One needs to be careful when reading news articles about AFIP (inland revenue Arg) and the personal limits at Ezeiza, for example.
Apparently, the personal limits at customs are US$500 plus US$500 worth of goods bought in duty free.
Many of these articles from Clarin and TN are designed to bait people, but when checking the US and UK limits for example, these figures seem reasonable.
On the other hand, what isn't much fun is having your suitcases x-rayed when entering the country and also having to declare cellphones etc when leaving the country.
In the US, the personal limit is US$800 and in the UK it's US$503 (£390), but I'm not sure if these limits include duty free or not.
For my part, I never declare my phone or laptop when leaving Argentina, both of which are several years old anyway. And when returning I use the old 'sorry, I don't speak Spanish' trick while waving my British passport at the customs people.
So those Arg limits are not so crazy in the end.