Why doesn't Razer sell the Blade in the UK / EU?

Hi - as far as I can tell Razer does not sell the Razer Blade in the UK or EU (though I might be wrong about the latter), why is this? If I can't buy in the EU, is there anywhere (apart from 2nd hand on eBay) that I can buy a Razer Blade without incurring large customs taxes? If I buy outside the UK, will the Razer Blade still be covered by warranty? Thanks

 

You would have to ship to someone to send to Blade. I don't believe they will ship direct to you. No reason they shouldn't honor the warranty just because it left the country.

 

It seems you're right, it doesn't seem I can even buy a Razer Blade in the USA store and have it shipped to a different country, how stupid! Razer are shooting themselves in the foot here.

 

♫ All I wanna say is that, they don't really care about us.. ♫

*cries in a dark, damp corner*

 

Razer also said to me that their warranty wouldn't cover me in the UK either if I somehow managed to import one!

 

Min-Liang Tan's parents were killed by British snipers.

 

There may be good news for people from the UK, Ireland and Switzerland who have their eyes on this. HIDevolution now offers the Razer Blade 2015 on their website, and include import related taxes in their prices.

Quoted from their Customer Service section:
"For international customers, you may be liable for import duty/tax and customs brockerage fees. With exception to the following countries, we will NOT take responsibility for any extra taxes or fees that you may incur - United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia. For the above mentioned countries, we include all import related taxes, duties, and fees as a separate line item in the invoice. Please contact us for any specific questions about international shipping and/or taxes.
Most items are shipped through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), DHL, FedEx, or United Parcel Service (UPS)."

They also offer a 1-year Global warranty option for an additional 136.13 euros.

The 256GB SSD version came down to 2618.30 euros with 1-year Global Warranty and the international shipping costs included (to the Netherlands). My country is sadly not covered by HIDevolution's import tax coverage, so my total cost would hit over 3200 euros. For the above mentioned countries this seems like a reasonable price though. Maybe an option for you, Oxford_Guy?

http://www.hidevolution.com/catalogsearch/result/?a=all&q=razer+blade

 

That sounds interesting.

The 512Gb model with a Razer Carry Sleeve (which I think would be worth getting if buying a Blade) and 1-year Global Warranty and Fedex shipping to the UK comes out as:

Subtotal £2,206.63
Shipping & Handling (FedEx - International Priority (1-3 Business Days)) £68.82
Tax £113.77
Total: £2,389.22

The 256Gb model (again with a sleeve and 1 year international warranty) would be:

Subtotal £2,001.60
Shipping & Handling (FedEx - International Priority (1-3 Business Days)) £68.82
Tax £103.52
Total: £2,173.94

Price difference between these two models is: £215.28 - quite a lot for an extra 256Gb of storage!

I'm tempted, though, especially as this does include 1 year international warranty and all shipping and taxes (and a sleeve)

An option could be to get the 256Gb models and later, if needed, an external 250Gb SSD drive, though would still be around £135: http://www.ebuyer.com/700092-250gb-samsung-portable-t1-usb-3-0-external-ssd-drive-mu-ps250b-eu (though this one is cheaper: http://www.ebuyer.com/619892-256gb-...able-ssd-external-hard-drive-inssd256gportabl ). The Samsung drive gets good reviews, though: http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/samsung-portable-ssd-t1/

It's a real shame there is no 16Gb 1080p matte screen model, otherwise I would get that, even if it only had a 256Gb drive (you can at least use external USB HDDs, you can't use external RAM!)

I wonder if the "30 Days Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee)" option is US-only (probably). I might ask.

 

Actually, I think I would possibly be liable to much more tax than they have quoted - UK sales tax (VAT) is 20% - so on the 256GB version wouldn't the tax really work out like this:

£20001.60 + £68.82 = £2070.42 + 20% ( £414.08) = £2484.50 - that's quite a difference!

I'll email them to try to get an explanation

 

BTW is the SSD that comes with the 2015 Razer Blade user-replaceable? i.e. does it comes in an M2 slot? If so, might be cheaper to get the 128Gb model and buy a larger M2 SSD elsewhere!

 

I have seen multiple owners commenting that its replaceable yes. Not sure if it will void the warranty though. BTW I have to agree, the price difference between the 256GB and 512GB is enormous!

Did you get a respond from HIDevolution yet about the tax?

 

I'll ask HIDevolution about this, as I think under both US and EU law a warranty on a computer must be honoured, even if the machine has been opened for disk and RAM upgrades and to clean the fans etc. Even MSI, which have "Warranty Void if tampered with" stickers over the screws on the back of their laptops say you can actually upgrade the RAM and disks and clean the fans without voiding the warranty, as long as you don't break anything doing the upgrades!

I think you can get a compatible 512GB m2 SATA drive on it's own for about £200-250, though I'm not exactly sure which ones are compatible with the 2015 model Razer Blade. Can anyone confirm?

Would any/all of these be compatible?:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-SD&groupid=701&catid=2104

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT512M550SSD4-512GB-M550-Internal/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-SATA3-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B00KLTPVV8/

I would be tempted to get a reputable local computer repair shop to carry out any SSD upgrade, though, as the ribbon cables look quite delicate

Yes, it was actually quite encouraging:

"We have a special way of importing into the UK. We include all import related duties and taxes if shipping to the UK. You will not be liable for any additional duties/taxes/VAT before or after delivery is made."

This would make it considerably cheaper than self-importing *and* could get a 1 year international warranty...

I also asked if their dead pixel warranty option would apply outside of the USA, they responded:

"If you choose the HIDevolution global warranty and the pixel warranty, you can use them in tandem for a claim (would include 2 ways international shipping)."

 

I think they don't sell it because they don't believe the hardware will last the 2 or 3 year minimum that is required to have warranty for in the EU.

 

Well how come Apple's standard warranty in the UK is only one year then? I think it's just that they don't have any distribution and service centres here yet, as they only started making computers in 2013. They're missing out on a huge market of PC gamers, though!

 

BTW I asked a couple of other questions to HIDevolution - whether I could choose to be build in £ and whether opening up the case to clean the fans and upgrade the SSD would invalidate their one year international warranty - on the latter, it's a little discouraging, but at least they're honest, and I imagine if you replaced the stock SSD before returning it for repair you might be okay, though am not sure I'd risk it:

"If you pay by credit card and change the currency to GBP, we will charge you in GBP so that you know exactly how much will be billed (instead of receiving a surprise charge when you receive your monthly statement).

Regarding your own upgrades, this is a bit of a gray area. I'm not going to say your warranty will be void if you open your laptop for upgrades but at the same time Razer has told us specifically not to offer physical upgrades to their systems (we do not offer physical hardware upgrades on Razer laptops as you can see). That said, there are no tamper evident stickers to break on the Razer Blade 14. You can take that for what it's worth, but I cannot say with certainty that the product warranty will be void or honored should the product be opened."

 

Just realize that no matter if you get charged in USD or GBP it's still processed internationally and most banks charge a 1-6% international transaction charge. Make sure your bank doesn't before you purchase.

 

I have a Halifax Clarity credit card that charges no international fees

 

well i hope oxford guy finally gets the laptop since hes been dead set on it. i nearly bought the blade from them from amazon. they seem to have to shipping locations. one in the usa and one in the uk because if you check the blade 2014 model they have it with a shipping price which means to mean that thats importted and then another blade 2014 with free prime shipping and im guessing that thats dedfinately not going to have custom charges and delivered from if not the uk from europe to uk.

 

What ribbon cable? The M.2 Sata SSD plugs into the motherboard like a stick of ram and screws down.

 

There's a ribbon cable you have to unlatch to get to it, at least on the 2014.

 

Never popped my panel off. I'll check when my 2015 comes in.

 

In the end I decided the whole importing a Razer Blade from the USA thing was going to be too expensive, especially as I'd have had to buy a 3rd party too to have any kind of warranty, and have now ordered an XMG P505 (a rebranded Clevo P651SE) from a UK supplier ( MySN), who, incidentally, offer a 2 year collect and return warranty at no extra charge!

The P505 is a bit too large and heavier for lightweight travelling, though, so I will probably keep my current dual-boot Macbook Air too.

If Razer ever start retailing direct to UK/Europe, I may reconsider purchasing one of their computers, though.

 

That P651SE/MacBook Air combo is very nice Oxford! Kudos on all the time and effort you put into finding the ideal laptop for you. I believe you made a good decision in the end.