It's that VAT that's the killer.

Anyway, remember when the dollar was in the basement (kinda like now) and people would fly from all over Europe into NYC to buy jeans for all their friends? They'd pay for their trip once they got back to Europe...

Personally, I'd take an old beat-up laptop case and fly to someplace close by and then return with a laptop, maybe with some stickers on it, some dirt on the palm rests...lots of camouflage stuff, like post-it notes stuck to the lid, etc. This implies somehow forgetting to declare it to customs, take that as you like...