meonline

I want to buy a netbook, and as I am new to Dubai don't know where to look. There are a few companies in the mall of emirates but which is a good bet for price and after sales service? Thanks.

Blue Cat

a notebook? try Carrefour

Spugsy

jumbo electronics is decent, in fact most on the upper floors of MoE are all pretty good and helpful.

shiva

best netbook buys are in carrefour or sharaf dg, eeepc, dell, hp, acer etc all about 1200-1600aed or thereabouts for a 10inch screen and 80-160gb hdd.

or go stupid cheap and try the unknown brands at 500aed for a 7inch screen and 4gb hdd

BC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook

Shehryar

Sharaf DG at Times Square Centre (near MofE on SZ Rd) normally has the best choice and widest range for almost all electronics....

Blue Cat

thanks

Spugsy

who on earthw ould want a 7 inch screen?

benzonar

A midget?

shiva

its all about ultra portable computing at an easily affordable price, admitedly 7inch screens are annoyingly small but anything over 9 inches is fine.
the other point of a netbook is your not lugging around a hulking great heavy laptop as they tend to be light and small, you also dont need a big case and for the cost its not a disaster if you drop it.

oh and they are ace for working on whilst sitting in the garden

typical

If you're going home soon, buy it then... and refund the VAT at the airport.

Spugsy

I've still never done this (despite buying a £300 cameras at xmas back home),

how do you go about getting the VAT back?

typical

It's dead easy. You have to get the retailer to print out a special form when you buy the thing, and sign it. Put your UAE address on it.

Then when you go to the airport, go to the tax refund counter (for most goods before passport control, but for some electronics afterwards - you have to hand carry such items). Show them the goods, your form, your UAE residency visa and get them to stamp the form. Then either take the form to a refund desk and get them to give you the cash, or post it back to the refund people and they'll credit it to your card (if you used one). Some refund schemes don't offer the choice here. All of them take a cut, so you get somewhere between 70% and 90% of the VAT back.

admon

the vat refund only really works on more expensive items.

There is a customs charge of around £18, so on a £300 purchase, you are only looking at around £30 or so.

plus its best to get the retailer in the uk to fill in the vat refund form otherwise it can be a nightmare at the airport..

typical

The charge (which is to the people that do the refund, not HMRC) varies from scheme to scheme. One of the shops I talked to charge a flat 10 quid fee per receipt.

Spugsy

ah right, so it's got to be something pretty damn expensive then?