Intel does some of the same underhand stuff with PC manufacturers who offer computers with Cyrix or AMD chips, though they haven't tried that trick with a large manufacturer like Compaq whose low-end PCs often use "alternative" chips.

In the UK prices for a Mac-compatible are around 20% more than those in North America. UK prices for IBM-compatible computers can be as much as twice their price in North America. Software is consistently twice the price in the UK compared to our North American buddies. I've phoned several UK suppliers to ask them about this and they claim that their margins are so low already that they couldn't lower prices any further. Which is also why they don't offer student discounts while most manufacturers do in the US and Canada. Funny that isn't it?

It is cheaper for me to buy a PowerPC in Canada and bring it over to the UK by plane than to buy one here, even including paying customs on it when it comes over into the UK.

I can't explain the price differences, but I do believe that there is something seriously wrong when price differences are that great. And it damages the market for the vendors themselves. With such elevated prices the market in Europe is sluggish as fewer people can afford to buy a PC and fewer can afford to buy software. Every winter I visit Canada and every winter I go on a little software spree, buying a lot of my software for the coming year, its worth it, especially with the current exchange rates (long may they live!).

But if some of our readers can explain these prices, which I believe to be artificially inflated, them I'm sure the rest of us would love to know, I certainly would. If we could fight them, in the long term we will be helping the European market and aiding the progress in getting slowly wired which benefits us all (as would lower prices, don't ya think?)

© 1997 j-dom media. contact us.

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by Jason P. Kitcat [e-mail him]