American Laptops

[Jade_Death]

Howdie =D

Heading to florida in september and was looking at looking at laptops over there.

wondering wether they would work over with our wirelesses, our plugs, our software.

Any help would be appriceated ^^

[JAL]

The only thing that's not likely to work is the plug! The US keyboard layout is slight different to ours but it's not a big deal to work around. The other main issue is warranty. Most laptops sold in the states do not have carry an international warranty. Strictly speaking you should also decalre it at customs and pay the duty (emphasis on should). There are some really good bargains to be had online over here that are worth looking at before buying in the US.

[Dissuziq]

I work for an american company and have lots of americans who come over for meetings etc and there laptops always work and just need a change of plug on the power supply.

As JAL stated the keybard is slightly different the @ is in a differnt place.

With the Dollar being so week then they should be a bargain

[Celica190]

DBIL bought a Toshiba laptop in Walmart a few years ago. When he got it home, he registered it online with Toshiba, who told him he had a one year warranty.

I think all he had to do was buy a power lead for it.

[David63]

There are differences:

US machines use US Windows, machines sold in the UK usually use Western European Windows - this difference is so subtle as to not be noticeable; some software products might work differently. I think the version of Vista they ship in the US has more features than European Vista.

The keyboard is different - no obvious £ or € keys - you can get at the symbols.

The DVD drive is likely to be region 1 - but you can usually change that easily.

wifi , network ports, everything else is the same.

[JAL]

There are differences:

US machines use US Windows, machines sold in the UK usually use Western European Windows - this difference is so subtle as to not be noticeable; some software products might work differently. I think the version of Vista they ship in the US has more features than European Vista.

.

I've PCs/laptops bought both in the US and over here and the differences must be more than subtle as I don't see any difference in using US or UK windows nor does any of the software products work differently.

[davet]

you only need a different mains lead it will be 1 of 3 types figure 8 the same as a radio cassette(c8) a kettle lead (c13)the same as a normal pc or a clover leaf(c5) a bit like the shape of mickies head only the circles are all the same size all readly available from maplins for less than £6
dave

[MrB]

Look at the last question and answer on this page:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/11/17/dlrick17.xml

[David63]

I've PCs/laptops bought both in the US and over here and the differences must be more than subtle as I don't see any difference in using US or UK windows nor does any of the software products work differently.


I used to develop Windows software and we had to be very careful wrt region specific versions of Windows, mainly issues about default code pages - even availability of code pages. If you always work in English then you might not see a difference, but UK machines should have Western European Windows which allows for use of different character sets more easily.

It has been thee years since I've worked in this market and I've never worked on products for Vista; which should be more region independent. However, I'm fairly sure that the European courts forced MS to cut some of the entertainment features from Vista Home as they were seen as anti-competitive.

[doverfox]

anti competitive giving us stuff bundled into windows rather than making you pay another company for these, the bits the eu wanted removing include the web browser and media player they havent stopped apple or linux from doing the same?
i wouldnt wory about the subtle difference between windows as if it becomes an issue i believe you can use the coa with a disk from any contintent. or the fact that " and@ are reversed you would soon get used to it. if you can save some £££ why not
dave
for all the cool features on vista you need at least home premium not home basic and at least 1gb of ram

[disneydoll]

I got my laptop , a gateway one from Best Buy in orlando. Did have to travel a bit to find the best one but got it at a great price and had it for a year with no problems. I did have to change the plug so it worked over here but that was it. :spin:

Laurax

[Kryten59]

as above, just a change of plug as the power supply is likely to be dual voltage. It's the same, but t'other way round, with our camcorder and it's power supply/charger - the power supply is dual voltage in that it works at 110v or 230-40v (this is actually printed on the power supply) and it's only the figure of 8 power lead that needs changing...