[ChuckNorris89]

Unfortunately the machine is not available in Europe outside of the Netherlands for some reason.

I tried calling a Dutch retailer to ask if they ship to Austria but couldn't even get pass the "Do you speak English please?" phase :(

Like WTF, the EU single market is a thing since how many decades now?! So why the hell do we still have region specific SKUs of the same product with different parts and availability between EU member states?! Imagine the laptop would be available for sale in California but not in Utah and in California you can only get it with a 512 Samsung SSD and a 300nit display and in New York only with a slower 1TB SKHynix SSD and a 400 nit display! /rantover

[throwaway2048]

Because charging different countries different amounts of money for the same SKU is illegal in the EU, so instead every country gets its own SKU, and they don't ship to other countries.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/pri...

[ChuckNorris89]

Huh, interesting, thanks for that. But then why don't we get different SKUs of PS4/Xbox and others between EU member states? Or do we?

[throwaway2048]

If the pricing is different its very likely you do, its just minor things changed nobody ever notices.

[nawgz]

Someone else mentioned keyboard localization - I guess with gamepads instead of keyboards, all localization is software-based

[jmnicolas]

You found the ONE Dutch that doesn't speak English? I went there about 15 years ago, everybody I met, including old ladies in the street, were speaking much better English than I can (I'm French).

[ChuckNorris89]

I don't think the guy didn't speak English, I think he was too rude or indifferent to bother offering customer support in English at that moment. You see this in Austria also if you try to get customer support over the phone in English, since lots of employees are stressed from this kind of job so some will just not bother with you with a not my job, I don't get paid to be a translator attitude if you ask in English.

[KSS42]

That reminds me of when I visited Vienna many years. I went to the information counter at the train station. I didn't want to be rude and presume the information person spoke English. So, I asked if he spoke English. His bemused reply was "Yes, I speak English and 7 other other languages".

[ableal]

Some people may also be leery of scams in the "hallo this is windows support" vein ...

[alkonaut]

Many European countries have specific keyboards so for laptops you need a dozen or more models just for Western Europe. I wouldn’t want to accidentally get a German or French SKU when I’m buying one from Sweden so I’m quite happy there are different SKUs.

[ZuLuuuuuu]

That sucks, one advantage of getting a laptop from Netherlands is that they use ANSI US keyboard, which I prefer over a localized keyboard.

Usually Dutch people speak English very well, maybe you can call another store.

[vazamb]

Which also might solve the mystery of why it's only available in the Netherlands? No need to built a different keyboard.