customs will let it trough.

 

You can do what you want, but I've heard of 2 issues just with our customers (1 from Canada and 1 from Italy). Both picked up notebooks while they were in the US and both didn't have a notebook when they left and had to declare it when they returned...... both got charged duties. I guess it may be hit and miss, but I'm not talking about a large scale thing here at all. It's even been posted on this forum I believe, that one Canadian customer told another that his idea of going and visiting friend in the states and picking up a notebook wasn't going to do much for him as he was going to pay local and federal taxes on the unit when he returned through customs........ Canada doesn't have a duty on computers from the US, but they paid their taxes.

I really don't care, I'm just stating what I've heard and seen from customers and other companies because I'm in the business I am. If you think you don't have to declare it, you could be fine.... but you also could not be fine... I'm not going to lose sleep over it, you know what I mean? I'm just saying not to jump to conclusions because you may not have a grasp on the full story.

 

I think the obvious thing is.... If the customs asks you 'where was this notebook purchased"? Your reply should be canada or the country you are returning to. There is no way in hell they gonna ask you to prove it. So if you went to the usa, then you bought a notebook and got taxed on the way back consider taking a class on lying101

 

You can do that, but I've been behind people who brought back cameras and things of that nature and didn't declare it.... they had to empty their bags and our line was held up for a while as took the guy and his stuff off to an office somewhere...... I don't really care, I just wanted to give the heads up on knowing the laws and so forth and not blowing that out of proportion because everyone who's done it ends up breaking even by time it's all done.... But do it and hide it and let us all know how it worked out.

 

Why this heated conversation about customs? Depending on your country of residence, you have different allowance. I think $1000 worth of goods when you get back to the US. You would be paying customs fees for a few hundreds if you come back. Note that if you export you can also get a tax rebate in taiwan which will make the notebook even cheaper if you decide to declare it. This is all beyond the point. Your customs will not even get close to the markup.
I got myself an A6Va in Taiwan and posted prices for a few other notebooks on some of my other posts. I am finding the markup in the US seriously exaggerated.

Found the w3v 750 for $1400, v6v 750 for $1450, M6Q (Z70v) 740 for $1350, A6Va: $1250!!! see my sig for the specs It has almost everything everybody waiting for the Z70V refresh proposes.
The only one which is also expensive there is the w5a which runs only about $100 less than in the US.
Note that you will have to ask to have the OS changed to english if you need. This is free. They also only come with XP home and need another 50-70 bucks to be upgraded to XP pro.

I am tempted to get a W3v for a friend on my next trip. I fly to Taiwan almost on a monthly basis.