OK so here goes with UK prices for you yanks, not that it is an issue on this forum, just for interest. I thought, for some reason a Dell computed in the UK would be cheaper, but it is not. In fact we are an expensive country and taxes are high, though this post is non political!! Assuming $1.78 to £1 then :
Petrol is $1.66 per litre or about $7.5 for an English gallon, of which 85% is tax. A meal for two in a decent restaurant in an average town with a bottle of wine would be $75, I dread to think what central London would cost, I never go there. A decent seat for a top West End show (like a Webber production) would be $80 just for the ticket, so two people for a meal, drinks, show and taxis in the West end, take $400 with you
To heat an average house for the year, most people have gas, would be $1100. An average 4 door mid size car from a reputable European manufacturer would be $14k and a Toyota RAV 4 which I know you have over there is about $35k. For me to fly to Vegas next February, well Manchester via Atlanta return on Delta would be about $575 inclusive.
Computers, I could only just manage a very basic Dell for $500, that might have a 15" flatscreen, but for some reason Dell assume 3.5 inch floppies were never used in the UK, cos we have to pay $25 for a floppy drive. The price look good in the adverts, but they add things on, like delivery at $65, I can get a computer size box/weight next day delivery in the Uk for about $20
As for a Dell with plenty of RAM and a big screen, well it has got to be a bit over the $1k mark, but not by much
Corel X3, well I have located an academic version for £85 plus delivery at say £5 making a dollar total of $157, but for that you get no book, which I am not bothered about, because I think the Corel manuals are rubbish actually

So there you have it, if you fancy a holiday in the UK, bring some dosh

Simon Cork
Sheffield UK

Some of those prices are inline with ours, some are certainly higher. Broadway plays cost 30% more than the same ones in the West End. A high end bottle of Scotch costs about the same here, but good wine might be 2 or 3 times higher here.

Most computer companies here stopped including floppies a year or two ago. I guess they feel people mostly use CD-R for computer to computer, or have a LAN.

Many European countries charge high import duties on anything electronic. Even before all this RoHS/WEEE crap went into effect. Now with the added EU regulations on disposal of electronics, it has become very expensive for companies to sell electronics in Europe. (I manufacture electronic equipment and between CE, RoHS, and import duties, I have to charge almost double to sell over there)

For a lot of electronics we also have the economy of scale, with 5 times the population of the UK.