Buying a laptop in Kenya versus importing from the USA: which one is the better option?
Should you buy a laptop in Kenya, or should you import from the USA
TL;DR:
1. It is cheaper to buy a laptop from the U.S. to Kenya.
2. Avoid counterfeit by buying straight from U.S. top brands like Dell.com, Apple.com, or HP.com.
3. Even counterfeit laptops in Kenya are more expensive than buying an authentic product from the U.S.
You are definitely going to save so much money shipping a laptop from the U.S. than buying locally, but that is not everything.
The majority of laptops you see being sold on Nairobi streets as brand new in boxes are actually not new.
Just think about it this way: would you believe that a brand-new HP laptop in a brand-new HP box costs 20,000 shillings? Yet when you go on the HP website, the same laptop is $700.
What that tells you is you are either knowingly or ignorantly buying a fake laptop on the streets, believing that you are buying an authentic product.
If your goal is to get the cheapest thing money can buy within the shortest time possible, knowing that you're probably going to replace it with yet another expense in a couple of months, go ahead and buy knockoffs on the street.
But if you are going to spend over Ksh 30,000, you'd be better off buying an authentic laptop straight from the manufacturer, where you know for sure nothing has been compromised in between.
- If you need an Apple laptop, you buy from the Apple website.
- If you need an HP laptop, you buy from hp.com.
- If you need a Dell laptop, you buy from dell.com, not from the streets.
The cost of buying a knockoff laptop knowingly or unknowingly in Kenya is way too expensive compared to buying straight from the source.
I've never understood why even those counterfeit laptops in Kenya are more expensive than how much the manufacturer sells them at.
Any day and every day, you are better off buying a laptop from the US, shipping it by air, getting it in 7 to 14 business days, and paying a fraction of the cost of how much counterfeit laptops are sold in Kenya.