Buy a laptop here(U.S.) or in China?

[drpatel]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to go to school at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. I'll be arriving in March and staying there until July, coming back here to the U.S. for summer and then back to China for medical school. Anyways, I was wondering if I should buy a laptop from here and take it there or just wait until I arrive in China and buy one there ( I was told it was cheaper there). Does anyone know anything about this and if so where I would go to buy it in China? Thanks for the help!

[onebir]

Earlier threads on this forum suggest laptops in China seem to be about the same price as in the US, but a bit cheaper than Europe (you could compare the Dell China vis US sites to check this).

I bought one in Beijing last summer, and ran into 2 problems:

- almost all Chinese laptops ship with Chinese windows. You can't upgrade Chinese to English windows, and if you install a cheap pirate version of Windows, you may not get updates. Dell offered a choice of English/Chinese - perhaps a few other manufacturers do (but I couldn't find them...)

- one UK insurer wouldn't cover a laptop bought in China, even if it was a model available in the UK

[gougou]

Earlier threads

For example here: Is it cheaper in China? It seems to suggest, though, that computers in the US are cheaper.

[drpatel]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the quick replies! Looks like I'll be buying a laptop here before I go to China.

[banjo67xxx]

Unless you want a model which isn't available in the US, of course.

My wife wanted a small, light, pretty laptop. I had a look around lots of English websites and found that the 12.1" laptops in the UK are more expensive than the 15" ones and ugly (wife's opinion). The one we wanted was the Gigabyte N211U, and Gigabyte's UK and US distributors only sell components not laptops.

My wife is Chinese, so she was able to negotiate a great deal whilst I was hiding around the corner. After she'd got firm prices on every single option written down, I could come out of hiding and help her decide which options to get. We got great little laptop with loads of extras for only 6000RMB.

PS: The Acer 5672WLMi laptop I got in the UK for only £672 was over 15000RMB in the same shop (that's 60% more expensive).

[malinuo]

Unless you are a very good in Chinese, I think Chinese menus will be a problem. Even if you can make them out, it is much quicker to scan menus with your eyes in English (which I assume is your native language).

The options would then be to buy a Mac (where you easily can switch menu language) or possibly Windows Vista or Linux. I do not know how flexible they are. But then buying a Mac in China would not bring you much, as almost identical models are available in the US.

I do not know how well the warranty works in China with a laptop you bought abroad. I assume it varies by manufacturer.

(Personally, I usually switch my Mac to Chinese every time I go to China, but every now and then, I switch it back, because I just cannot seem to find that little option to do just what I want.)

[Jockster]

If you were to decide to buy it in China after all, you'll find more electronics stores than you can shake a stick at on WenSan Lu (文三路) in Hangzhou

I do not know how well the warranty works in China with a laptop you bought abroad. I assume it varies by manufacturer.

And vice versa, supposing that you went for a well-known brand such as Acer, HP, etc.

[onebir]

Re warranties, I think Dell china offers Asia pacific, vs global for Dell UK/US

[pandaxiongmao]

Menus:

If you get Windows Vista Ultimate, it is easy to change menu language like in Mac OS X. You have to log off then log back on for the changes to actually take effect (whereas Mac OS X you only need to close then reopen any running programs to do the same). Ultimate is expensive, so I doubt it would be easy to come by in a mainland Chinese computer shop. It isn't pirated yet (to my knowledge) since the Ultimate edition doesn't have any cracks that enable it to be used long-term.

Warranty:

I had problems with an iBook purchase in Kunming. Apple's support is extremely poor in China. If you expect the warranty to be worth anything, don't buy your computer in China. I have known people with Dell problems in China - the US support is far better than in China.

Cost:

Hong Kong doesn't have sales tax, so it is much cheaper than buying computers in mainland China. Of you could buy computers at home.

[zarathustra]

A MacBook is a good choice. You can run both Windows and MacOS and it has an international warranty.

[Ardison]

If you pass through Hongkong, buy one there!

Just do a test by clicking into Dell website, both in China and Hongkong.

Looking the same Model number under 2 sites. You will certainly find the answer.