Re: costs of computers in Europe and the US
Is elmatador really in Europe?
Anyhow, I've lived in France and tried a few times to compare the cost of buying computers here and there. It's difficult since I never saw precisely the same configurations for sale, but we can at least get an idea.
Here is CompUSA, selling a Toshiba Tecra 8100, $3099.95
shop.compusa.com@@@@1826986688.0953590303@@@@&BV_EngineID=galhfhkdkihbgfbmhcgecfeh.0&prod_id=PT810U-11953
And here is Surcouf, a huge computer store in Paris selling almost the same thing, 22,990FF, or 20,526FF before 12% VAT, or $3044 at todays 6.7426 FF/Dollar exchange rate.
surcouf.fr
The problem is, the laptop in France has a smaller screen and smaller hard disk, but I haven't found the exact same thing to do a better comparison. But we see the prices are not really 2:1, even if they're notably higher after taxes.
At any rate, don't be fooled, France is not cows watching the TGV go by, they have huge state of the art shopping centers just like we do. Except that the average food you can buy at Auchan or Carrefour is better than the luxury stuff at Dean & Deluca's here in the US :-) You can literally surf the web and buy a whole salmon in the same store. At least when someone isn't on strike. |
