[denalipop]

I need some large hard drives, so took a peek at Dick Smith to see what they have.

I only saw 3 internal hard drives offered:

250GB $149
250GB $198
320GB $229

Those prices are horrible!!! I've been ordering 1TB drives from Amazon.com for $85 each. Even 1.5TB drives are $120 each.

Is NZ really a few years behind when it comes to computer part pricing? Or is Dick Smith really not the best place to go for computers?

Is there a better place in NZ to get hard drives and other computer parts?

[denalipop]

These prices are more reasonable:
http://www.extremepc.co.nz/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=120_122

That's a relief!

So is Dick Smith stuck in the stone age or something?

[Chiba]

DSE are a high street retailer - can't expect much.

These guys seem decent on price, and a couple of guys at work use them:

http://ascent.co.nz

[denalipop]

Thanks! I checked out the $85 USD 1TB hard drives at Ascent and they're $150 NZD, which is $110 USD. So about 30% more expensive. Not too bad.

[petri]

I bought a Western Digital 500G 2.5" portable drive from DSE back in February and the price was quite good compared to Europe. NZD was pretty cheap at the time, though.

The pricing for computer parts in NZ seems to be about the same as in Europe. For example Seagate's 1.5T drive is here 113e (incl. 22% VAT), $120 on Amazon US (80.50e), and 222 NZD on ascent (111e). You'll find pretty much everything expensive if you use US prices as comparison.

[IanW99]

...
Those prices are horrible!!! I've been ordering 1TB drives from Amazon.com for $85 each. Even 1.5TB drives are $120 each.

Is NZ really a few years behind when it comes to computer part pricing? Or is Dick Smith really not the best place to go for computers?

Is there a better place in NZ to get hard drives and other computer parts?

For computer parts, check out PriceSpy (http://www.pricespy.co.nz/) first.

DSE will be cheap when the item is on sale otherwise not so much.

Ian

[Chiba]

I'm spec'ing out a new PC just for virtualization, as a dev machine for Sharepoint. If I got my mate back "home" in Japan to send me all of the small bits, I'd only save $160 over Ascent, and once you factor in shipping and the hassle if anything's DOA, then I don't think it's worth it. I've not shopped around yet either, and Ascent can probably be beaten. Macs though, well, there's a very big Kiwi markup.

[nifta]

Macs though, well, there's a very big Kiwi markup.
holy moly you weren't kidding! a MBP that costs ~$3750 in the UK (converting from GBP to NZD) is $4699 in NZ! never realised the difference was that significant. hmm... might have to make some purchases before we move! :)

[petri]

holy moly you weren't kidding! a MBP that costs ~$3750 in the UK (converting from GBP to NZD) is $4699 in NZ! never realised the difference was that significant. hmm... might have to make some purchases before we move! :)

It wasn't that long time ago when Macs in UK were more expensive than mainland Europe. Now the GBP pricing is pretty low and I'm suprised Apple hasn't adjusted the prices yet. The EUR price for that MBP is about 2100 eur or 4300 nzd.

Our "Hackintosh" (Acer netbook running OS X) broke in Antarctica in January and we had to buy a Mac from NZ. With the February currency rates and before Apple's new prices, the unibody MacBook was cheaper in NZ than even in the US and a bit cheaper than in Australia. It didn't last long but at least we got a machine and a few iPods.. ;-)

PS. I couldn't resist and used the currency situation to buy a Canon 5DmkII and couple of L-lenses from NZ as well..

[tim&em]

holy moly you weren't kidding! a MBP that costs ~$3750 in the UK (converting from GBP to NZD) is $4699 in NZ! never realised the difference was that significant. hmm... might have to make some purchases before we move! :)

That's not a real difference though, because the exchange rate is at a real extreme at the moment.

For example, at current rate of around 2.2 ==> 1700 GBP = 3470 NZD
But at 2.5, which is a good rule of thumb over the last couple of years ==> 1700 GBP = 4250 NZD
Any higher, and the prices are much closer.

[tim&em]

Definitely recommend PriceSpy, but watch out for prices that are TOO cheap compared to all the others. If you do see a really cheap price, be sure to google the company first, I found a few that are best avoided due to other people's experiences. (Also, in the past I have found some were quoting without GST in order to get to the top of the list).

I generally use ascent.co.nz, and elive.co.nz as benchmarks - they're not the very cheapest but I have found them to be reliable and are much cheaper than the high street retailers.

[nifta]

That's not a real difference though, because the exchange rate is at a real extreme at the moment.
that's a good point! certainly when i lived in NZ (years ago) there was a massive markup, but it seems to be better now.

we'll probably still make a purchase here as sadly i can't see the exchange rate improving before we move.

hadn't heard of pricespy before this thread - nice one!

[silvo]

Try http://www.pconlineshop.co.nz/


Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA 7200.12 32MB Internal Hard Drive
[ST31000528AS] $119.88

[denalipop]

Thanks!

Are there also good chains of computer hardware stores, places to search for locally? Or are brick and mortar computer stores usually one-offs?

[nzseeker]

Hi,

I think Labour day is around the corner, so maybe you should find out if there are going to be any labour Day specials for hard drives... i've bought stuff on labour day before and prices can aome down quite a bit.. Dicksmith does have labour day specials... check out other retialers as well.

[petri]

The window to buy cheap Apple's in the UK is closing. The top-end quad-core 27" iMac is £1769 in the UK, or 1965 €. The price in euro-zone is about 1980 €.

The price in NZ is 3789 NZD which is about 1907 €.