Its a no brainer in India that you should buy your favorite notebook from US if possible. The usual way is, Ask your friend, family , distance relative , beg them and if they are kind enough, you will get a good laptop in cheap bargain. But for most of us, its not possible.
So, I did a comparison between cost of same model notebooks in India and US and here are the results.
- Dell : I dunno about you, but I like XPS M1330. Its really an awesome notebook. Starting price in US for this model is $ 1000 and in India its about 52,000 ruppes. Assuming $1 = 40 Rs, you have a price parity of about 12,000 rupees and notebook is costlier by 300 dollars in India. Not bad I would say.
- Apple Macbook : I will leave Macbook air for you to figure. But simple white macbook costs around 59,000 Rs in India, while in US the same model costs 1100 dollars. Again assuming same currency conversion rates, macbook is costlier by 15,000 rupees or 350 dollars in India. Again, pretty good deal. The price difference used to be really high for Apple products, but Apple seem to have bridged the gap.
- Thinkpad T61: Well, Thinkpads are Thinkpads and generally T61 and X61 are one of the best notebooks out there.But wait a minute, entry level T61 costs a mind boggling 90,000 rupees (2250 dollars ) in India, while in US it costs 984 dollars. So If you are buying this notebook from India, you are paying 1266 dollars or about 51,000 rupees more. Apple is selling Macbook air for a price of 96,000 rupees in India and T61 is 90,000 rupees. Somebody should slap these bastards at Lenovo. It pisses me off badly. I can’t imagine, one single reason, why Thinkpad models are so overpriced in India.
- EEE PC: Again price parity is of about 6,000 rupees. EEE PC costs around 349 dollars in US and in India, it was launched at a price of 18,000 rupees.
Well, thats about it. I hope, Lenovo will learn and make thinkpads cheaper.